Merrell Wayne Fankhauser (b 23 December 1943, Louisville, Kentucky) is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist who was most active in the 1960s and 1970s with bands including the Impacts, Exiles, Fapardokly, HMS Bounty, Fankhauser-Cassidy Band, and MU. After moving to San Luis Obispo, California in his teens, he began playing guitar, and got his first break playing in movie theaters and talent shows. In 1960, after one of these shows, he joined a local band called The Impacts as lead guitarist. Their Ventures-influenced sound developed a strong following at the start of the surfing scene. In 1962 they recorded an album which was later released, without the band's knowledge, by Del-Fi Records, and which included a tune "Wipe Out" which Fankhauser suggests later provided the (uncredited) basis of the hit by the Surfaris, although his view is contested