Les Paul memorial gifts flood in - 14/08/09

Rock and roll stars have paid tribute to guitar legend Les Paul, who has died at the age of 94, and many memorial gifts are now on their way.

The Gibson Guitar company said that the US musician died at a New York hospital due to complications from pneumonia. Les Paul influenced the course of rock and jazz music with the development of the guitar.

"Les Paul was a shining example of how full one's life can be," said Slash, the former lead guitarist of Guns N' Roses. "He was so vibrant and full of positive energy. I'm honoured and humbled to have known and played with him over the years, he was an exceptionally brilliant man."

The Beach Boys' chief songwriter Brian Wilson said: "He was the first guy to do multi guitar, multi track recording and that turned me on to guitars and stacking vocals for our records."

ZZ Top's Billy F Gibbons thought "brought six strings to electricity and electricity to six strings" and said: "Try to imagine what we'd be doing if hadn't come along and changed the world."

Les Paul memorial gifts flood in - 14/08/09

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