Link Wray

Genres:	Country & Bluegrass • Music Magazines • Music Videos & Concerts • Pop / Rock
Descriptive "tags":	rockabilly • surf • surf rock • rock and roll • rock • garage rock • classic rock
Decades Active:	1950s • 1960s • 1970s • 1980s • 1990s • 2000s
Links online:	Wikipedia

Biography

Frederick Lincoln Wray, 2 May 1929, Dunn, North Carolina, USA, d. 21 November 2005, Copenhagen, Denmark. Guitarist Wray formed his first group in 1942, but his musical ambitions were thwarted by his induction into the US Army. He first recorded for Starday in 1955 as a member of the country outfit Lucky Wray And The Palomino Ranch Hands. He subsequently formed the Raymen with Shorty Horton (bass) and Doug Wray (drums), and enjoyed a million-seller in 1958 with ‘Rumble’, a pioneering instrumental on which the artist’s frenzied style and distorted tone invoked a gang-fight. The distorted ‘ripped’ sound was actually created using a ripped amplifier speaker; Wray punched holes in the speaker cones with a pencil to recreate the sound he had first stumbled upon on stage two years earlier. The ‘Rumble’ single incurred bans both on technical grounds and on account of its subject matter, but is now recognized as one of pop’s most...

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