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08-13-2009, 10:19 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Fargo,North Dakota | | | Les Paul Dead 1915-2009 Age 94. R.I.P.
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http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=154&sid=7521454 Quote:
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) - Les Paul, the guitarist and inventor who changed the course of music with the electric guitar and multitrack recording and had a string of hits, many with wife Mary Ford, died on Thursday. He was 94.
According to Gibson Guitar, Paul died of complications from pneumonia at White Plains Hospital. His family and friends were by his side.
He had been hospitalized in February 2006 when he learned he won two Grammys for an album he released after his 90th birthday, "Les Paul & Friends: American Made, World Played."
"I feel like a condemned building with a new flagpole on it," he joked.
As an inventor, Paul helped bring about the rise of rock 'n' roll and multitrack recording, which enables artists to record different instruments at different times, sing harmony with themselves, and then carefully balance the "tracks" in the finished recording.
With Ford, his wife from 1949 to 1962, he earned 36 gold records and 11 No. 1 pop hits, including "Vaya Con Dios," "How High the Moon," "Nola" and "Lover." Many of their songs used overdubbing techniques that Paul the inventor had helped develop.
"I could take my Mary and make her three, six, nine, 12, as many voices as I wished," he recalled. "This is quite an asset." The overdubbing technique was highly influential on later recording artists such as the Carpenters.
The use of electric guitar gained popularity in the mid-to-late 1940s, and then exploded with the advent of rock the 1950s.
"Suddenly, it was recognized that power was a very important part of music," Paul once said. "To have the dynamics, to have the way of expressing yourself beyond the normal limits of an unamplified instrument, was incredible. Today a guy wouldn't think of singing a song on a stage without a microphone and a sound system."
A tinkerer and musician since childhood, he experimented with guitar amplification for years before coming up in 1941 with what he called "The Log," a four-by-four piece of wood strung with steel strings.
"I went into a nightclub and played it. Of course, everybody had me labeled as a nut." He later put the wooden wings onto the body to give it a tradition guitar shape.
In 1952, Gibson Guitars began production on the Les Paul guitar.
Pete Townsend of The Who, Steve Howe of Yes, jazz great Al DiMeola and Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page all made the Gibson Les Paul their trademark six-string.
Over the years, the Les Paul series has become one of the most widely used guitars in the music industry. In 2005, Christie's auction house sold a 1955 Gibson Les Paul for $45,600.
| Guitar, studio wizard Les Paul dies at 94 -CNN The World Has Lost a Remarkable Innovator and Musician: Les Paul Passes Away at 94 - Gibson
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Last edited by Nappa : 08-13-2009 at 11:40 AM.
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08-13-2009, 10:22 AM
| | Registered User
Endorsing: Ampeg | | Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Apopka, FL | | | Just saw the news...heard on Jackie Martling's Joke Hunt that he wasn't doing well. That's great that he lived so long and did so much, but it's still a sad day...one of my favorites.
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08-13-2009, 10:30 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: May 2007 Location: Nashville | | | There 'should' be some stellar tribute shows coming I'd think. And god help the A-hole who shows up with a Strat.
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08-13-2009, 10:36 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Yuma, Az | | | Music literally wouldn't have been the same without him. It's astounding that he was still so active in his old age...yet another way to set the bar higher!
RIP, Les.
__________________ Christian Praise & Worship Bassist Club Member #371, Ibanez BTB Club #16, Headless Club #11 Quote:
Originally Posted by john turner  4 strings were enough for jaco. | |
08-13-2009, 10:39 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Scotland | | Quote:
Originally Posted by WalterBush Music literally wouldn't have been the same without him. It's astounding that he was still so active in his old age...yet another way to set the bar higher!
RIP, Les. | +1
RIP Les. 
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08-13-2009, 11:01 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: May 2009 Location: Superior, Wisconsin | | | *bawl* |
08-13-2009, 11:16 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Finland (Northern Europe) | | | Hi.
RIP Les, You're playing among the best now.
Regards
Sam |
08-13-2009, 11:20 AM
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Endorsing Artist: see profile | | Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: toms_river.nj.us | | RIP  |
08-13-2009, 11:28 AM
|  | Registered User | | Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Outside Boston | | RIP, Les.
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Remember A.G. |
08-13-2009, 11:32 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Minnesota | | | RIP..I'm glad he lived this long...without him there would not be alot of the great guitarists we have today. |
08-13-2009, 11:40 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Montreal, Canada | | | Just learn the news from James Hart.
Very sad news.
At 94 I guess it was expected. But it still a very sad news.
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08-13-2009, 12:05 PM
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Owner; Cody Electric Basses | | Join Date: May 2006 Location: bartlett illinois | | | If there was no Les we would not record music the way we do today. If you have not seen Chasing Sound you owe it to yourself to do so. The music industry owes a debt to Les
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08-13-2009, 12:35 PM
| | Blazin' Acadian | | Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Ontario,705 | | | Sad news indeed!
I'm going listen to award winning
Chester-Lester.
RIP, Mr.Paul |
08-13-2009, 12:43 PM
| | Banned | | Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: OREGON! | | | Very sad news. iHewas an awesome guy my cousin met him at a guitar show somewher back east in the late 90's Les BS'ed with him and signed the headstock of his LP.
Very cool guy |
08-13-2009, 12:43 PM
| | | | RIP Les. Thanks for your music, and the mark you made in the music world. |
08-13-2009, 12:55 PM
|  | Registered User | | Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: College Station, Texas | | | Lived a long life! |
08-13-2009, 01:00 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: USA | | | Les Paul Gone...
Just saw it on CNN. Many thanks, Les, you made it happen in so many ways.
sterling4
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08-13-2009, 01:02 PM
|  | Basement Clef | | Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Below Ground, Detroit area | | | An Awesome talent & visionary.
RIP
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08-13-2009, 01:03 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: May 2006 Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada | | | Goodnight, sweet Prince... |
08-13-2009, 01:18 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Tifton,Georgia | | | Wow..I was just watching a documentary about him just the other day was wondering how much longer he had left. Well all I can say that I hope to accomplish even a fraction of what he did in his life time. RIP
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