alternatehistory.com

On the 100th anniversary of his birth, let's remember that he came close to fatally electrocuting himself in 1941:

"That led to a fateful jam session in 1941. "I stuck my hand in the transmitter when I shouldn't have," he said in *The Early Years*. Still holding his guitar, he was hit with high voltage.

"Bassist Ernie Newton knocked the guitar away in time to save him. Paul was then immersed in a tub of ice immediately, before going to a hospital, where he spent weeks bandaged from head to toe."
http://www.vox.com/2015/6/9/8747927/les-paul-electrocuted

Effects on music if he had died then?
Top