Link Wray

Fred 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,"^[1] "and in doing so fathering," or making possible, "punk and heavy rock"^[2].

Discography

Singles

Release date	A-side	B-side	Label	Number
1958/March 31	Rumble	The Swag	Cadence	1347
1959/January 12	Raw-Hide	Dixie-Doodle	Epic	5-9300
1959/June 15	Comanche	Lillian	Epic	5-9321
1959/October	Slinky	Rendezvous	Epic	5-9343
1959	Vendetta (as Ray Vernon)	Roughshod	Scottie	NRS-3020
1960/March 7	Trail Of The Lonesome Pine	Golden Strings (Based On A Chopin Etude)	Epic	5-9361
1960/October 24	Ain't That Lovin' You Babe	Mary Ann	Epic	5-9419
1961/July 31	Jack The Ripper	The Stranger	Rumble	1000
1961/August 21	El Toro	Tijuana	Epic	5-9454
1962/March	Big City Stomp	Poppin' Popeye	Trans Atlas	M 687
1963/March 16	Rumble Mambo	Hambone	Okeh	4-7166
1963/April 6	The Black Widow	Jack The Ripper	Swan	S-4137
1963/September 21	Week End	Turnpike U.S.A.	Swan	S-4154
1963/December	Run Chicken Run	The Sweeper	Swan	S-4163
1964/March	The Shadow Knows	My Alberta	Swan	S-4171
1964/July	Deuces Wild	Summer Dream	Swan	S-4187
1965/February 13	Good Rockin' Tonight	I'll Do Anything For You	Swan	S-4201
1965	I'm Branded	Hang On	Swan	S-4211
1965	Girl from the North Country	You Hurt Me So	Swan	S-4232
1965	Ace of Spades	The Fuzz	Swan	S-4239
1966	The Batman Theme (with Bobby Howard)	Alone	Swan	S-4244
1966	Ace of Spades	Hidden Charms	Swan	S-4261
1967	Let the Good Times Roll (with Kathy Lynn)	Soul Train	Swan	S-4273
1967	Jack The Ripper	I'll Do Anything For You	Swan	S-4284
1979	It's All Over Now Baby Blue	Just That Kind	Charisma	CB-333

Albums

Release date	Title	Label	Number
1960 US	Link Wray & The Raymen	Epic	LN 3661
1962 US	Great Guitar Hits by Link Wray	Vermillion	V-1924
1963 US	Jack The Ripper	Swan	S-LP 510
1964 US	Link Wray Sings And Plays Guitar	Vermillion	V-1925
1963/2006	Link Wray Early Recordings	Rollercoaster/Ace
1971 US	Link Wray	Polydor	PD-24-4064
1971 US	Mordicai Jones (w/ Bobby Howard)	Polydor	PD-5010
1972 US	Be What You Want To	Polydor	PD-5047
1973 US	Beans and Fatback (rec. 1971)	Virgin	V-2006
1974 US	The Link Wray Rumble (rec. February 1974)	Polydor	PD-6025
1975 US	Stuck in Gear
1979 US	Bullshot
1979 US	Live at the Paradiso
1990 UK	Apache
1990 UK	Wild Side of the City Lights
1993 DE	Indian Child
1997 US	Shadowman
1997 UK	Walking Down a Street Called Love - live
2000 US	Barbed Wire