He's been called "The Father of the Power Chord" - "The Granddaddy of Punk" (and heavy metal, grunge, thrash, etc. etc. etc.). The list just goes on and on.
He has inspired countless numbers of musicians, from garage bands to the likes of Ray Davies, Neil Young, Bob Dylan and Pete Townsend.
It’s next to impossible to determine how many people Link Wray has influenced in their processes of learning guitar, but one of them, Peter Townshend of The Who, summed it up thusly: "[He] is the King; if it hadn’t been for Link Wray and "Rumble," I would never have picked up a guitar."
http://www.fullcirclepros.com/link/linkbio.htm Frederick Lincoln Wray, Jr. was born on May 2, 1929 in Dunn, North Carolina. Link's family was very poor. As Link has said, "Elvis came from welfare, I came from below welfare." Link's mom was Shawnee Indian and his interest in music began when Link was 8. He was sitting in the porch trying to play guitar when an old black guitar player named HAMBONE walked by and taught him the sound of the blues. Link has said when HAMBONE started playing bottleneck slide guitar, hw was hooked. He knew what he wanted to do. At age 13, Link's family moved to Portsmouth Virginia.
Link's first band was in the late 40's with his brothers Doug and Vernon, playing Western Swing, or as Link puts it "rock and roll before it was rock and roll." Vernon ("Lucky") Wray was the lead singer. This band also included Wray's good friend (and later Wrayman) Brantley "Shorty" Horton, as well as Dixie Neal (some articles spell his name Neale). The band became popular in town, backing many Country and Western artists of the day who came through town playing the various fairs and daily AM radio shows. At first, the band was called Lucky Wray and the Lazy Pine Wranglers, later they were the catchier Lucky Wray and the Palomino Ranch Hands.
Link served in the US Army during the Korean War. During his tour in Germany, Link caught TB. This wasn't discovered until after he was discharged from the service. This illness cost him a lung. Link has often said at this time he was in the "death house" and if it were not for his Guardian Angel, he would have been dead.
Returning home from the war, Link again joined his brothers Doug and Vernon in Lucky Wray's Palomino Ranch Hands. During this time, they gigged with Gene Vincent at a local hangout in Virginia, the Rathskeller.
In 1955, the Wray's moved to the Washington DC area. Longtime country and western artists, they fast became influenced with the Big Beat. Link, hampered a bit in singing by his one lung, became the anchor of the band through his heavy guitar work. With Doug's heavy drumming, they were on to something new. They were regulars among the DC club circuit, playing such clubs as Stick's, Ray's Bar and Grill, Benny's Rocket Room and the Ozark Club.
Like many DC artists of the day, Link and his brothers were taken under the wing of Milt Grant, DC's version of Dick Clark. Milt hosted the weekly "MILT GRANT SHOW", a record hop shown on WTTG, Channel 5 in DC. At some point around this time, Vernon began a recording studio in DC, and his involvement in performing took a back seat to production work and artist management. The band now consisted of Link, his brother Doug on drums, and Shorty Horton on bass. The "Wraymen" became the house band on the Milt Grant Show, backing many national rock and roll artists of the day.
It was at a Milt Grant Record Hop in Fredericksburg Virginia that the most famous instrumental in rock and roll was first heard.
--- THE RUMBLE BEGINS ---
One of the most popular groups of the day was The Diamonds, who had a hit song called "The Stroll." Grant needed the Wraymen to back the Diamonds, and while the band was on stage, Milt asked them to do a stroll. Link said "I don't know no stroll". His brother Doug started hammering out a basic stroll beat.
Link says it was then that "Jesus God" zapped Rumble into him and history was made. How'd The Diamonds do that night? Didn't matter. The kids went crazy over the new song Link and the boys just played. In fact, they played it four times that night!
Realizing that there could be money to be made, Grant had the band lay it down on tape. Link had trouble getting that "dirty" sound as the band did at Fredericksburg that night, so he took a pencil and punched holes in the tweeters of the speakers. Guitar distortion was born.
Grant took the demo to Archie Bleyer of Cadence Records. He hated it.
His teenage daughter on the other hand, loved it. The original song title was "Oddball", but Bleyer named it RUMBLE, as his daughter said it reminded her of West Side Story. It was banned in several cities on the East Coast, as it was deemed to "suggestive." (pretty amazing for a song with NO words!) It sold 4 million copies.
More labels came and went, but the music kept coming, such as THE SWAG (later heard in John Water's PINK FLAMINGOS) the all out rocker RAWHIDE, ACE OF SPACES and JACK THE RIPPER (named not after the infamous killer, but a 'dirty dance' being done by the kids in Baltimore and DC). More music followed, all incredible, but never quite reaching the commercial success of RUMBLE.
In the mid-60's, Link retired from the national music scene and moved to the family compound in Accokeek Maryland. The Wray home has been described as a farm, or being in "rural" Accokeek, but it's now just a suburb of Washington, D.C. with houses all around.
During the late 50s and 60s, Link became a regular performer at local DC and Southern Maryland roadhouses such as the Wigwam, 301 Restaurant and Stardust in Waldorf. Slot machines were legal in Southern Maryland at that time (there were more there than in Vegas at the time!), making the Wraymen very much in-demand at these places. One interesting gig included backing Southern Maryland rockabilly Vince Maloy at a wedding reception at the Brandywine Firehouse in Brandywine, Maryland.
Link, now with Wraymen Doug Wray, Ed Cynar (who replaced Shorty on bass in 1964), Chuck Bennett and Jack Van Horn still cranked out many hours of music, recording at a converted chicken coop on the Wray Family Farm, dubbed WRAY'S SHACK THREE TRACKS. (from where this web site gets its name)
Link was "rediscovered' in 1970 while playing a gig at the 301 Restaurant in Waldorf Maryland, with music from the shack finding it's way on several major label releases. His first return to the majors was the LP LINK WRAY.
In the early 1970's, Link relocated to California (by way of Arizona). It has long been rumored that when Vernon sold the Wray home, he took reels and reels of unreleased tape and buried them on the property.
While in California, Link tried his hand at early 70's style country-rock that was popular - this period of Link was waxed on BE WHAT YOU WANT TO, MORDICAI JONES and the UK released BEANS AND FATBACK. Link later drifted back to the tried-and-true rock and roll with the release of THE LINK WRAY RUMBLE.
Moving on to the mid 1970's, Link teamed up with DC hometown boy Robert Gordon on a few neo-rockabilly releases on Private Stock Records, such as FRESH FISH SPECIAL and ROBERT GORDON W/LINK WRAY.
By the late 70's, Link had the urge to strike out on his own again. He released BULLSHOT on Visa Records. Unknown at the time, this was to be Link's last US release of new material until 1997. It was during this time that Link did his first overseas tour of places such as Amsterdam and Denmark.
--- PACKING UP AND MOVING ON ---
It was during this time that Link released one of his best records, LINK WRAY LIVE AT THE PARADISO. It was not available in the US, forcing state side Link fans to scour the import shops. Sad, but with the exception of Norton Records, US labels in the states have all but ignored Link for the past 21 years.
During this time, Link married Olive Poulsen, and had a son, Oliver. Link moved to an island off the coast of Denmark, living the life of a recluse and playing the all-too-rare gig.
Link toured the states in January and February of 1985, which was captured on the record LIVE IN '85. This tour also saw Link's last gig in the DC area, at the Wax Museum. The tour culminated with an appearance on MTV, on the one hour GUITAR GREATS special. Two songs were broadcast, RUMBLE and the vocal TRYING TO FIND YOUR LOVE, which later appeared on the Denmark-only release INDIAN CHILD.
Link's new material continued throughout the late 80's and into the 90's, with releases on overseas labels such as Sony, Big Beat and most notably, Ace Records. Link's classic material was packaged and repackaged by many labels over the years.
During the 1990's, Link finally started to receive his long overdue recognition in the US as a true rock and roll legend. His music has been featured in such big budget movies as BREATHLESS, DESPERADO, INDEPENDENCE DAY, 12 MONKEYS, THIS BOY'S LIFE and PULP FICTION, BLOW, as well as the low budget classic JOHNNY SUEDE starring Brad Pitt. His music has also been used in a TACO BELL commercial in the states. Most recently, THE SWAG was featured in the George Clooney movie, CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND.
Link has become much more active, playing gigs in 1996 in the UK. These showed up on the WALKING DOWN A STREET CALLED LOVE CD and the great video RUMBLEMAN, which have recently been re-released on Cherry Red Records. He also did a two week tour in Australia. TV appearances were made on both continents.
In 1997, a new US Link release finally saw the light of day. SHADOWMAN was release on Hip-O Records, followed by Link's first stateside tour in almost 15 years.
To ring in the new century, Link released BARBED WIRE on Ace Records. Not yet available from a stateside label, you can order it from amazon.com. With the new record, Link toured the US in September of 2000. This was followed by a week in Spain with Deke Dickerson.
That fall, Link was to have returned to the states for a few gigs at the Continental Club, followed by a reunion with Robert Gordon in New York. These gigs were cancelled for reported health reasons.
In July of 2002, Link returned to the states for a month long tour. I had the honor of catching him on his tour opener in Columbus Ohio on July 3, 2002. (only a 1000 mile round trip in two days!) He looked pretty thin, perhaps recovering from the earlier illness. Not to worry, he can still run circles around guys 50 years younger than he is.
Keeping busy, Link had scheduled a few gigs on the West Coast with Big Sandy and the Fly Rite Boys, but these were also cancelled due to reported eye surgery for Link.
In the early months of 2003, he's back at it again, with a six week tour of the US. Link is accompanied on this tour by the Seattle band The Jet City Fix. Two of the band's members back Link on his set. Link looks better than ever, and many concert goers report that with the new back-up band he's got an even heavier sound (is that even possible?!!?) and this energizes him and he's playing better than he ever has.
FORTY FIVE YEARS after his first hit, Link Wray is still tearin' it up! BUT....it's hard to believe that he has been IGNORED by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Please sign the petition so this genuine rock and roll guitar legend can assume his rightful place in the Hall of Fame.
http://www.fullcirclepros.com/link/linkrrhof.htm (special thanks to Wrayman Ed Cynar for clarifying some of this info!)
http://home3.inet.tele.dk/sba/bio.htm Out of the shack came his first album simply titled Link Wray [Polydor, 24-40641] which was symbolic in that it marked the first time he had been given a chance to show his dobro work, as well as his vocal capabilities. The July 8, 1971 issue of Rolling Stone in reviewing the album said that, "Wray’s voice is vital, driving, and somehow retains that Brando/Dean ambience."
For slide effect Link uses a 1910 Gibson (tuned to D fitted with DeArmond pickup) that he sent back to the factory for restoration. The great sound of this model is evidenced on two cuts on that first album "Juke Box Brimstone."
For the standard electric, he owns a Yamaha 180 that he picked up in Nashville for $100. "It has a small neck like the Danelectro guitar," Wray says, adding "That’s the reason I like it – because I have small hands." He claims that the body has such an amazing similarity to a Fender that in the past an article appeared mistakenly titled "Link Wray and the Screaming Red Fender."
Wray uses a standard tuning, but sometimes tunes below that in order to get more og a blues-type sound. "With soft strings," he says, "you don’t have to worry about bending them. But with a lower tuning, it’s the sound of the string itself that you get in the amplifier. It’s more of a down sound." His regular strings are Fender Rock and Roll 150’s, sometimes Ernie Ball Slinkies. He doesn’t believe in changing a string until it’s completely dead. In fact he thinks that the sound of a string increases in quality with age. "Often a string that gets a little old sounds better, because it gets a little mellow," Wray explains. "When you first put them on, they’re so new they have a sharp scratchy sound, and I really don’t dig it."
Link knew that since he had come out of seclusion he could not spend the rest of his career recording in Accokeek. As luck would have it, he met the perfect producer for his type of sound, Thom Jefferson Kaye, who also produces London Wainwright (of "Dead Skunk" fame), Mike Bloomfield, and others. The two worked together in perfect harmony on Link’s album, Be What You Want To, cut at San Francisco’s Wally Heider studios using some of the most incredible sidemen in the business. David Bromberg sat in on the session and played acoustic gut string with Link in a little instrumental called "Morning," for which David affectionately supplied the title. Bromberg also can be heard on "You Walk By" and a stirring version of "Lawdy Miss Clawdy." "He’s a hell of a musician – he’s got a lot of good ideas, too," recalls Wray. Moreover, Jerry Garcia as well just walked in and said, "I’m here to play," and had his road people bring his instruments in. When Kaye tried to pay him for the stint Jerry got insulted and said he didn’t come there for the money, he just came to play. Garcia’s pedal steel magic can be heard on "Walk Easy, Walk Slow." "You Walk By" also featured Commander Cody on piano.