Duane Eddy was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 on the strength of a career he launched in 1958 with the million-selling instrumental “Rebel Rouser.”
The most commercially successful instrumental artist in the history of rock ‘n’ roll, the Grammy-winning guitarist died peacefully on April 30, surrounded by family members in Franklin, Tennessee.
He was 86.
Eddy was born in Corning, New York. He was honored by the City of Corning on June 7, 2017, when that day was officially declared “Duane Eddy Day.” He was later honored by the Steuben County Hall of Fame in 2022. A newly formed group, called the Corning Duane Eddy Circle, is working to honor his life and what he has meant to the City of Corning.
While he was raised in New York State, Eddy moved to Tucson, then to Coolidge, Arizona, with his family as a teenager.
It was while living in Coolidge that he hooked up with a DJ named Lee Hazlewood, who cut the young guitarist’s instrumental breakthrough, “Rebel Rouser,” in a Phoenix studio called Audio Recorders.