Page 48 - Guitar Classics Magazine - The Les Paul Bible 2019

THE MAN BEHIND THE GUITAR

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ABOVE LEFT Les Paul amputation. Instead, Les had the arm set at almost 90 just as Les had done with his heroes Eddie Lang and
working in his Hollywood degrees so he could continue playing. Django Reinhardt.
music studio in 1946
BIG-TIME LESTER LES’S OTHER LIFE
ABOVE RIGHT Les created
his famous ‘Log’ by mashing With his wife and new musical partner Mary Ford, In 2009, at the age of 94, Les succumbed to
up a solid plank of wood Les really hit the big time. In addition to playing pneumonia complications and the music world lost
and a hollowbody archtop guitar, Les clowned around while Mary, no slouch on a true giant. His time as a superstar may have been
guitar herself, provided lead vocals. In 1951 alone, relatively short and the music he created is very
OPPOSITE Les plays an early the duo sold six million records and were earning much of its era, so why should he be regarded as
variant of his soon-to-be- over $20,000 per week – equivalent to around such? Simply put, Les lived a parallel existence out
famous signature instrument, $100,000 today. Their TV show ran from 1953 of the spotlight and his contributions to guitar design
circa 1950
until 1960, by which point rock ’n’ roll had put and modern recording techniques even eclipse his
paid to Les and Mary’s brand of folksy achievements as an artist.
Les’ name – like Kleenex and Hoover – has become
LIGHT ENTERTAINMENT synonymous with a particular product. Every guitarist
The duo continued touring, but divorced in 1964 and knows what a Les Paul is, even if they don’t know
Les went into semi-retirement. Over the next few who Les Paul was. Although Les didn’t invent the
decades, he recorded sporadically, but not without solidbody guitar, as some have suggested, he was
critical and commercial success – and was awarded certainly influential in popularising them.
his last Grammy in 2006, at the grand old age of 90.
His decades-long Monday night residency at Fat LOGGING ON
Tuesdays in Manhattan became a popular attraction His teenage experiments with railway lines
for visiting guitar fans. Periodically, youngsters such as demonstrate that Les understood that a solid core
Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Steve Howe and his godson, was needed to promote sustain, add brightness and
Steve Miller would pop in to jam with their hero, effectively cure feedback. However, 24 inches of solid

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