Fender Stratocaster
Sonny Landreth was born in Canton, Mississippi and grew up in Lafayette, Louisiana, grounding his musical foundation in the blues, jazz, zydeco and rock and roll. He played trumpet in school and switched to guitar in order to play in a rock band with fellow high school friends. One of his bands,...
Hank Marvin and his buddy, Bruce Welch, formed the instrumental rock band The Shadows in 1958 in England. The highly influential group pioneered the four-member rock band format consisting of lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass guitar and drums. They were the backup band for Cliff Richards for 35 of...
Johnny Smith played drums professionally with the Oak Ridge Boys and Travis Tritt, among others, before a group of investors approached him to help create the Songbirds Guitar Museum. Johnny was first asked to find the perfect city for the museum. In 2013, he traveled all around the states before...
David Kalt remembers, with a smile, the Fender Stratocaster he dreamed of as a kid. He also recalls that great day in 1985 when he finally got a 1970s Strat! The instrument has a special place in his own passion for music, an idea and feeling he never forgot. In fact, it was that passion for...
Will Glover was among the first wave of surf rock guitarists when he formed a band with several friends from high school in 1961. The Pyramids, the Long Beach, California based rock group had a big instrumental hit with “Penetration” in 1963. The songs success led to several important...
Sonny Curtis is thought to be the first person to have recorded a rock and roll song using the Fender Stratocaster. The recording date took place in Nashville with his friend Buddy Holly a year before Buddy recorded his first big hit called “That’ll Be the Day.” In fact, it was Buddy’s guitar...
Bobby Guitar Bennett was among the pioneering musicians who proved that Fender Stratocaster was the perfect instrument for the blues. Mr. Fender designed his electric guitar for country music and it was soon used by early rock and roll artists such as Buddy Holly, however it was Guitar Bennett and...
Robert Cray walked into his local music store as a kid and dreamed of owning his own Fender Stratocaster. After years of playing the blues, his career took off to the point that Fender approached him to create a Robert Cray model Stratocaster, which thrilled him to no end. He was also honored to...
Babe Simoni began working for the Fender Guitar Company in 1953. He was a teenager when George Fullerton hired him to work on the factory floor. Babe’s father had worked in the plant just the year before but had suffered a stroke and left the company. Babe worked on nearly every style of guitar the...
Dan Smith was inducted into Fender’s Hall of Fame for good reason. Dan designed the re-launching of the famous guitar company after it was sold by CBS. Dan’s vision was to bring the product back to the early concepts that originally made the Fender name famous. His success led to a long career with...