Les Paul, 1915–2009
Whether you’ve ever played an electric guitar or not, Les Paul’s influence is ubiquitous in modern music of all genres. His innovations in multi-track recording would be enough to solidify his place in the history of music, but he probably wouldn’t be as famous. The next time you fire up your DAW and record-enable all those tracks, think back to Les Paul and his Ampex with the extra recording head.
Here’s a timeline of Paul’s career.