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Link Wray

Link Wray, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2005)

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Born
May 2, 1929
Died
November 5, 2005
Zodiac sign
Taurus
Birth year
1929

About Link Wray

Fred Lincoln "Link" Wray Jr. was an American guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist who became popular in the late 1950s. His 1958 instrumental single "Rumble" reached the top 20 in the United States, and was one of the earliest songs in rock music to use distortion and tremolo. Wray's first bands, The Lucky Wray Band and The Palomino Ranch Gang, formed in Portsmouth and included brothers Ray, Doug, and Vernon and two other musicians, Dixie Neal and Shorty Horton. Building on the distorted electric guitar sound of early records, Wray's first hit was the 1958 instrumental "Rumble". 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. 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.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Link Wray timeline

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Building on the distorted electric guitar sound of early records, Wray's first hit was the 1958 instrumental "Rumble".
  4. His 1958 instrumental single "Rumble" reached the top 20 in the United States, and was one of the earliest songs in rock music to use distortion and tremolo.

The world when Link Wray was born

Link Wray was born in 1929. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1929

  • #1 song"Singin' in the Rain"
  • Top movieThe Broadway Melody (first Best Picture winner)
  • Best-selling bookA Farewell to Arms – Ernest Hemingway

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentFirst baseball All-Star Game proposed
  • Top headlineStock market crashes on Black Tuesday
  • Technology milestoneFirst Academy Awards ceremony held
  • Defining fadYo-yos
  • Notable inventionCar radio
  • World population2.10 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderHerbert Hoover
  • Sports championPhiladelphia Athletics (World Series)
  • U.S. population121.8M

1929 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Link Wray's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19292026
Gas$0.21$3.45/gal
Average home$6,300$435,000
Average income$3,850$67,500
Movie ticket$0.25$11.95
Postage stamp$0.02$0.73
Population121.8M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, MusicBrainz, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.