Frederick Lincoln "Link" Wray Jr (May 2, 1929 - November 5, 2005) was an American rock and roll guitarist, songwriter and occasional singer. Wray was noted for pioneering a new sound for electric guitars, as exemplified in his hit 1958 instrumental "Rumble", by Link Wray and his Ray Men, which pioneered an overdriven, distorted electric guitar sound, and also for having "invented the power chord, the major modus operandi of modern rock guitarist," "and in doing so fathering," or making possible, "punk and heavy rock". Rolling Stone included Link at number 67 on their list of the 100 greatest guitarist of all time. Wray was born in Dunn, North Carolina to Lillie M. ...show more

Frederick Lincoln "Link" Wray Jr (May 2, 1929 - November 5, 2005) was an American rock and roll guitarist, songwriter and occasional singer. Wray was noted for pioneering a new sound for electric guitars, as exemplified in his hit 1958 instrumental "Rumble", by Link Wray and his Ray Men, which pioneered an overdriven, distorted electric guitar sound, and also for having "invented the power chord, the major modus operandi of modern rock guitarist," "and in doing so fathering," or making possible, "punk and heavy rock". Rolling Stone included Link at number 67 on their list of the 100 greatest guitarist of all time. Wray was born in Dunn, North Carolina to Lillie M.

Coats and Frederick Lincoln Wray. It was there that Link first heard slide guitar at age eight from a traveling carnival worker, an African-American man named "Hambone." Wray was a veteran of the Korean war, where he contracted tuberculosis that ultimately cost him a lung. His doctors told him that he would never sing again. So Link concentrated on his heavy guitar work.

Despite this, on his rare vocal numbers he displays a strong voice and a range equivalent to Clarence "Frogman" Henry. Part Shawnee Indian, Wray frequently spoke of his ancestry in performances and interviews. Three of the songs he performed bear the names of American Indian tribes: "Shawnee", "Apache", and "Comanche." "Apache" was an instrumental composed by Jerry Lordan, which became a hit in the UK for The Shadows in 1960. Wray recorded one of the better covers of the song 30 years later, somehow finding new life in this mythic, minor-key, guitar/drum dialogue which by then was also associated with everyone from The Ventures to The Incredible Bongo Band. ...show less