Duane Eddy obituary

During the late 1950s, for a lot of teens who were growing up between the Elvis and Beatles era, the sound of Duane Eddy's electric guitar was a powerful representation of the American dreams. It was a deep, dark, and especially twangy sound that conveyed an unparalleled yearning for things like blue jeans, neon signs, cotton candy, and cars with shiny chrome tailfins.

Eddy, who passed away at the age of 86, took advantage of the widespread love for instrumental music during his time and produced a series of chart-topping hits. His success began in 1958 with the release of Rebel-Rouser and continued with other popular tracks like Peter Gunn, Shazam, Forty Miles of Bad Road, and Because They're Young.

There was a person who motivated young people to play the guitar, and he did it in a way that seemed easy. This was different from many other guitarist legends, especially those who came later, as this person didn't show off his speed or skills. However, his sound influenced important works such as Ennio Morricone's music in Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns and the album Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen.

In 1960, Eddy's initial collection of popular songs was released under the audacious name of $1,000,000.00 Worth of Twang, which was not entirely untrue. Subsequently, a second volume was released a couple of years later, claiming to possess an additional million dollars' worth of entertainment. In 1987, Eddy created an album that boasted a list of famous guest stars. Among those who eagerly lined up to participate were Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Steve Cropper, and Ry Cooder.

Eddy originated from Corning, an insignificant settlement situated on the banks of the Chemung River in the State of New York. His mom, Alberta (previously known as Granger), and dad, Alfred Eddy, who worked driving a truck delivering bread and later on ran a provision store, brought him into the world. During his adolescent years, the clan relocated to Arizona, initially to Tucson and then eventually fixed in Coolidge. From the age of five, Eddy had already begun to strum the strings on his guitar. At the age of 16, he united with his companion, Jimmy Delbridge, to constitute a duo dubbed Jimmy and Duane.

During their time on a nearby radio network, Eddy and Delbridge encountered the individual who would shape Eddy's profession: a disc jockey called Lee Hazlewood. Hazlewood was a veteran of the Korean War with aspirations as a music composer and recording producer. Soon afterward, Eddy and Delbridge became members of a country band named Buddy Long & the Western Melody Boys, but Hazlewood had bigger plans for one of them.

Back in 1957, Eddy made a swap by trading his Gibson Les Paul guitar for a shiny, new Gretsch - the 6120 Chet Atkins model. This fancy instrument had a hollow body design and was cut out in a single shape, with some noticeable f-holes and a Bigsby tremolo arm. It was a bit expensive, costing around $385. Together with Hazlewood overseeing things and Lester Sill taking care of finances, Eddy and a crew of session players recorded four tracks in a Phoenix recording studio. Hazlewood even spiced things up by adding an echo chamber constructed from a colossal 2,000-gallon water tank.

Thanks to Sill's connections within the music industry, Duane Eddy and the Rebels' first single was released by the Jamie label in Philadelphia. Eddy and Hazlewood co-wrote the track, named "Movin' and Groovin'," which went on to make it into the US Top 100. The next song they released, "Rebel-Rouser," was even more successful. The addition of vocal whoops and a coarse-toned tenor saxophone solo by Gil Bernal, a music veteran, gave the already unique track a memorable sound. "Rebel-Rouser" went on to reach the US Top 10 and the UK Top 20.

Back in 1958, he dropped his debut album named Have "Twangy" Guitar, Will Travel. It featured some of his early hits and some emotional masterpieces like Ramrod, Stalkin', and Three-30 Blues. This album was a huge success and made its way to No. 5 on the US album chart even though it was primarily targeted towards young audiences, whereas most albums were bought by grown-ups during that period.

During the summer of 1959, Eddy created his own rendition of the intro music to the well-known crime show Peter Gunn. By adding in Plas Johnson's forceful saxophone playing, recorded at the Gold Star studio in Hollywood, the initially sleazy tune produced by Henry Mancini took on a dark, threatening tone and became something entirely different.

There was a shift in tone for Eddie and Hazlewood's music in 1960's "Because They're Young". It was a departure from their usual aggressive style found in "Some Kinda Earthquake" and "Shazam". Instead, this song had a more romantic feel with the addition of sweeping strings. This change helped attract a wider audience and the song became a huge success, reaching No 2 in the UK and No 3 in the US. Although they briefly had a disagreement over a contract, Eddie and Hazlewood reunited in 1962 to craft another hit called "(Dance With the) Guitar Man", which also reached the Top Five.

During the early 1960s, there was a popular trend for instrumental music, which inspired other artists to join in on the action, such as the Ventures in the United States and the Shadows in the United Kingdom. However, once the Beatles arrived in 1963, the focus shifted from instrumentals back to songs and vocalists. As a result, Eddy's songs began to lose popularity and were no longer reaching high positions on the music charts.

This blog talks about a very attractive man who worked as an actor in a few movies. One of these movies was about high school drama, called Because They're Young, and it starred Dick Clark and Tuesday Weld. He also acted in the TV western series called Have Gun – Will Travel, which featured Richard Boone. Interestingly, he even composed the theme tune for the show called The Ballad of Paladin. Eventually, he switched his focus and began producing records for Phil Everly and Waylon Jennings. Interestingly, Eddy's second wife was country singer Jessi Colter, who was previously married to Waylon Jennings. Eddy and Jessi got married after Waylon and Jessi's seven-year marriage ended in 1968.

Eddy got invited to play his guitar in some famous songs and movies over the years. First, in 1972, he played a small part in BJ Thomas's hit song Rock and Roll Lullaby. Then, in 1986, he worked with Art of Noise and played guitar on their version of Peter Gunn. This was a really cool post-modern take on the song and it won a Grammy award for best rock instrumental that year. Later on, Eddy played guitar on the 1995 hit Until the End of Time by Foreigner. And the year after that, he contributed to Hans Zimmer's soundtrack for Broken Arrow.

In 2010, a performance at the Royal Festival Hall in London was completely booked, leading to the creation of a fresh album entitled Road Trip. Sheffield, the location of the record's producer Richard Hawley, was chosen as the recording site. The musician Eddy was involved in promoting the album, making an appearance at the Glastonbury festival in 2011.

Just like when he got married to Colter (who was originally named Mirriam Johnson), Eddy's first marriage with Carol Puckett didn't last and they got divorced. Eddy is now survived by his third wife, Deed Abbate, and has three children, five grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.