Johnny Winter (from his Facebook page)
On February 23,1944, Johnny Winter was born in Beaumont, Texas. While Johnny is probably best known for his high-energy blues-rock albums and live performances in the late 1960s and 1970s, he also produced three Grammy Award-winning albums for blues singer and guitarist Muddy Waters.
After his time with Waters, Winter recorded several Grammy-nominated blues albums He was ranked 63rd in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time” (tho I’m hard pressed to come up with 20 better guitar players, let alone 62!).
In 2015 Winter posthumously won the Grammy Award for Best Blues Album for Step Back. The album also won the 2015 Blues Music Award for Best Rock Blues Album. At the 18th Maple Blues Awards in 2015, Winter was also posthumously awarded the B.B. King International Artist of The Year Award.
In 1980, Winter was on the cover of the first issue of Guitar World. In 1988, he was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame, the first non-African-American performer to be inducted into the Hall.
Posted by Chick Cavallero, Colorado Blues Society