Duane Eddy, the pioneering rock guitarist known for his instrumental ‘twang’, died Tuesday at the age of 86.
The Grammy-winning musician died of cancer in Franklin, Tennessee, surrounded by his family, according to his wife. Abbate Writing.
“Duane inspired a generation of guitarists around the world with his unmistakable ‘Twang’ sound,” said a representative. Variety. ‘He was rock and roll’s first guitar god, a truly humble and incredible human being. He will be missed.’
The musician gained fame with a series of instrumental hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including the theme to the television series Peter Gunn and Rebel Rouser.
He is recognized as the most commercially successful instrumental artist in the history of rock ‘n’ roll, with 16 top 40 singles and 100 million records sold worldwide.
Duane Eddy, the pioneering rock guitarist known for his instrumental ‘twang’, died Tuesday at the age of 86; seen in 1960
The Grammy-winning musician died of cancer in Franklin, Tennessee, surrounded by his family, according to his wife Deed Abbate; Duane and Deed in 2018
‘It had a distinctive sound that people could recognize and I stuck with that. I’m not one of the best technical players by any means; “I only sell the best,” he told The Associated Press in a 1986 interview.
‘Many guys are more skilled than me on the guitar. A lot of this is over my head. But some of that is not what I want to hear on guitar.’
‘Twang’ defined Eddy’s sound from his first album, Have Twangy Guitar Will Travel, to his 1993 box set, Twang Thang: The Duane Eddy Anthology.
“It’s a silly name for something that’s not silly,” Eddy told the AP in 1993.
“But it’s haunted me for 35 years, so it’s almost like sentimental value, at least.”
He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.
Eddy recorded more than 50 albums, including several reissues. Beginning in the 1980s, he reduced his work and claimed in 1986 that he was “living off my royalties.”
Born on April 26, 1938 in Corning, New York, Eddy began playing guitar at the tender age of five. When he was a teenager, he moved with his family to Arizona.
In Coolidge, Arizona, Eddy crossed paths with DJ Lee Hazlewood, who produced the budding guitarist’s 1958 single Rebel Rouser.
A year later, Eddy scored another hit with his performance of Henry Mancini’s theme song for the Peter Gunn private television series.
He also composed the theme music for films such as Because They’re Young, Pepe and Gidget Goes Hawaiian.
The musician gained fame with a series of instrumental hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including the theme to the television series Peter Gunn and Rebel Rouser; seen in 1961
Eddy recorded more than 50 albums, including several reissues. Beginning in the 1980s, he reduced his work and claimed in 1986 that he was “living off my royalties”, seen in 1986.
He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994; seen in 2023
Eddy’s distinctive style left a lasting impression on younger British musicians such as George Harrison of The Beatles and Hank Marvin of The Shadows, as well as inspiring numerous instrumental surf bands that emerged in Southern California in the early ’60s, according to Variety.
Bruce Springsteen later paid tribute to Eddy’s aggressive guitar approach through the expansive sound of Born to Run.
Eddy experienced a brief but notable resurgence in the late ’80s, marked by his collaboration with Art of Noise on a synth-heavy Peter Gunn remake.
This updated version rose to the top 10 in the UK charts and won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental in 1986.