Dick Dale

Artist Playlists

About Dick Dale

Dick Dale, “King of the Surf Guitar,” was a technical virtuoso and trailblazing innovator. Born Richard Anthony Monsour in Boston, MA, in 1937, Dale learned to play country tunes on his ukulele and guitar as a teenager. He became a surfer when the family moved to Southern California in 1954 and, inspired by the motion of the ocean while wave-riding, he created his singular sound: the electrifying swing of 1961’s “Let’s Go Trippin’,” the first recorded surf-rock instrumental. In 1962, Surfer’s Choice featured the wild “Jungle Fever” and now-classic “Miserlou,” the latter of which propelled Dale to a midlife comeback when filmmaker Quentin Tarantino featured it in 1994’s Pulp Fiction. Dale’s lightning-fast staccato picking influenced phenoms like Eddie Van Halen; he tested the boundaries of amplification with the help of Fender; and he defined the sound of surf for generations to come. He died in 2019, after nearly six decades of music and with tour dates still scheduled.

HOMETOWN
Boston, MA, United States
BORN
May 4, 1937
GENRE
Rock
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