Les Paul, who passed away today at age 94, invented the electric guitar and multi-track recording. So it's fair to say that pretty much every recording artist of the past 50 years, except for perhaps Dan Fogelberg, owes him a huge debt of gratitude. To say nothing of music listeners.
Les pioneered multi-track recording, and had a big string of hits, back in the 1950s with his partner in music and love, Mary Ford. Here they are doing their big hit "How High the Moon":
Of course, Les is best known for his eponymous solid body guitar, known for its never-ending sustain.
The greatest practitioner of the Les Paul is almost certainly Jimmy Page, who, with Led Zeppelin, cast magic spells of light and shade with his 1959 sunburst edition, which he bought from Joe Walsh.
Another legendary Les Paul is Old Black, Neil Young's black beauty, which is actually a goldtop model with a paint job. For 40 years, it's been Neil's go-to axe when he wants to rock out and open up the sky.
Right up till the end, Les played Monday nights at the Iridium night club in New York City. Friend and fellow music fan Richard Fronapfel attended one of these intimate shows and shared his memories of the night in an exclusive interview with Rock Turtleneck:
"I saw him at Iridium in 1996 where he spent as much time making lewd suggestions to the female patrons (my then girlfriend included) as he did playing, and it was spectacular. So happy to have had that experience."
R.I.P. and TCB LP.
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