les paul

Les Paul, the virtuoso guitarist and inventor whose solid-body electric guitar and recording studio innovations changed the course of 20th-century popular music, died Thursday in White Plains. He was 94.The cause was complications of pneumonia, Gibson Guitar announced.Mr. Paul was a remarkable musician as well as a tireless tinkerer.

He played guitar with leading prewar jazz and pop musicians from Louis Armstrong to Bing Crosby. In the 1930s he began experimenting with guitar amplification, and by 1941 he had built what was probably the first solid body electric guitar, although there are other claimants. With his electric guitar and the vocals of his wife, Mary Ford, he used overdubbing, multitrack recording and new electronic effects to create a string of hits in the 1950s.Mr. Paul’s style encompassed the twang of country music, the harmonic richness of jazz and, later, the bite of rock n roll.

For all his technological impact, though, he remained a down home performer whose main goal, he often said, was to make people happy.Many will say his crowning achievement was the very electric guitar that bears his name. The Les Paul, by Gibson, remains one of the most beloved and played models on the market, more than 50 years after its debut.As a recording artist, Paul achieved the bulk of his chart success in the early 1950s alongside his wife, singer and guitarist Mary Ford. The husband-and-wife team scored more than a dozen top ten hits, including Tenessee Waltz' and 'I'm Sitting On Top of the World.

Execs at Gibson have already weighed in on the company's Web site.The world has lost a truly innovative and exceptional human being today. I cannot imagine life without Les Paul His musical charm was extraordinary and his techniques unmatched anywhere in the world. Henry Juszkiewicz, Chairman and CEO of Gibson Guitar.