Rock Hall Helped LINK WRAY’s Daughter Say Goodbye

Link Wray 1929~2005

The eldest daughter of late guitar pioneer Link Wray has told how a private visit to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame helped her say goodbye to her father.

Wray, who’s credited with the development of the power chord and distortion, passed away in 2005, aged 76. But he lived in Denmark while his eight children remained in the USA – and by the time they’d heard he was dead, the funeral had already taken place.

Daughter Beth Wray Webb didn’t achieve any closure until her visit to the Rock Hall’s vault in Cleveland, Ohio, where staff showed her a guitar her father had donated.

She tells the Daily Press: “I started crying. I never got to say goodbye to him, but I did that day – it was like he was right there with me.”

Wray was shortlisted for induction into the Hall Of Fame in April, but didn’t make the cut. But Webb, who looks after the affairs of his estate, believes it’s just a matter of time before her father’s contribution to rock history is acknowledged by the organisation.

“Daddy did music his way. He told them, ‘Ain’t nobody going to tell me how to play my music,’” she says.