Happy Birthday to Link Wray

Happy Birthday to Frederick Lincoln "Link" Wray Jr (May 2, 1929 – November 5, 2005). He was an American rock and roll guitarist, songwriter and vocalist who first came to popularity in the late 1950s.

Building on the overdriven, distorted electric guitar sound of early electric blues records, his 1958 instrumental hit "Rumble" by Link Wray and his Ray Men invented "the power chord, the major modus operandi of modern rockguitarists," making possible "punk and heavy rock." Rolling Stone placed Wray at number 45 of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. In 2013 he was announced as a nominee for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Artwork by Dominic Bugatto

Listen to Link Wray "Rumble"