Dick Dale, the legend of surf music known for his 1962 hit ‘Misirlou‘, -originally a traditional song from the Eastern Mediterranean region.- (fame spread after used in Quentin Tarantino‘s “Pulp Fiction“), has died age 81. The sad news came from Sam Bolle, Dale’s live bassist, who confirmed to The Guardian that the legend died on Saturday night.
Dick Dale started of his career soe 6 decades ago, in the late 1950’s and remained active until today (had planned tour dates for 2019) despite his serious health issues.
His real name was Richard Anthony Monsour and was born in 1937 in Boston to a Polish mother and Lebanese father, picking up the guitar in the 50’s. That was it: Surf rock sound was born, since Dick Dale developed his distinctive sound by “adding to instrumental rock influences his Middle Eastern heritage, along with reverb sound and his rapid alternative picking style“.
Perhaps it’s not known that Dale was also behond the development of the Fender Stratocaster guitar, since he co-operated with Leo Fender for its creation.“Everything that came out of Leo Fender’s head, I was his test pilot,….He used to say: ‘When it can withstand the barrage of punishment from Dick Dale, then it is fit for the human consumption.’ So I blew up over 50 amplifiers. And that’s why they call me the Father of Heavy Metal.”Dale told the Miami New Times in 2011.
Surf the heavens, Dick Dale!
[source: https://www.theguardian.com]
Christos Doukakis