“I cannot think of anyone more fitting”: Peter Frampton to receive the annual Les Paul Spirit Award
Guitar legend Peter Frampton has been announced as the 2024 recipient of the Les Paul Spirit Award. The event, held on 9 June at a private event at the Gibson Garage Nashville, takes place on what would have been Les Paul’s 109th birthday.
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The annual award, created and presented by the Les Paul Foundation in partnership with Gibson Gives (the philanthropic division of Gibson), is awarded to an individual who exemplifies the spirit of the late Les Paul through innovation, engineering, technology and/or music. Previous recipients of the award include Bob Weir, Nile Rodgers and U2 guitarist The Edge.
In addition to the award, a grant from the Les Paul Foundation will be made in Frampton’s name to the charity of his choice.
In 1976, Frampton released what would go on to become one of the greatest live albums in music history, Frampton Comes Alive! His use of the talk box to create a human and guitar hybrid sound on the tracks Do You Feel Like We Do and Show Me the Way was also unprecedented at the time.
“I cannot think of anyone more fitting to be honoured with this year’s Les Paul Spirit Award than Peter Frampton,” said Michael Braunstein, Executive Director of The Les Paul Foundation in a statement. “Not only is he an extraordinary talent who has given us an amazing array of extraordinary music, but he is an innovator who understands music, technologies, and the spirit of Les Paul. If Les were still alive today, I have absolutely no doubt that he and Peter would be experimenting together at Les’s house.”
The Les Paul Spirit Award is made from actual hand-carved acoustic boards built by Paul that he used in his home studio. No two Les Paul Spirit Awards are exactly the same, given the unique nature of the studio pieces which are being used to create them.
Meanwhile, Frampton has also been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s class of 2024. Reacting to the news, the musician told Billboard: “I think I’m a little bit in shock, and speechless.”
“I never expected this. People always said, ‘You should be in.’ I said, ‘Eh, what is to be,’ y’know? So mixed emotions, because it’s something that I just never expected, whereas other people did for me. [laughs] It’s wonderful.”
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
