Feb. 7 - Grammy Award-winning artist and Gibson namesake Les Paul will be honored with a special, tribute concert at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Los Angeles. Featured artists performing during the tribute include Slash, Merle Haggard, Alison Krauss, Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, Neal Schon of Journey, Joe Satriani, Buddy Guy, Edgar Winter, Jerry Douglas, Switchfoot, Hubert Sumlin, Twisted Sister and Steve Lukather of Toto.

It has been quite a year for Les Paul. Not only did he celebrate his 90th birthday on June 9, 2005, but Les has also been inducted into the Inventor's Hall of Fame, received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Songwriter's Hall of Fame, been the focus of a live tribute concert at Carnegie Hall's JVC Festival, and completed the recording of his first album since 1978 for which he has been nominated for two Grammys. On top of all that, the city of Los Angeles is expected to be naming a street after him.

Beginning his long career as a professional musician before he was even 20, Les Paul worked for the Armed Forces Radio during World War II, and afterwards began working with NBC Radio. By 1952 Les Paul was not only the most popular guitar player in America, he was also a leading innovator in guitar and electronics design. He had been experimenting with electric guitars for as long as there had been electric guitars. He had once mounted a guitar string to a railroad tie to confirm his belief that a solid body guitar would maximize sustain, and attached wings to a pine 4x4 to create an early homemade solid body electric guitar he nicknamed "The Log."

Les approached Gibson in the '40s with his ideas for a solid body electric guitar, but Gibson was already leading the industry with archtop electric guitars. Furthermore, Gibson traditionally had been very conservative when it came to aligning with artists. In the company's history, only two players had their names on Gibson models: Nick Lucas, an early guitar star and crooner whose "Tip Toe Through the Tulips" was the biggest recording of 1929, and Roy Smeck, a multi-instrumentalist so talented he was nicknamed "The Wizard of the Strings."

In the early '50s, when the solid body guitar first became commercially viable, Gibson designed an instrument that would change the image of the solid body electric from a simple plank of wood to an elegant, stylish piece of art. Such a guitar would be a radical move for a traditional company like Gibson, but Gibson had been founded on the radical mandolin and guitar designs of Orville Gibson back in the 1890s. This new model would have the same carved-top contours that had set Orville's instruments apart from all others.

With the new model almost ready for market, Gibson approached Les Paul, the obvious choice to help launch it. Les was already intimately familiar with the unique characteristics of a solid body electric guitar. And he was at the top of his career. His 1948 hit, "Brazil," featured six guitar parts, all played by Les in a virtuoso demonstration that would eventually earn him recognition as the father of multi-track recording. When he combined his guitar and electronic talents with the vocals of his wife Mary Ford, the result was gold—two million-selling records in 1951, "Mockin' Bird Hill" and "How High the Moon."

The Les Paul Model, as it was originally called, has changed little since its debut in 1952. Except for an updated bridge and humbucking pickups, the Les Paul Standard of today is still the same guitar. The Les Paul has been the driving force behind many changes in popular music. It powered the blues rock sound of the late '60s and the southern rock of the late '70s. By the '90s, the Les Paul was providing signature sounds for every genre of rock, from alternative to metal. To this day, Les Paul continues to play on with his signature Gibson Les Paul guitar, mesmerizing crowds every Monday evening at the Iridium Jazz Club in New York.

For more information about the tribute to Les at the Gibson Amphitheatre in L.A., Go HERE!