Les Paul › Similar Artists

Boozoo Chavis - 93% match to Les Paul

Wilson Anthony Chavis, 23 October 1930, Lake Charles, Louisiana, USA, d. 5 May 2001, Austin, Texas, USA. This singer and accordionist was one of the first artists to popularise zydeco, the vernacular music of African-American Louisiana. Chavis had learned to play accordion and harmonica by the age of nine and performed around Lake Charles while in his teens. In 1954 he was s Read more

Willie "The Lion" Smith - 79% match to Les Paul

William Henry Joseph Bonaparte Bertholoff Smith, 25 November 1897, Goshen, New York, USA, d. 18 April 1973, New York City, New York, USA. Smith began playing piano at the age of six, encouraged by his mother. He continued with his informal musical education and by his mid-teenage years had established a formidable reputation in New York as a ragtime pianist. During World War Read more

Eddie Cantor - 55% match to Les Paul

Edward Israel Iskowitz, 31 January 1892, New York City, New York, USA, d. 10 October 1964, Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA. An extremely popular comedian, singer and dancer who was prominent in several areas of showbusiness from the 20s through to the 50s. Cantor’s performances were highly animated, seeing him jumping up and down, with hands gesticulating an Read more

General Echo - 55% match to Les Paul

d. 1980. Jamaican DJ Echo (aka Ranking Slackness) was one of the first to challenge the predominantly ‘cultural’ approach of the majority of mid- to late 70s DJs, and his influence on the new generation of DJs who made it in the 80s (in particular the UK MC school) was profound. He was one of the first DJs to be heard and fully appreciated on yard tapes, as he tore up Read more

Ethel Merman - 40% match to Les Paul

Ethel Agnes Zimmermann, 16 January 1909, Astoria, New York, USA, d. 15 February 1984, New York, USA. One of the most celebrated ladies of the Broadway musical stage, a dynamic entertainer, with a loud, brash, theatrical singing style, flawless diction, and extravagant manner, who usually played a gutsy lady with a heart of gold. Merman worked first as a secretary, then sang Read more

Albert Ammons - 39% match to Les Paul

23 September 1907, Chicago, Illinois, USA, d. 2 December 1949, Chicago, Illinois, USA. Ammons began playing piano as a small child and worked in Chicago clubs while still a youth. In the late 20s and early 30s he played in a number of small bands but his real forte was as a soloist. After establishing himself as an important blues piano player in Chicago in the mid-30s, a pe Read more

Ma Rainey - 39% match to Les Paul

Gertrude M. Pridgett, 26 April 1886, Columbus, Georgia, USA, d. 22 December 1939. After working as a saloon and tent show singer around the turn of the century, Rainey began singing blues. She later claimed that this occurred as early as 1902 and however much reliance is placed upon this date she was certainly among the earliest singers to bring blues songs to a wider audien Read more

The Spaniels - 36% match to Les Paul

This vocal ensemble was formed in 1952 in Gary, Indiana, USA. Universally recognized as one of the great R&B vocal harmony groups of the 50s, the Spaniels’ magnificent body of work was not truly reflected in their moderate chart success. The group originally comprised Roosevelt High students James ‘Pookie’ Hudson (Thornton James Hudson, 11 June 1934, Des M Read more

Lone Ranger - 33% match to Les Paul

Anthony Waldron. The Lone Ranger was one of the late 70s’ most lyrically inventive DJs, with a considerable influence on the British school of MCing. Waldron spent a large proportion of his formative years in the UK, which perhaps accounted for his radically different stance, and, like so many others, he began his own recording career at Studio One. Welton Irie partnere Read more

The Golden Gate Quartet - 33% match to Les Paul

Ewan MacColl - 20% match to Les Paul

James Henry Miller, 25 January 1915, Broughton, Salford, Lancashire, England, d. 22 October 1989, England. The singing talents of his Scottish parents enabled MacColl to learn many of their songs while he was still young. He subsequently wrote many classic and regularly covered songs of his own, including ‘Dirty Old Town’, which was inspired by his home town of Sal Read more

Buddy Moss - 19% match to Les Paul

Eugene Moss, 26 January 1914, Hancock County, Georgia, USA, d. October 1984, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. It was as a harmonica player that Moss first appeared on record, in 1930, as one of the Georgia Cotton Pickers with Barbecue Bob and Curley Weaver. Although he apparently learned guitar from Bob, his playing was distinctly in the ragtime-inflected Eastern blues tradition of ar Read more

Celeste Mendoza - 13% match to Les Paul

1930, Santiago de Cuba, Cuba, d. 22 November 1998, Havana, Cuba. Flatteringly known as the ‘rumba queen’ of 50s Cuba, Mendoza’s speciality was guaracha, the dynamic rumba style informed by African rhythms. As well as being a vivid performer and interpreter, she was also a well-known dancer and actress in and around Havana. Mendoza moved to the Cuban capital as Read more

Freddie & The Dreamers - 13% match to Les Paul

This Manchester, England-based 60s beat outfit, comprising Freddie Garrity (14 November 1936 (1940 is also cited), Manchester, Lancashire, England, d. 19 May 2006, Ysbyty Gwynedd, Bangor, Wales; vocals), Roy Crewsdon (b. 29 May 1941; guitar), Derek Quinn (b. 24 May 1942; guitar), Pete Birrell (b. 9 May 1941; bass) and Bernie Dwyer (b. 11 September 1940, Manchester, Lancashir Read more

Huey "Piano" Smith - 13% match to Les Paul

26 January 1934, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. Pianist Smith drew his pulsating style from a variety of musical sources, including the boogie-woogie of Albert Ammons and jazz of Jelly Roll Morton. Having served in bands led by Earl King and Eddie ‘Guitar Slim’ Jones, Smith became a respected session musician before embarking on an independent recording career. Leadi Read more