the buzz log

You know how they say behind a great man is a great woman? Well, meet the woman behind guitar legend Les Paul: Singer and songwriter Mary Ford.

Lookups on the singer and songwriter crescendoed on news of Les Paul's death. Queries on "mary ford singer," "les paul mary ford," and "les paul and mary ford" all hit high notes. 

The couple made music together from the time they were introduced in the mid-1940s. Ford started out a country music singer, but once they married in 1949, the duo went on to record wildly popular jazz standards that sold millions of records — and hit number one with "How High the Moon" in 1951 and "Vaya Con Dios" in 1953. Although the hits are old, the sound is modern, thanks to Paul's technique of using layered musical tracks.

Yahoo! News quoted Paul explaining his overdubbing method this way: "I could take my Mary and make her three, six, nine, 12, as many voices as I wished." That seems obvious now, but it was ground-breaking when they were doing it.

The technique must have worked: The two earned a whopping 36 gold records and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

But you're not really famous till you have your own TV show. Check out clips of the kitschy "Les Paul and Mary Ford at Home Show." Think "Donnie and Marie" set in "Leave It to Beaver" land. Amazingly, the show aired from 1953 to 1960.

Although the two were known for their musical and personal partnership, the advent of rock and roll put their relationship on the rocks. The Los Angeles Times blog notes that Ford couldn't make the transition to the rocker sound, putting an end to their music and their marriage. The couple divorced in 1964. Ford died in 1977. Their music lives on.