Sir George Albert Shearing, was a British jazz pianist who for many years led a popular jazz group that recorded for Discovery Records, MGM Records and Capitol Records.
23 Facts About George Shearing
2.
George Shearing died of heart failure in New York City, at the age of 91.
3.
George Shearing was born blind to working-class parents: his father delivered coal and his mother cleaned trains in the evening.
4.
George Shearing started to learn piano at the age of three and began formal training at Linden Lodge School for the Blind, where he spent four years.
5.
George Shearing joined an all-blind band, Claude Bampton's Blind Orchestra, during that time, and was influenced by the records of Teddy Wilson and Fats Waller.
6.
George Shearing made his first BBC radio broadcast during this time, after being befriended by Leonard Feather, with whom he started recording in 1937.
7.
George Shearing won six consecutive Top Pianist Melody Maker polls from this time onward.
8.
George Shearing immigrated to the United States, where his harmonically complex style mixing swing, bop and modern classical influences gained popularity.
9.
George Shearing performed with the Oscar Pettiford Trio and led a jazz quartet with Buddy DeFranco, which led to contractual problems, since Shearing was under contract to MGM and DeFranco to Capitol Records.
10.
George Shearing became known for a piano technique known as "The Shearing Sound", a type of double melody block chord, with an additional fifth part that doubles the melody an octave lower.
11.
In 1956, George Shearing became a naturalized citizen of the United States.
12.
George Shearing continued to play with his quintet, with augmented players through the years, and recorded with Capitol until 1969.
13.
George Shearing created his own label, Sheba, that lasted a few years.
14.
One of his more notable albums during this period was The Reunion, with George Shearing, made in collaboration with bassist Andy Simpkins and drummer Rusty Jones, and featuring Stephane Grappelli, the musician with whom he had debuted as a sideman decades before.
15.
Later, George Shearing played in a trio, as a soloist, and increasingly in a duo.
16.
In 1979, George Shearing signed with Concord Records, and recorded for the label with Mel Torme.
17.
George Shearing remained fit and active well into his later years and continued to perform, even after being honoured with an Ivor Novello Lifetime Achievement Award in 1993.
18.
George Shearing never forgot his native country and, in his last years, would split his year between living in New York and Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire, where he bought a house with his second wife, singer Ellie Geffert.
19.
George Shearing was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1992 when he was surprised by Michael Aspel while performing at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club.
20.
Lady George Shearing endorsed the show, sending a letter to be read out before the Watermill Jazz Club performance.
21.
George Shearing was married to Trixie Bayes from 1941 to 1973.
22.
George Shearing was a member of the Bohemian Club and often performed at the annual Bohemian Grove Encampments.
23.
George Shearing composed music for two of the Grove Plays.