Died On This Date (April 5, 2012) Jim Marshall / Founder Of Marshall Amps

Jim Marshall
July 29, 1923 – April 5, 2012

Photo by Ralph Orlowski

Jim Marshall, or has he was commonly known throughout the rock world, “The Lord of Loud,” was the founder of Marshall Amplification.  It was while he owned a London music shop in the early ’60s that Marshall and a young apprentice began tinkering with designs that would soon become the Marshall amp.  The idea was born out of complaints from such young customers as Pete Townshend and Ritchie Blackmore that they couldn’t get the sound they were looking for out of their own amps.   With s new prototype in hand, Marshall launched Marshall Amplification in 1962 and ran the company ever since.  Over the decades, Marshall amp loyalists have included almost every notable rock guitarist the world has ever known.  Marshall, along with Leo Fender, Les Paul, and Seth Lover, has been called one of the four forefathers of rock music.  Jim Marshall was 88 when he passed away on April 5, 2012.

Thanks to Harold Lepidus for the assist.



Died On This Date (July 4, 2009) George Fullerton / Fender Guitars

George Fullerton
March 7, 1923 – July 4, 2009

fullertonGeorge Fullerton was a long time employee of Leo Fender, of Fender Guitar fame.  Hired early on, Fullerton first worked in repair for Fender’s early guitars and amps.  As Fender developed such models as the innovative Stratocaster and Telecaster, it was Fullerton’s job to figure out a way to mass produce them at an economical price.  Where Fender designed the guitars, Fullerton created the machines that could mass produce them.  George Fullerton died of congestive heart failure at the age of 86.

Died On This Date (March 21, 1991) Leo Fender / Electric Guitar Maker

Leo Fender
August 10, 1909 – March 21, 1991

After World War II ended, the big band sound began to lose its luster and smaller boogie woogie, western swing, honky-tonk and rhythm & blues combos began taking hold across America. It was inventor Leo Fender who figured out that the electric guitar was about to gain massive popularity with musician’s and audiences alike, so he set out to create one that was easy to hold, easy to tune and easy to play. And so came the birth of the Fender Stratocaster, and the company and lifestyle that would bear his name. Fender passed away in 1991 from complications of Parkinson’s Disease, but not before giving to us the guitar-of-choice of so many legends of pop music.