Musician, and inventor of the solid-body electric guitar, born in Waukesha, WI. Well known as a jazz guitarist, he took his design to the Gibson Guitar Company in 1947. The "Gibson Les Paul' became a firm favourite of rock band musicians, and originals are highly prized possessions. He pioneered over-dubbing, multi-tracking (as on Lover, 1948), and built the first eight-track tape recorder, used in making many hit records with his wife, Mary Ford (1928--77), in the 1950s, including Vaya con Dios (1953, No 1 for 11 weeks).