I was saddened to read on the BBC news website this evening of the death of Les Paul, who passed away today aged 94. That’s the sad part. The happy part is what he did with his 94 years and what he did for guitarists worldwide. It’s not for nothing that Les Paul is known as the “Father of the Electric Guitar” as he’s credited with developing not only one of the first solid-body electric guitars back in 1941 (affectionately known as “the log”) but also with recording innovations including multi-track recording. An excellent jazz and country musician, Les Paul was a
successful recording artist and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1978 followed by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. The Les Paul guitar design spanned the 1950s when the famous Les Paul guitar shape associated with so many influential modern-day guitarists including Slash, Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page, The Who’s Pete Townshend, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top and U2’s the Edge (to name just a few), was developed and has barely changed since then – which speaks volumes, I think. Indeed the Gibson Les Paul remains one of the most sought after electric guitars on the planet.
The final word from me on this is that while Les Paul will be missed, just look at the impact he had while he was here and what he left us; but the final word shouldn’t be mine…
Sad news but a good innings, RIP