JUNE 9

LES PAUL IS BORN

Before Les Paul designed the solid-body electric guitar, he was a guitar player in the 40s for acts like Bing Crosby, the Andrews Sisters, and Nat King Cole - superstars during the WWII era. It was Bing Crosby who encouraged Paul to build a studio where he could record music the way he wanted it to sound. Crosby gave him his first reel to reel tape recorder in 1949. It was in this studio that he invented the technique of multi-track recording.

The Les Paul Guitar is still sold by Gibson Guitars, and is a favorite of many Rock and Roll stars like Eric Clapton, Pete Townsend (The Who), Slash (Guns N' Roses), Joe Perry (Aerosmith), Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top), Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin), and Bob Marley. You too can have a Les Paul Guitar; they range in price from $3,799 - $6,699!

Les Paul was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005. In 2001, he received the Technical Grammy Award, a special merit award given to the greatest contributors to technical music development. In 2004, Paul was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Emmy Award for engineering. You can visit his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, dedicated in 1960 and shared with his wife Mary Ford.

The Man Before The Guitar: Remembering Les Paul At 100Paul is mostly remembered for his musical innovations, especially the instrument that bears his name. But he was also an accomplished jazz musician who kept performing even in his final years.

Les Paul with Paul McCartney in May, 1988.

Les Paul

In 2008, my friend Carol and I went on a tour of the Gibson Guitar factory in Memphis, TN.

Inside the factory!

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