Les Paul: The Lost Interviews: Five Never-Before-Published Talks With a Guitar Genius

Five newly discovered, never-before-published interviews with Les Paul, inventor of the solidbody electric guitar and multi-track recording. Imagine if you had run into guitar legend Les Paul and asked him the following questions: "Les Paul, what is your favorite Les Paul?" "If you were talking to someone looking to break into the music business, or just starting to play guitar, what would you say to him or her?" "When Leo Fender was planning to come out with his solidbody electric guitar, did he ask you to join him to produce a 'Fender Les Paul" guitar?" "You've had so many setbacks in your life, yet you keep bouncing back. How do you do it?" Those are the exact questions--among many, many others--that music writer Jim O'Donnell puts to the late Les Paul in the course of five deeply engrossing conversations. The world class musician-inventor doesn't disappoint in his candid, humorous, often surprising responses. See how the mind of a genius works. Don't miss a word of these revealing question-and-answer sessions that bring Les Paul the person to the printed page. There are also four helpful appendices: a Les Paul discography, filmography, webography, and bibliography. As a special bonus, a Les Paul profile by Jim O'Donnell is included--a story that the guitarist enjoyed so much he had it hanging directly behind him onstage for two years. // LES PAUL: GUITARIST, GENIUS, GOOD GUY: Guitar players from Jimi Hendrix to Jimmy Page, from Andrés Segovia to B.B. King, have acknowledged the genius of Les Paul, inventor of the solidbody electric guitar and multi-track recording. A virtuoso guitar player in his own right, Les Paul won five Grammy Awards and is a member of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame. “The history of popular music without Les Paul,” writes music journalist and author Jim O’Donnell, “would be as diminished as the history of the Beatles less Paul.” The guitarist’s many contributions to the world of popular music are well-known. What’s not so well-known is the struggle he has had to endure to achieve his stunning success. From quintuple bypass heart surgery to four operations on his inner ear to encroaching arthritis in his hands, the guitar legend had to battle every inch of the way to the top. Along with critical health issues, his career in music was also a battle. “Just about everything that I ever thought of,” he says, “it seemed as though there was someone put on this earth to just stick his foot out and trip me.” In the course of his five interviews with Jim O'Donnell, Les Paul tells why he never quit, despite all the battles. The guitar great also talks about helping Jimi Hendrix build his recording studio; what it takes to make it in the music business; how to buy a guitar; creating the first solidbody electric guitar; how he developed the distinctive Les Paul sound; and a wide variety of other fascinating topics. What finally emerges is an authentic portrait of Les Paul the person—a person who turns out to be even bigger than the guitarist, the genius, or the guitar. // ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Jim O’Donnell is a longtime music writer whose work is in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame library in Cleveland. He received his first professional newspaper byline for a sports story in 1969. Since that time, his features, profiles, columns and essays have focused mostly on rock ‘n’ roll. O'Donnell has written several books, including Queen Magic: Freddie Mercury Tribute and Brian May Interview and The Day John Met Paul, which was published by Penguin in several languages. He holds a Master's Degree from St. Peter's College and studied journalism under New Journalism pioneer Richard Goldstein at New York University. According to Michael Lydon, a Founding Editor of ROLLING STONE: “Jim O’Donnell has a reporter’s curiosity, a rock ‘n’ roller’s heart, and he writes like a lyrical Irish poet.”