Dick Dale, the undisputed king of surf guitat, died on March 16, 2019, of a reported heart attack, in Loma Linda, California, at 81. Born Richard Anthony Monsour in Boston, Mass., on May 4, 1937.  Dale, according to his bio on his website, "invented  surf music in the 1950's. He was given the title 'king of surf guitar' by his fellow surfers with whom he surfed from sun up to sun down. He met Leo Fender, the guitar and amplifier guru, and Leo asked Dale to play his new creation, the Fender Stratocaster electric guitar. The minute Dale picked up the guitar, Leo Fender broke into laughter and disbelief; he was watching Dale play a right handed guitar upside down and backwards. Dale was playing a right handed guitar left handed and changing the cords in his head then transposing the chords to his hands to create a sound never heard before.    According to Dale's Wikipedia entry, the guitarist drew on "Middle Eastern music scales and experimenting with reverberation. He worked closely with Fender to produce custom made amplifiers, including the first ever 100 watt guitar amplifier. He pushed the limits of electric amplification technology, helping to develop new equipment that was capable of producing distorted 'thick, clearly defined tones' at 'previously undteamed of volumes.' The 'breakneck speed of his single note stracato picking technique' and showmanship with the guitar is considered a precursor to heavy metal music, influincing guitarists such as Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Van Halen."    Dale was given a trumpet whwn he was in the seventh grade, then switched to ukulele after hearing Hank Williams. He also played piano, but bought and continued to learn how to play it after his family moved to Southern California in 1954 (where he became an avid surfer). He started out playing country and rockabilly music under the name Dick Dale before developing the sound that would come to be known as surf music. His performances at the Rendezvous Ballroom in Balboa, California, with his group the Del-Tones, became legendary. Dale's first singles included "Let's Go Trippin," in 1961, then he signed with Capital Records and placed two more singles-"King of the Surf Guitar" and "The Scavenger", both in 1963.  He also placed two albums on the Billboard chart, Surfers' Choice and Checkered Flag, borh in 1963. Dale maintained his career in the subsequent decades, performing until the time of his death, dispite health issues.