24 Facts About George Winston

George Otis Winston III was an American pianist performing contemporary instrumental music.

Best known for his solo piano recordings, Winston released his first album in 1972, and came to prominence with his 1980 album Autumn, which was followed in 1982 by Winter into Spring and December.

George Winston received four other Grammy nominations, including one for Best Children's Music Album, performed with actress Meryl Streep, and another for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album for his interpretation of works by the rock band the Doors.

George Winston played in three styles: the melodic approach that he developed and called "rural folk piano"; stride piano, primarily inspired by Fats Waller and Teddy Wilson; and his primary interest, New Orleans rhythm and blues piano, influenced by James Booker, Professor Longhair and Henry Butler.

George Otis Winston III was born in Hart, Michigan, on February 11,1949.

George Winston was raised mainly in Montana, as well as Mississippi and Florida.

George Winston was first recorded by John Fahey for Fahey's Takoma Records.

In 1979, George Winston sent a demo tape to William Ackerman, who had started his new record label, Windham Hill, in 1976.

At the request of producer Lee Mendelson in 1988, he provided the music for the TV miniseries This Is America, Charlie Brown, which George Winston considered a highlight of his career.

At the 38th Annual Grammy Awards in 1996, George Winston won the award for Best New Age Album for Forest.

George Winston suffered from a number of illnesses, and while recuperating from a bout of cancer in 2013, he played the piano in the medical center auditorium, creating 21 pieces, that he says were "kind of circular" and "minimalist".

On May 3,2019, George Winston released his 15th solo piano album, Restless Wind.

In July 2019, at the National Music Council's 2019 American Eagle Award Honor ceremony that recognized Vince Guaraldi, George Winston performed his versions of the musician's work.

In 1983, George Winston started his own label, Dancing Cat Records, which released his albums, with distribution by Windham Hill until the mid-2000s and subsequently by RCA.

George Winston primarily launched the label to record artists playing the Hawaiian slack-key guitar, which he admired.

George Winston provided the guitar soundtrack to Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes in 1995.

George Winston worked on recording the American traditional musicians Sam Hinton, Rick Epping and Curt Bouterse.

George Winston had been called the "Father of New Age" because his album Autumn was released by Windham Hill Records often described as a new age label; Winston himself denied that his music was new age.

George Winston dressed unassumingly for his shows, playing in stocking feet, stating that it quieted his "hard beat pounding" left foot.

For years, the balding, bearded George Winston would walk out on stage in a flannel shirt and jeans, and the audience would think he was a technician, coming to tune the nine-foot New York Steinways that are his piano of choice.

George Winston can be seen reaching into the piano with his left hand and muting the strings, while with his right hand he is playing "An African in the Americas".

George Winston was active in philanthropy, frequently performing in concerts for various charitable causes.

George Winston suffered from several forms of cancer, including thyroid cancer, skin cancer, and myelodysplastic syndrome, the last of which was resolved following a bone marrow transplant in 2013.

George Winston died of cancer in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, on June 4,2023, at age 74.