Fred Lincoln "Link" Wray Jr. (May 2, 1929 – November 5, 2005) was an American guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist who became popular in the late 1950s.
''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'' placed Wray at No. 45 of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time.
In 2013 and 2017 he was a nominee for the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
["Nirvana, Kiss, Hall and Oates Nominated for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame"](_blank)
. ''Rolling Stone''. October 16, 2013; retrieved October 16, 2013.
Early life
Wray was born on May 2, 1929, in
Dunn, North Carolina, to Fred Lincoln Wray, Sr. and his wife, Lillian Mae Wray (née Coats), whom her son identified as being
Shawnee
The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...
. He recounted that his family experienced discrimination, including times when they had to hide from the
Ku Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and Cat ...
.
Wray later said: "The cops, the sheriff, the drugstore owner—they were all Ku Klux Klan. They put the masks on and, if you did something wrong, they'd tie you to a tree and whip you or kill you."
Three songs Wray performed during his career were named for Indigenous peoples: "Shawnee", "
Apache", and "Comanche."
His two brothers, Vernon (born January 7, 1924 - died March 26, 1979) and Doug (born July 4, 1933 - died April 29, 1984), were his earliest bandmates.
Wray served in the
U.S. Army during the
Korean War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Korean War
, partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict
, image = Korean War Montage 2.png
, image_size = 300px
, caption = Clockwise from top:{ ...
(1950–53). He contracted
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, ...
, which hospitalized him for a year. His stay concluded with the removal of a lung, which doctors predicted would mean he would never be able to sing again.
Career
Building on the
distorted electric guitar sound of early records, Wray's first hit was the 1958
instrumental
An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to inst ...
"
Rumble". The record was first released on
Cadence Records (catalog number 1347) as by "Link Wray & His Ray Men". "Rumble" was banned in New York and Boston for fear that it would incite teenage gang violence, "rumble" being slang for a gang fight.
Before, during, and after his stints with major labels
Epic and
Swan
Swans are birds of the family Anatidae within the genus ''Cygnus''. The swans' closest relatives include the geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini. Som ...
, Wray released 45s under many names. Tiring of the corporate music machine, he began recording albums using a three-track studio he converted from an outbuilding on his brother's property that his father used to raise chickens, in
Accokeek, Maryland. He wrote and recorded the eponymously-titled LP ''
Link Wray'' (1971), on which he wrote about his frustrations. The
Neville Brothers have recorded two tracks from it, "Fallin' Rain" and "Fire and Brimstone".
While living in the San Francisco Bay Area in the early 1970s, Wray was introduced to
Quicksilver Messenger Service guitarist
John Cipollina by bassist
James "Hutch" Hutchinson. He subsequently formed a band initially featuring special guest Cipollina along with the rhythm section from Cipollina's band Copperhead, bassist Hutch Hutchinson, and drummer David Weber. They opened for the band
Lighthouse at the
Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles from May 15–19, 1974. He later did numerous concerts and radio broadcasts in the Bay Area, including at
KSAN and at promoter
Bill Graham's
Winterland Ballroom venue, with Les Lizama later replacing Hutchinson on bass. He toured and recorded two albums with retro-
rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western musical styles such as country with that of rhythm and b ...
artist
Robert Gordon in the late 1970s. The 1980s to the present day saw a large number of reissues as well as new material. One member of his band in the 1980s, session drummer
Anton Fig
Anton Fig (born 8 August 1952 in Cape Town, South Africa), known as "The Thunder from Down Under", is a South African session drummer, perhaps best known as the drummer and second-in-command for Paul Shaffer and the World's Most Dangerous Band ...
, later became drummer in the
CBS Orchestra
Paul Shaffer and the World's Most Dangerous Band is an American musical ensemble led by Paul Shaffer. It was David Letterman's house band for 33 years.
The band formed in 1982 to serve as house band for NBC's ''Late Night with David Letterman'' ...
on the ''
Late Show with David Letterman''. In 1994, he played on four songs of the album ''
Chatterton'' by French rocker
Alain Bashung.
He went on to release two albums of new music: ''Shadowman'' (1997) and ''Barbed Wire'' (2000).
In November 2017, Easy Eye Records announced the future release of two recently discovered recordings, "Son of Rumble", presumably a follow-up to 1958's "Rumble", and "Whole Lotta Talking", recorded in 1970. The recordings were issued as a 45rpm single in April 2018.
Easy Eye released another 45rpm single of newly discovered/unreleased material for RSD 2019, "Vernon's Diamond" b/w "My Brother, My Son". "Vernon's Diamond" was recorded circa 1958-59 and is an early version of "Ace of Spades", and "My Brother, My Son" was recorded at the same sessions as "Whole Lotta Talking" in 1970.
Personal life and death
Wray's first three marriages, to Elizabeth Canady Wray, Ethel Tidwell Wray, and Sharon Cole Wray, produced eight children. In the early 1980s, Wray relocated to Denmark and married Olive Povlsen, who became his manager.
Wray died of heart failure at his home in
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan a ...
, on November 5, 2005, at the age of 76.
Survivors included his nine children, 24 grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
Wray was cremated, and his ashes were buried in the crypt of the
Christian's Church, Copenhagen.
Musical style and influence
Link Wray's 1950s recordings "straddled
country
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, whi ...
and
rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western musical styles such as country with that of rhythm and b ...
".
[ He later performed surf influenced garage rock in the 1960s, swamp rock and country rock in the early 1970s and ]hard rock
Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest ha ...
in the late 1970s and onward.
Wray is credited with inventing the power chord.[ According to ]AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Music ...
's Cub Koda, Wray's instrumental recordings starting with "Rumble" through his Swan singles in the early 1960s laid the blueprints for " heavy metal, thrash, you name it." "Rumble" facilitated the emergence of " punk and heavy rock", according to Jeremy Simmonds.
Wray has influenced a wide range of artists. Jimmy Page
James Patrick Page (born 9 January 1944) is an English musician who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the rock band Led Zeppelin. Page is prolific in creating guitar riffs. His style involves various alternative ...
described Link Wray as having a "real rebel attitude" and credited Wray in the documentary '' It Might Get Loud'' as a major influence in his early career. According to ''Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'', Pete Townshend
Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend (; born 19 May 1945) is an English musician. He is co-founder, leader, guitarist, second lead vocalist and principal songwriter of the Who, one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s and 1970s.
Towns ...
of The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist and singer John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered ...
once said, "If it hadn't been for Link Wray and 'Rumble,' I never would have picked up a guitar." Mark E. Smith of The Fall wrote in his autobiography: "The only people I ever really looked up to were Link Wray and Iggy Pop... Guys like ray
Ray may refer to:
Fish
* Ray (fish), any cartilaginous fish of the superorder Batoidea
* Ray (fish fin anatomy), a bony or horny spine on a fin
Science and mathematics
* Ray (geometry), half of a line proceeding from an initial point
* Ray (gr ...
are very special to me." Iggy Pop and Neil Young
Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Fu ...
have also cited Wray as an influence on their work.
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
refers to Wray in his song "Sign Language", which he recorded as a duet with Eric Clapton in 1975: "Link Wray was playin' on a juke box I was payin'/ for the words I was saying, so misunderstood/he didn't do me no good" Both Dylan and Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originato ...
performed Wray's tune "Rumble" in concert as a tribute to the influential musician upon his 2005 death. In 2007, musician Steven Van Zandt inducted Link Wray into the Native American Music Hall of Fame with a tribute performance by his grandson Chris Webb and Native artist Gary Small.
Discography
Singles
Wray was a featured collaborator on Robert Gordon's 1977 single " Red Hot" (Private Stock 45-156). The single peaked at No. 83 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart.[ Note that, despite the correct credit on the record itself, the Billboard chart credited Wray as "Link Ray".]
Albums
Compilations
With Robert Gordon
See also
* Surf music
References
External links
*
Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World
* ttp://www.newyorknighttrain.com/zine/issues/2/linkw.html Mr. Guitar's City After Dark: Link Wray Obituarybr>Vernon Wray – features some unreleased Link photos
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wray, Link
1929 births
2005 deaths
20th-century American guitarists
20th-century American male musicians
American expatriates in Denmark
American country rock musicians
American hard rock musicians
American emigrants to Denmark
American male guitarists
American people who self-identify as being of Native American descent
American rockabilly guitarists
Apex Records artists
Burials at Christian's Church, Copenhagen
Cadence Records artists
Garage rock musicians
Guitarists from North Carolina
Norton Records artists
Okeh Records artists
People from Dunn, North Carolina
Protopunk musicians
Swamp rock musicians
Swan Records artists
United States Army personnel of the Korean War
United States Army soldiers