Les Paul was one of America's great inventors and innovators.
Paul's hey day was in the late 40s through mid 50s. In summary, he was one of the country's most well known guitarists and making good money. Then he revolutionized recording with the invention of multi-track recording. He is an icon in the recording business because of that. He and his wife, Mary Ford, had a tremendous string of hit songs, and they were so popular that they had a television show in the early 50s. Les Paul did not invent the solid body electric guitar, but his early developmental work inspired Gibson to manufacture the now-iconic Les Paul electric guitar, which is one of the few truly archetypal guitars in use today. Many of the recording techniques he developed are still in use today, and many professionals claim that little has been added to the methods of recording since Les Paul developed them.
Paul never quit inventing, and he was, until recently and in his 90s, still performing every Monday night at the Iridium in Manhattan.
Paul is widely regarded as the architect of rock and roll.
He's one of the few people that really changed the world.
Anybody interested in Les Paul and his accomplishments would do well to view the PBS documentary Chasing Sound, which costs about $20 on DVD. It was made on the occasion of his 90th birthday.
(In reference to Leo Fender, Fender was the post-war manufacturing genius who revolutionized the design and manufacture of instruments and amplification. His best known instrument, the Stratocaster guitar, is the very symbol of what an electric guitar looks like, and along with the Gibson Les Paul, is one of the two best known and most desirable electric guitars. Even had he never invented any guitars, he would be famous for having invented the electic bass and making huge advances in amplification. Virtually all guitar amplification today is traceable to a Fender invention. The electric bass revolutionized the way modern music is made.)
