He died in White Plains, New York because of pneumonia. His credits include inventing or discovering many recording innovations which are overdubbing, delay effects, and multitrack.
A virtuoso, his talents in guitar extended into his playing style, including licks, chording, phrases, trills, and fret techniques. He has his own unique guitar playing style, making him a step ahead of his counterparts.
It was at the age of eight when Paul became interested in music. Before picking up the guitar, he first took on the harmonica and banjo. At the age of 13, Paul was performing semi-professionally as a country-music artist. His passion for playing the guitar continued, soon he dropped out of high school to pursue it.
Paul's revolutionary invention is the solid-body guitar, once known as the “the log”. This guitar was nothing more than a cut-out of common 4" x 4" wood with a guitar bridge, guitar neck, and pickup. Gibson Guitar Company incorporated Les Paul's suggestions into their own design and called the guitar a “Les Paul”. He signed a contract where he would not be seen playing a guitar other than a “Les Paul”. This is guitar is an icon, easily one of the recognizable figures in rock and roll. Though Paul was required to usually pose with his guitar, he admitted that at first he did not like how it looked the first time he saw it. There were rumors that he ended endorsement of the guitar due to his divorce with his wife. Later on, the Les Paul guitar was renamed as Gibson SG. When Eric Clapton was seen using the guitar, its popularity was resurrected. Les Paul revived his ties with Gibson and endorsed the guitar again. Users of this Les Paul guitar range from artists like Duane Allman, Billie Joe Armstrong, Jeff Beck, Chuck Berry, Eric Clapton, Sheryl Crow, Bob Dylan, The Edge (U2), Noel Gallagher, Billy Gibbons, Dave Grohl, Kirk Hammett, James Hetfield, Tony Iommi, Joan Jett, Eric Johnson, BB King, Lenny Kravitz, John Lennon, Bob Marly, Paul McCartney, Ted Nugent, Jimmy Page, Joe Perry, Keith Richards, Carlos Santana, Gene Simmons, Nikki Sixx, Slash, Eddie Van Halen, Zakk Wylde, Angus Young, Neil Young and others.
Paul's musical career started with the Les Paul Trio in 1938 in New York. He moved to Hollywood in 1943 and formed a new trio. He also played the guitar with Nat King Cole and other artists during that time. His trio appeared on Bing Crosby's radio show.
In 1948, Capitol Records released a recording entitled “Lover (When You're Near Me)”, featuring Les Paul playing eight parts on an electric guitar, with different speeds. This was the first instance multitrack was utilized on a recording. He also worked with Ross Snyder to design the 8-track-recording deck.
Paul has been given many awards because of his contributions to the music industry, both as an artist and an inventor. He is recognized not only by his inventions, but his guitar playing as well. In 1978, Les Paul and Mary Ford were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 1988, Paul also was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Jeff Beck. Jeff Beck himself admitted that he copied too many guitar licks from Les Paul. In 1991, the Mix Foundation created an award given yearly under his name; the Les Paul Award, given to individuals or entities who have made contributions in the creative application of technology in audio. Les Paul was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in May 2005 because of his contribution for the development of the solid-body electric guitar. Paul was inducted into the National Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2006.
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