guitarist
9th June 1915, born on this day, Guitarist Les Paul, who had a 1953 UK No.7 single with ‘Vaya Con Dios’ and the US No.7 single ‘Hummingbird’ with Mary Ford featuring his multi-layered recording techniques. He also pioneered ‘close miking’ and echo delay recording. He broke his right arm in a car accident and had […]
Happy 70th birthday to Francis Rossi, born on 29th May 1949, guitarist, singer, songwriter with Status Quo. The group have had over 60 chart hits in the UK, more than any other rock band, including 'Pictures of Matchstick Men' in 1967, 'Whatever You Want' in 1979 and 'In the Army Now' in 2010. Twenty-two of […]
14th May 2015, Blues singer, songwriter and guitarist B.B. King died in his sleep aged 89 from a series of small strokes caused by type 2 diabetes. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential blues guitarists of all time, Rolling Stone magazine placed him behind only Jimi Hendrix and Duane Allman in […]
11 April 1958, Born on this day, Scottish guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter Stuart Adamson. He formed The Skids, who had a 1979 UK No.10 single with ‘Into The Valley’ then Big Country, who had the 1983 UK No.10 single with ‘Fields Of Fire’ plus 14 other UK Top 40 singles. On 26 November 2001, Adamson […]
Happy birthday to Steve Howe, born on 8 April 1947, guitarist, Yes, (1977 UK No.7 'Wonderous Stories', 1983 US No.1 & UK No. 28 single 'Owner Of A Lonely Heart'). Asia, (1982 US No 4 & UK No. 46 single 'Heat Of The Moment'). Has also been a member of The Syndicats, Bodast, Tomorrow and […]
6th April 2016, American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler, Merle Haggard died of complications from pneumonia at his home in Palo Cedro, California. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band the Strangers helped create the Bakersfield sound, which is characterized by the twang of Fender Telecaster and the unique mix with the traditional country […]
19th March 1982, Ozzy Osbourne guitarist and former Quiet Riot member Randy Rhoads was killed when the plane he was riding in crashed. After driving much of the night, the band had stopped near a small airstrip. The tour bus driver, Andrew Aycock, talked the band's keyboardist, Don Airey, into taking a test flight in […]
17th March 2010, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer, Alex Chilton died in hospital of heart problems in New Orleans aged 59. As a teenager Chilton had been a member of The Box Tops who had the 1967 hit 'The Letter' and later in 1971 co-founded the power-pop group Big Star, with Chris Bell. In […]
2nd March 2008, Canadian guitarist, singer, Jeff Healey, died of cancer. Healey lost his sight to retinoblastoma, a rare cancer of the eyes when he was 8 months old, resulting in his eyes being surgically removed. After living cancer-free for 38 years, he developed sarcoma in his legs. Despite surgery for this, the sarcoma spread […]
23rd February 1944, Born on this day, Johnny Winter, blues guitarist and singer who has worked with Rick Derringer and brother Edger Winter. He scored the 1969 US top 30 album, ‘Johnny Winter’. Winter died at the age of 70 on 16th July 2014 in Zurich, just days after playing at the Lovely Days Festival […]