The Les Paul Foundation has announced the 2025 recipient of the Les Paul Spirit Award: Steve Miller. The award will be presented to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee on Monday, June 9th at a private event held at the Gibson Garage Nashville. The ceremony will take place on what would have been Paul’s 110th birthday.
The annual award is presented to an individual who exemplifies the spirit of Les Paul through innovation, engineering, technology and/or music. In addition to the award, a grant from the Les Paul Foundation will be made in the honoree’s name to the charity of his choice. Miller is the fifth recipient of the annual award, joining Bob Weir of Grateful Dead, Nile Rodgers, U2’s The Edge and Peter Frampton.
“I cannot think of anyone more deserving to be honored with the Les Paul Spirit Award than Steve Miller,” shared Michael Braunstein, Executive Director of The Les Paul Foundation. “Not only is he an extraordinary talent and a wonderful friend of the Les Paul Foundation, Steve holds the very distinct title of being Les’ godson. They had a very unique relationship which Les cherished. If anyone understands the ‘spirit’ of Les Paul, it’s Steve. If Les were still alive today, Steve and he would be jamming at his house regularly.”
Les Paul was a close friend of the Miller family, with Steve’s father even acting as the best man at Paul’s wedding. It was Paul who gave a young Steve his first informal guitar lessons and taught him his first three chords. They couldn’t have imagined that many years later, in 2005, Miller would join Paul on stage at his 90th birthday concert in New York City.
The award that will be presented to Miller is made from actual hand-carved acoustic boards built by Paul that he used in his home studio. Because of the unique nature of the material, no two Les Paul Spirit Awards are exactly the same.
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