29 Facts About Johnny Winter

John Dawson Winter III was an American singer and guitarist.

Johnny Winter was known for his high-energy blues rock albums and live performances in the late 1960s and 1970s.

Johnny Winter produced three Grammy Award-winning albums for blues singer and guitarist Muddy Waters.

Johnny Winter was born in Beaumont, Texas, on February 23,1944.

Johnny Winter and his younger brother Edgar Winter was born on 1946 and were nurtured at an early age by their parents in musical pursuits.

Johnny Winter's recording career began at the age of 15, when his band Johnny and the Jammers released "School Day Blues" on a Houston record label.

Johnny Winter got his biggest break in December 1968, when Mike Bloomfield, whom he met and jammed with in Chicago, invited him to sing and play a song during a Bloomfield and Al Kooper concert at the Fillmore East in New York City.

Winter's first Columbia album, Johnny Winter, was recorded and released in 1969.

Johnny Winter entered into a short-lived affair with Janis Joplin, which culminated at a concert at New York's Madison Square Garden, where Johnny Winter joined her on stage to sing and perform.

Contrary to urban legend, Johnny Winter did not perform with Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison on the infamous 1968 Hendrix bootleg album Woke up this Morning and Found Myself Dead from New York City's the Scene club.

When Johnny Winter And began to tour, Randy Z was replaced with drummer Bobby Caldwell.

In 1975, Johnny returned to Bogalusa, Louisiana, to produce an album for Thunderhead, a Southern rock band which included Pat Rush and Bobby "T" Torello, who would later play with Winter.

In live performances, Johnny Winter often told the story about how, as a child, he dreamed of playing with the blues guitarist Muddy Waters.

Johnny Winter got his chance in 1974, when blues artists came together to honor Waters, the musician responsible for bringing blues to Chicago; the resulting concert presented many blues classics and was the start of a TV series, Soundstage.

Waters told Deep Blues author Robert Palmer that Johnny Winter had done remarkable work in reproducing the sound and atmosphere of Waters's vintage Chess Records recordings of the 1950s.

In 2009, The Woodstock Experience album was released, which includes eight songs that Johnny Winter performed at the 1969 festival.

Nelson and Johnny Winter won a Grammy Award in the Best Blues Album category for Step Back in 2015.

Johnny Winter continued to perform live, including at festivals throughout North America and Europe.

Johnny Winter performed with the Allman Brothers at the Beacon Theatre in New York City on the 40th anniversary of their debut.

In 2007 and 2010, Johnny Winter performed at Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festivals.

Johnny Winter was professionally active until the time of his death near Zurich, Switzerland, on July 16,2014.

Johnny Winter was found dead in his hotel room two days after his last performance, at the Cahors Blues Festival in France.

In 2015 Johnny Winter posthumously won the Grammy Award for Best Blues Album for Step Back.

In 1980, Johnny Winter was on the cover of the first issue of Guitar World.

In 2008 Johnny Winter appeared in the documentary film American Music: Off the Record directed by Benjamin Meade.

Johnny Winter played a variety of guitars during his career, but he is probably best known for his use of Gibson Firebirds.

Johnny Winter owned several, but favored a 1963 Firebird V model.

Johnny Winter's picking style was inspired by Chet Atkins and Merle Travis and he never used a flat pick.

Johnny Winter preferred a plastic thumb pick sold by Gibson and a steel pinky slide, later marketed by Dunlop.