Les Paul Is Having His 94th Birthday Today

New York, NY (Top40 Charts) - One of the most influential guitarists of the American music scene is having his 94th birthday today.

He was born Lester Polsfuss, but he became famous as Les Paul.
He invented the solid-body guitar and recording techniques, which allowed a performer to accompany himself, overdubbing multiple parts for special effects.

In the 1950s, he and his wife, Mary Ford, had many top 10 hits, such as "The World is Waiting for the Sunrise," and "Yaya Con Dios."

In the late 1960s, Paul went into semi-retirement, although he did return to the studio occasionally. He and Mary Ford (born Iris Colleen Summers) had divorced in December 1964, as she could no longer tolerate the itinerant lifestyle their act required of them.
Paul's most recognisable recordings from then through the mid-1970s were an album for London Records, Les Paul Now (1967), on which he updated some of his earlier hits; and, backed by some of Nashville's celebrated studio musicians, a meld of jazz and country improvisation with fellow guitar virtuoso Chet Atkins, Chester and Lester (1976), for RCA Victor.

By the late 1980s, Paul had returned to active live performance. In 2006, at the age of 90, he won two Grammys at the 48th Annual Grammy Awards for his album Les Paul & Friends: American Made World Played.
He also performs every Monday night, accompanied by a trio which includes pianist John Colianni, at the Iridium Jazz Club on Broadway in New York City, despite the arthritis that has stilled all but two of the fingers on his left hand