Happy Birthday Les Paul

Guitarist and inventor Les Paul was born on this day in 1915.  Paul helped develop the Gibson Les Paul solid-body electric guitar, an instrument so iconic that the foreword to Les Paul’s memoir was written by none other than Paul McCartney.  Les Paul died last year, but his handiwork continues to be heard from the airwaves to the iPod, from blockbuster stadium tours to basement rehearsal spaces.  See more photos of Les Paul in the William P. Gottlieb Collection in American Memory.