Born in Corning, New York

1. Created his own Signature Sound...Twang... and put the electric guitar at the forefront 

2. Sold millions of Hit Records

3. The "Duane Eddy" Signature Guitar 6120DE ...he was the first rock & roll artist to have his own guitar brand … with Guild then Gretsch

4. Lasting influence on music...from the Beatles to Bruce Springsteen to Joe Bonamasa to The Black Keys and many more

5.  Award winner …Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Grammy winner, Musicians Hall of Fame, Steuben County Hall of Fame, and many more

6. He was a pioneer, an innovator, an actor, a writer, a producer

7. He was a really nice guy

If there was a Mount Rushmore for guitar players, then Duane Eddy would be George Washington.---Deke Dickerson, guitar historian & musician

He grew up on country music like Hank Williams Sr., Lefty Frizzell, Chet Atkins, and George Jones, Duane Eddy was the first rock-era instrumentalist to become a star in the late 50's, early 60's.  He was the originator of the "twangy" guitar sound that influenced the Shadows and the Ventures, among others. Later, rock legends like The Beatles' George Harrison, Bruce Springsteen and Dire Straits' Mark Knopfler.  Mick Fleetwood, John Fogerty, too.  Duane Eddy was born in Corning, lived in the area until he was 12, then grew up in Arizona, where he formed a group with a high school buddy and began to perform at age sixteen.  In 1955, he and guitarist Al Casey formed the Rebels, he met the legendary Lee Hazlewood and three years later Eddy had his first big hit, "Rebel Rouser."  Before 1965, he had 19 more hits, including "Cannonball" (1958), "Forty Miles of Bad Road," "Some Kinda Earthquake" (1959) and "Because They're Young" (1960). Dick Clark promoted his music on his influential show, American Bandstand and The Dick Clark Show, and was his friend.  Duane had roles in movies and wrote songs for TV shows. He won a Grammy in 1987 for "Peter Gunn" for the UK's avant garde group The Art of Noise.  During the 1990s, Eddy’s music appeared on the soundtracks of such prominent films as Forrest Gump (1994), and Oliver Stone's  Natural Born Killers  (1994). The blockbuster movie, Forrest Gump features "Rebel Rouser" in the key scene, "Run, Forrest, Run." Duane Eddy has been a sought-after sessions musician with many of the greats.  And his last recording was on Mark Knopfler's Guitar Heroes (2024) which was #1 in the U.K.