ORANGE COUNTY, CA — Legendary musician Dick Dale, The King of the Surf Guitar, passed away Sunday morning. He was 81 years old.

Born Richard Anthony Monsour, Dale pioneered a punishing style of play that few could emulate but that would come to define the surf rock genre that exploded in the 1960s. It earned him a place as one of few musicians in the Surfer’s Hall of Fame. Despite battling illness, he continued to play until the end of his life. He enjoyed a resurgence in the mid 90s when a new generation of fans discovered his music, which was featured predominantly in Quentin Tarantino’s hit “Pulp Fiction.”

Famous for hits such as “Miserlou” and 1961’s “Let’s Go Trippin,” Dale worked with Leo Fender to develop and pioneer the famous Fender Stratocaster.

“When I met Leo Fender and he created the Stratocaster guitar, he wanted me to pioneer it, proof it, and help take all the bugs out of it,” Dale explained to the Miami New Times in 2011. “Everything that came out of Leo Fender’s head, I was his test pilot. He used to say, ‘When it can withstand the barrage of punishment from Dick Dale, then it is fit for the human consumption.'”

Born in Boston in 1937 of Lebanese descent, he famously drew upon Middle-Eastern music scales while experimenting with reverberation and breakneck speed to come up with his unique sound. He became an avid surfer in the late 1950s and 1960s and a fixture in the Huntington Beach surf scene when his family moved to Southern California while he was in high school. That’s when he worked with Fender, famously blowing up countless amps while perfecting his signature staccato picking technique that would inspire rock and roll greats such as Jimi Hendrix.

His music was featured in the Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello hit “Beach Party.”
Despite battling cancer and various illnesses, Dale toured for decades, playing right up until his death Sunday.

Dale explained in a 2015 interview that he simply had no choice but to tour. “I can’t stop touring because I will die” due to medical expenses stemming from cancer treatment, diabetes and renal failure, reported Rolling Stone. “I have to raise $3,000 every month to pay for the medical supplies I need to stay alive, and that’s on top of the insurance that I pay for.”

Dale credited his touring schedule with keeping him alive. He said his rumbling style sounded like being in the barrel of a wave.

“I never went to school and learned music theory. When I play, I go, ‘This sounds like a tiger; this sounds like a volcano; this sounds like the lip of the water coming over my head when I’m surfing,'” Dale told the Washington Post. “My bass player says, ‘When I stand behind you, I don’t just see your arms moving, I see your shoulders shuddering, your back straining.’ That’s because I put all my physical force into my playing. I take people for a ride on a non-chemical wave of sound.”

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Fans and friends alike shared their memories of Dale Sunday.

“Once I drove an hour and half to see Dick Dale perform at a horse track, and it was wonderful,” tweeted Seth Rogen.”

“R.I.P. Dick Dale, King of the Surf Guitar… Few players ever have or ever will impact rock’n’roll or the way the guitar is played the way he did,” tweeted TigerArmy singer Nick13, “I seldom missed him play live anywhere in Southern California- there was always inspiration to be gained. A true legend!”