Les Paul earlier today died at the age of 94. (How unfortunate that he died, but at 94, sure he lived long... He did die of pneumonia complications.)
Les Paul was one of the guys that revolutionized the world of music, such as the solid-body electric guitar, overdubbing (sound on sound), delay and phasing effects and multitrack recording.
Without him there would be no modern music of any kind (pop, rock, etc.), and that even would mean there would be no Ayumi Hamasaki without the inventions of Les Paul...
Even there's Guitar Hero guitars that are named after Les Paul, so really the electric guitar is an important music tool.
In a nutshell: Without Les Paul, there would be no Beatles, no rock-and-roll, no pop, no boy bands, no Arashi, no Ayu, no modern music...
What do you think about the death of Les Paul? He's a really important guy that shaped the music world, so maybe we need some comments. Here are some links:
Wikipedia article -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Paul
Wired.com -
http://www.wired.com/underwire/2009/...d-rocks-genes/
Billboard.com -
http://www.billboard.com/news/les-pa...04003244.story
Los Angeles Times -
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituari...6971065.story; http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/comm...ead-at-94.html