|
Les Paul: The Sound Experimenter — pioneered the solid-body electric guitar design that reduced feedback and shaped modern rock music.
Mary Ford: The Layered Voice Pioneer — pioneering pop vocalist, studio-production innovator and an essential collaborator in Les Paul’s musical experiments and success.
Les Paul and Colleen Summers met in the mid-1940s in Hollywood when Les, then established was seeking a female singer for a country music radio show. She was recommended by colleagues like Eddie Dean and Gene Autry. Soon they began working together, and Les taught her guitar. and she soon adopted the stage name Mary Ford. They became a couple around 1946 and married on December 29, 1949.
In the late 1940s, Les developed "sound-on-sound" recording. A key moment came in 1949 When Les added a playback head to a modified Ampex tape recorder allowing him to record a track, play it back, and layer new performances over it without erasing the original. One early test involved Mary counting and saying "hello" in layers. This enabled Mary to harmonize with herself creating rich, multi-layered vocals and Les to play multiple guitar parts on the same track.
The song most credited with putting Les Paul and Mary Ford “on the map” with their revolutionary new sound was How High the Moon in 1951. At the time, audiences had never really heard anything like it. Les Paul played multiple guitar lines himself by overdubbing, while Mary Ford layered her own voice into rich harmonies. The record became a massive hit and showcased the studio as a creative instrument, not just a place to capture live performance. The rest is history