33 Facts About Dick Dale

Dick Dale was a pioneer of surf music, drawing on Middle Eastern music scales and experimenting with reverb.

Dick Dale was one of the most influential guitarists of all time and especially of the early 1960s.

Dick Dale is cited as one of the fathers of heavy metal for pushing the limits of amplification.

Dick Dale was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Rock Instrumental Performance category for the song "Pipeline" with Stevie Ray Vaughan.

Dick Dale was born Richard Anthony Monsour in Boston, Massachusetts, on May 4,1937.

Dick Dale was of Lebanese descent from his father, James, and of Polish-Belarusian descent from his mother, Sophia "Fern".

Dick Dale learned the piano when he was nine after listening to his aunt playing it.

Dick Dale was given a trumpet in seventh grade, and later acquired a ukulele, after having become influenced by Hank Williams.

Dick Dale was influenced musically by his uncle, who taught him how to play the tarabaki and could play the oud.

Dick Dale then bought a guitar from a friend for $8, paying him back in installments.

Dick Dale learned to play the instrument, using both lead and rhythm styles, so that the guitar filled the place of drums.

Dick Dale referred to this as "the pulsation", noting all instruments he played derived from the tarabaki.

Dick Dale was raised in Quincy until he completed the eleventh grade at Quincy High School in 1954, when his father, a machinist, took a job working for Hughes Aircraft Company in the Southern California aerospace industry.

Dick Dale spent his senior year at and graduated from Washington Senior High School.

Dale began playing in local country western rockabilly bars where he met Texas Tiny in 1955, who gave him the name "Dick Dale" because he thought it was a good name for a country singer.

Dick Dale regularly used reverb, which became a trademark of surf guitar.

Dick Dale often played by reaching over the fretboard, rather than wrapping his fingers up from underneath.

Dick Dale partnered with Leo Fender to test new equipment.

Dick Dale obtained permission to use the 3,000 person capacity ballroom for surfer dances after overcrowding at a local ice cream parlor where he performed made him seek other venues.

Dick Dale later said "There was a tremendous amount of power I felt while surfing and that feeling of power was simply transferred into my guitar".

Dick Dale's playing style reflected the experience he had when surfing, and projecting the power of the ocean to people.

Dick Dale covered "Third Stone from the Sun" as a tribute to Hendrix.

Dick Dale recorded a new album in 1986 and was nominated for a Grammy.

Dick Dale was inducted to the Hollywood Rock Walk of Fame in 1996.

Dick Dale is a 2011 inductee into the Surfing Walk of Fame in Huntington Beach, California, in the Surf Culture category.

Dick Dale was scheduled to play the Australian One Great Night On Earth festival to raise funds to benefit those affected by the Black Saturday bushfires and other natural disasters.

Dick Dale said that he was forced to keep touring to the end of his life, because of his inability to afford his medical costs.

Dick Dale had many health issues, including diabetes, kidney failure, and vertebrae damage that made performing excruciatingly painful.

Dick Dale's first wife Jeannie in the 1970s was a Tahitian dancer in Hawaii and provided backup vocals for the 1975 release "Spanish Eyes".

Dick Dale later owned a home with a small private airstrip in the Mojave Desert east of Los Angeles, and flew his own private aircraft.

Dick Dale said that, for health reasons, he never used alcohol or other drugs, and discouraged their use by band members and road crew.

Dick Dale died in Loma Linda, California, on March 16,2019, at the age of 81.

Dick Dale was treated for heart failure and kidney failure prior to his death.