Life and Career
Del is an alumnus of the University of Pittsburgh where he majored in communications. After college, he moved to Hollywood and was invited to perform as the guitar and banjo soloist on the Lawrence Welk TV show. At that time, he also toured with "The Three Suns", RCA recording artists who were well known for their hit song "Twilight Time".
While on tour for their album "The Three Suns in Japan", he introduced his new invention, the "Ecco-Fonic", a tape echo device that was portable and could create echo effects that were previously possible only in the studio using large, expensive tape machines. At that time he became friends with Ikutaro Kakehashi, who was the founder of the Roland Music Corporation of Japan. Later, Mr. Kakehashi, as chairman of Roland, invited Del to Japan to perform and introduce the first Roland guitar synthesizer. He signed on with Japan Victor and Japan's Union Records as a featured artist on more than 16 hit albums.
At that time, he was a much sought after studio guitarist in Hollywood. Paramount Pictures chose him to appear with Elvis Presley in his movie "Roustabout". Elvis liked Del’s guitar playing so much he invited him to join his friends for future engagements. Del then received a contract to appear on Gene Autry’s Melody Ranch TV show. During this part of his career, he played with a diverse assortment of musicians, ranging from Eddy Arnold, Connie Francis, and Bobby Vinton to Sonny and Cher and Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention.
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