Thursday, August 13, 2009

Rock guitar pioneer Les Paul dies

Les Paul with Paul McCartney
Les Paul's guitars were played by stars like Sir Paul McCartney

Les Paul, whose pioneering electric guitars were used by a legion of rock stars, has died at the age of 94.

Mr Paul died from complications of pneumonia in New York, according to Gibson, the firm that sold his guitars.

He is credited with developing one of the first solid-body electric guitars, which went on sale in 1952 and contributed to the birth of rock.

He also developed other influential recording innovations such as multi-track recording and overdubbing.

And he was credited with inventing the eight-track tape recorder.

U2 guitarist The Edge, Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page, Guns N' Roses star Slash and The Who's Pete Townshend are among those closely associated with the Les Paul sound.

Slash described him as "an exceptionally brilliant man".

Read more at - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8200385.stm

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