Died On This Date (August 12, 2009) Les Paul / Influential Guitarist and Innovator
themusicsover Les Paul (Born Lester Polfuss)
June 9, 1915 – August 12, 2009
Les Paul was one of popular music’s most important figures. Besides recording a string of hits with wife, Mary Ford during the ’40s and ’50s, Paul was a guitar legend who not only invented the Les Paul guitar which would be used by future guitar heroes to this day, he also developed multi-track recording, which changed popular music forever. It allowed singers and musicians to record their parts separately and then pieced together later for the final record. Les Paul died of pneumonia in a New York hospital at the age of 94.
What You Should Own
Joe Tex was an American soul singer and songwriter who is best remembered for his four hit singles in the ’60s and ’70s. 1965’s “Hold What You’ve Got” sold over a million copies and reached #5 on the Billboard singles chart. His “Skinny Legs And All,” released in 1967 also sold more than a million copies, while 1972’s “I Gotcha” peaked at #2 on the pop charts. And 1977, Tex released “Ain’t Gonna Bump No More (With No Big Fat Woman),” his last sizable hit, which went to #12 on the charts. He had a unique style of singing at the time, a preacher-style of talking over the songs – he called it “rap” and many music historians agree that it was one of the early foundations of rap and hip hop. In the mid ’60s, Tex converted to the Muslim religion and changed his name to Yusuf Hazziez, and in the ’80s, he more or less retired from music and devoted his time to his religion. Joe Tex died of after a heart attack at the age of 48.
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Allen Shellenberger was the founding drummer for Orange County alternative rock band, Lit. Formed in 1990 as Razzle, the band built a following based on their live shows and a self released EP. In 1996, the band changed its name to Lit and soon signed with major label, RCA Records. The band’s 1999 album, A Place In The Sun sold over 1 million copies thanks in part to the hit single, “My Own Worst Enemy.” In May of 2008, the band announced that Shellenberger was diagnosed with with a malignant brain tumor. He passed away as a result of the tumor at the age of 39.