Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Guitarist Duane Eddy Dead at 86

Duane Eddy, the pioneering guitarist and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, has died. He was 86.

According to the Arizona Republic, Eddy "died peacefully on April 30, surrounded by family members in Franklin, Tennessee."

The 1994 Rock Hall inductee was best known for his 1958 No. 6 hit "Rebel-'Rouser," an influential instrumental that showcased his twangy guitar sound. The song itself was also inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as one of the key songs in music history.

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Eddy was born in Corning, New York, in 1938 and began playing guitar when he was five. By 1955 he was living in Phoenix and began a long association with producer and songwriter Lee Hazlewood. His first record was in 1955 as Jimmy & Duane.

His first chart hit came in 1958 with "Movin' N' Groovin'." Later that year "Rebel-'Rouser" became a huge hit. Eddy's backing band, the Rebels, featured session musicians, including pianist Larry Knechtel.

What Songs Was Duane Eddy Known For?

Most of Eddy's singles over the next several years were billed as "Duane Eddy, His 'Twangy' Guitar and the Rebels." By the end of the '50s, he had reached the Top 40 a half-dozen more times, including the Top 10 song "Forty Miles of Bad Road."

Eddy continued to have hits in the '60s, including his all-time highest charting single, "Because They're Young," which made it to No. 4 in 1960. The song was featured in the movie Because They're Young, which Eddy starred in along with Dick Clark and Tuesday Weld.

He had racked up more than 30 chart hits by the time his last - a new version of the "Peter Gunn" theme with the Art of Noise, which won a Best Rock Instrumental Grammy - arrived in 1986.

In 1987, Eddy recorded a self-titled album with the Rebels that included guest performances by some of the many artists he influenced over the decades, including Ry Cooder, Steve Cropper, John Fogerty, George Harrison and Paul McCartney.

In addition to music, Eddy had appeared in other films, such as A Thunder of Drums and The Wild Westerners. His famous twangy guitar sound - played on a 1956 red Gretsch 6120 guitar - helped lead him to the title of "Rock 'n' roll's all-time #1 instrumentalist."