Les+Paul+Obituary+(3)

__Les Paul (1915-2009)__ ​

**__Overview__** Les Paul was born on June 9, 1915 in Waukesha Wisconsin. Paul was a very talented guitarist. By age 13 he was plaing in country bands in midwest America. He formed the Les Paul Trio -- which included Chet Atkins' brother Jimmy on rhythm guitar and vocals and Ernie Newton on bass -- in 1936, and with them moved to New York in 1937. They became regulars on bandleader Fred Waring's NBC radio show and stayed with Waring's Pennsylvanians orchestra for five years. Around this time, Paul began seriously thinking about revolutionizing the guitar. He built his first guitar pickup in 1934, and by 1941 he had built the first prototypical solid-body electric guitar, a four-foot wooden board with strings, pickup, and a plug, which he called the "Log" and still uses to test against other guitars. After some time he began playing jazz. He played with some fo the greats like Louis Armstrong, Art Tatum, and Ben Webster. In 1942, he was drafted and worked for the Armed Forces Radio Service, playing behind Bing Crosby, Rudy Vallee, Johnny Mercer, Kate Smith, and others. Upon his discharge in 1943, he worked as a staff musician for NBC radio in L.A. He backed Bing Crosby with his trio and toured with the Andrews Sisters. With Crosby's encouragement, Paul built his first recording studio in his L.A. garage in 1945. Paul married Mary Ford and the two began making music and had a big hit with their song How High the Moon. ​ **__Central Issue__** By 1977, Paul's interests had shifted to experimenting and innovating. He built the Les Paul Recording Guitar in the early '50s and used it on his own recordings, not allowing Gibson to market that model until 1971. Since they were first marketed in May 1952, Les Paul Gibsons have been known for their "hot" pickups, "fatter" tone, and sustaining capacity, as compared to the twangier electric guitars of Leo Fender. In the early '50s, Paul built the first 8-track tape recorder, which helped pioneer multitrack recording, and he invented "sound-on-sound" recording, which has since become known as overdubbing. His other inventions include the floating bridge pickup, the electrodynamic pickup (both patented), the dual-pickup guitar, the 14-fret guitar, and various types of electronic transducers used both in guitars and recording studios. __**Conclusion**__ In 1988 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in 2001 he received a Grammy for his technical achievements. On August 12th 2009 at the age of 94, Les Paul died. The cause of death was respiratory failure caused by pneumonia.

Click link for Obituary: []

Reference: (2009-10.1.2.C) Eaton Sources: Google videos //Lespaulbiography.com//. Web. 25 Nov. 2009. []. //Therollingstones.com//. Web. 25 Nov. 2009. .

media type="custom" key="4883239"

media type="custom" key="4882885" width="147" height="109"