Link Wray

Fred Lincoln 'Link' Wray Jr (May 2, 1929 – November 5, 2005) was a rock and roll guitar player most noted for introducing a new sound for electric guitars in his major hit, the 1958 instrumental "Rumble", by Link Wray and his Ray Men. Before Rumble, electric guitars were used to produce clean sounds and jazz chords. Wray made a new sound by inventing fuzz-tone, adding feedback, distortion and noise. He also pioneered the power chord.



Wray was born in Dunn, North Carolina. It was there that Link first heard slide guitar at age eight from a traveling carnival worker, a black man named "Hambone". Link and his family later moved to Norfolk, Virginia as his father got work in the Navy shipyards. Link served a hitch in the US Army and was a Korean War Veteran. In 1956, his family later moved to Washington DC, and from there, they moved to a farm in Accokeek, Maryland. Link relocated to Arizona with his brother Vernon in the very early 1970's, and later moved to San Francisco in the mid 1970's.



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 range equivalent to Clarence "Frogman" Henry.



After discharge from the Army, Wray and his brothers Doug and Vernon Wray, with friends Shorty Horton and Dixie Neale, formed Lucky Wray and the Lazy Pine Wranglers, later known as Lucky Wray and the Palomino Ranch Gang. They had been playing country music and Western swing for several years when they took a gig as the house band on the daily live TV show Milt Grant's House Party, a Washington D.C. version of American Bandstand The band made their first recordings in 1956 as Lucky Wray and the Palomino Ranch Gang for Starday Records.



For the TV show, they also backed many performers, from Fats Domino to Ricky Nelson. At a live gig in Fredericksburg, VA, attempting to work up a backing for The Diamonds' "The Stroll", they came up with the stately, powerful blues instrumental "Rumble", which they originally called "Oddball". The song was an instant hit with the live audience, which demanded four repeats that night. Eventually the song came to the attention of record producer Archie Bleyer of Cadence Records, who hated it, particularly after Wray poked holes in his amplifier's speakers to make the recording sound more like the live version (see "Rocket 88"). However, Bleyer's step-daughter loved it and it was released despite his protest. She was the one who suggested renaming the song "Rumble", because it reminded her of West Side Story. Rumble is slang for a "gang fight".



The menacing sound of "Rumble" (and its title) led to a ban on several radio stations, a rare feat for a song with no lyrics, on the grounds that it glorified juvenile delinquency. Nevertheless it became a huge hit, not only in the United States, but also Great Britain, where it has been cited as an influence on the The Who, among others. Pete Townshend stated in liner notes for a 1974 Wray album, "He is the king; if it hadn't been for Link Wray and 'Rumble,' I would have never picked up a guitar." Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, Marc Bolan, Neil Young and Bob Dylan have all cited Wray as an influence. He was named as one of the hundred greatest guitarists of all time by Rolling Stone magazine, but still has not yet been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He is, however, a member of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.



The band had several more hard-rocking instrumental hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including "Rawhide", "Ace of Spades", and "Jack the Ripper", the latter named after a "dirty boogie" dance popular in Baltimore at the time. The dirty boogie dance was among the several dance crazes featured in the 1988 film version of Hairspray.



After his initial hits, Wray's career had periods of retirement followed by renewed popularity, particularly in Europe. He toured and recorded two albums with retro-rockabilly artist Robert Gordon (musician) in the late 1970's. The 1980's to the present day saw a large amount of reissues as well as new material. Link's last new recording was 2000's "Barbed Wire". He was generally accompanied on tour by his wife Olive Julie, and his "colorful" Irish born road manager John Tynan. His regular backing band from 1996 until 2003 were bassist Atom Ellis and drummer Danny Heifetz of the band Dieselhed. He continued to tour up until four months before he died.



His music has been featured in numerous films, including Desperado, Pulp Fiction, Independence Day, 12 Monkeys, This Boy's Life, Blow, Johnny Suede, The Shadow and Pink Flamingos, which is set in Baltimore.



Part Shawnee Indian, Wray frequently spoke of his ancestry in performances and interviews. Three of his compositions bear the names of American Indian tribes: "Shawnee," "Apache," and "Comanche." He didn't write "Apache," the Jerry Lordan instrumental which became a hit in the UK for The Shadows in 1960. However, he recorded one of the better covers 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 to Grandmaster Flash.



He moved to Denmark in the 1980s after meeting and marrying a Danish student, Olive, who had been studying Native American culture. He lived his last years with Olive on a Danish island, touring frequently. Link Wray died November 5, 2005 at his home in Copenhagen. He was 76. He was buried at the Christian Church Cemetery in the eastern Copenhagen suburb of Christianshavn on November 18, 2005.



According to a note added by Deborah Wray on his Rockabilly Hall of Fame page, Link Wray was married four times and is survived by nine children: Fred Lincoln Wray III, Link Elvis Wray, Shayne Wray, Elizabeth (Beth) Wray Webb, Mona Kay Wray Tidwell, Bellinda Wray Muth, Rhonda Wray Sayen, and Charlotte Wray Glass. Print and online obituaries have only mentioned the wife and son he was living with at the time of his death, Olive and Oliver Christian Wray.



The most informative Link Wray site on the web, Wrays Shack 3 Tracks, has documented and displayed photos and videos of two other bands that were his continual touring bands on his very last two tours. He was backed by members of the Seattle band Jet City Fix for the duration of his next to last tour. His very last tour was booked and managed by Marc Mencher of Action Packed Events. Link's drummer on that tour was Gary Weiss of the rockabilly band Vibro Champs and he was backed on bass by Dale Hawkins' current bassist. The Vibro Champs website also features photos and video of Link's last touring band.



Robert Ehrlich, the governor of Maryland, declared January 15th to be Link Wray Day.



On March 25, 2006 Link was honored by "The First Americans in the Arts" with the Life Time Achievement Award.



On June 8, 2006, Link was inducted into the Native American Music Hall of Fame.