Sam The Sham born 28 February 1937

Domingo "Sam" Samudio (born February 28, 1937, in Dallas, Texas, United States), better known by his stage name Sam the Sham, is a retired American rock and roll singer. Sam the Sham was known for his camp robe and turban and hauling his equipment in a 1952 Packard hearse with maroon velvet curtains. As the front man for the Pharaohs, he sang on several Top 40 hits in the mid-1960s, notably the Billboard Hot 100 runners-up "Wooly Bully" and "Li'l Red Riding Hood". 

Samudio made his singing debut in second grade, representing his school in a radio broadcast. Later, he took up guitar and formed a group with friends, one of whom was Trini Lopez. After graduating from high school, Samudio joined the Navy, where he was known as "Big Sam." He lived in Panama for six years, until his discharge. Back in the States, Samudio enrolled in college, studying voice at Arlington State College, now the University of Texas at Arlington. He recalled: "I was studying classical in the daytime and playing rock and roll at night. That lasted about two years, before I dropped out and became a carny." 

In Dallas in 1961, Sam formed The Pharaohs, the name inspired from the costumes in Yul Brynner's portrayal as pharaoh in the 1956 film The Ten Commandments. The other members of The Pharaohs were Carl Miedke, Russell Fowler, Omar "Big Man” Lopez, and Vincent Lopez (no relation to Omar). In 1962, the group made a record that did not sell. The Pharaohs disbanded in 1962.  In May 1963, Vincent Lopez was playing for Andy and the Nightriders in Louisiana. When their organist quit, Sam joined. Andy and the Nightriders were Andy Anderson, David A. Martin, Vincent Lopez, and Sam.

The Nightriders became house band at The Congo Club, near Leesville, Louisiana. It was here that Sam took the name Sam the Sham from a joke about his inability as a vocalist. In June 1963, The Nightriders headed for Memphis, Tennessee, and became the house band at The Diplomat. In late summer 1963, Andy Anderson and Vincent Lopez left to return to Texas. Sam and David A. Martin replaced them with Jerry Patterson and Ray Stinnett and changed the band's name to Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs. Shortly thereafter, the band added saxophonist Butch Gibson. 

                             

After paying to record and press records to sell at gigs, Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs wound up with the XL label in Memphis. There they recorded their first and biggest hit, "Wooly Bully", in late 1964. Once MGM picked up the record, "Wooly Bully" ended up selling three million copies and reaching No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 on 5 June 1965, at a time when American pop music charts were dominated by the British Invasion It was awarded a gold disc. Leonard Stogel was their manager. Although "Wooly Bully" never reached #1, it lingered on the Hot 100 for 18 weeks, the most weeks for any single within the calendar year 1965, 14 of which were in the Top 40. 

The Pharaohs' next releases – "Ju Ju Hand" and "Ring Dang Doo" were minor successes. In late 1965, 11 months after "Wooly Bully", David A. Martin, Jerry Patterson, Ray Stinnett, and Butch Gibson left over a financial dispute. Sam's manager, Leonard Stogel, discovered Tony Gee & The Gypsys at the Metropole Cafe in Times Square, New York City. This new set of Pharaohs recorded "Li'l Red Riding Hood". On the Hot 100, "Lil' Red Riding Hood" began its two-week peak at #2 the week of August 6, 1966.  The track did even better by Cash Box Magazine's reckoning, reaching #1 the same week. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. It also reached #2 on the Canadian RPM Magazine charts August 22, 1966. 

In late 1966, three girls, Fran Curcio, Lorraine Gennaro, and Jane Anderson, joined as The Shamettes. The group traveled to Asia as Sam the Sham & The Pharaohs and The Shamettes and released the album titled The Sam the Sham Revue. A series of mostly novelty tunes followed, all on the MGM label, keeping the group on the charts into 1967. Sam also released a solo album later that year, titled Ten of Pentacles. In 1970, Sam went off on his own, and in 1971, issued an Atlantic album called Sam, Hard and Heavy, which won the Grammy Award for Best Album Notes in 1972. He formed a new band in 1974. In the late 1970s, he worked with baritone saxophonist Joe Sunseri and his band, based out of New Orleans. The early 1980s found Sam working with Ry Cooder and Freddy Fender on the soundtrack for the Jack Nicholson film The Border. 

After leaving the music business, Sam worked in Mexico as an interpreter and as a mate on small commercial boats in the Gulf of Mexico. Sam later became a motivational speaker and poet and still makes occasional concert appearances, primarily at the southwest Florida hangout Snook Haven. He was inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame in 2016. (Edited from Wikipedia)

Dexter Gordon born 27 February 1923

Dexter Gordon (February 27, 1923 – April 25, 1990) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. He was among the most influential early bebop musicians, which included other greats such as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Bud Powell. Gordon's height was 6 feet 6 inches (198 cm), so he was also known as "Long Tall Dexter" and "Sophisticated Giant". His studio and performance career spanned over 40 years. 

As one of the great tenors to emerge from Los Angeles' Central Avenue scene, Dexter Gordon led a colourful and eventful, sometimes tragic life that included three triumphant comebacks in a four-plus-decade career. As a beloved, influential member of the bebop generation, his story (and Bud Powell's) inspired French director Bertrand Tavernier to tell a portion of it in the 1986 drama 'Round Midnight, and cast him in a lead role. 

Gordon was the top tenor saxophonist during the bop era, the possessor of his own distinctive sound, he created a large body of superior work and could successfully battle nearly anyone at a jam session. His years as a leader and co-leader at Dial, Savoy, and Blue Note were enough to make him a legend. Living in Europe for more than a dozen years, he recorded equally fine albums for Prestige, Steeplechase, and other labels, and his return to the U.S. resulted in several offerings for Columbia and Blue Note. 

Gordon was born to renowned parents in Los Angeles in 1927. His father, Dr. Frank Gordon, was among the first African American doctors in the city after graduating from Howard Medical School in Washington, D.C. in 1918. (His patients included Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton.) His mother, Gwendolyn Baker, was the daughter of Captain Edward Baker, one of the five African American Medal of Honour recipients during the Spanish–American War. Gordon began playing clarinet at age 13 and switched to saxophone two years later. While at school, he played in bands with Chico Hamilton and Buddy Collette. His first important gig was with Lionel Hampton (1940-1943) although, due to Illinois Jacquet also being in the sax section, Gordon did not get any solos. 

In 1943, he did get to stretch out on a recording session with Nat King Cole. Short stints with Lee Young, the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra, and Louis Armstrong's big band preceded his move to New York in December 1944 where he was hired for Billy Eckstine's Orchestra, trading off with Gene Ammons on Eckstine's recording of "Blowin' the Blues Away." Gordon recorded with Dizzy Gillespie ("Blue 'N' Boogie") and as a leader for Savoy before returning to Los Angeles in the summer of 1946. He was a major part of the Central Avenue scene, trading off with Wardell Gray and Teddy Edwards in many legendary tenor battles; studio recordings of "The Chase" and "The Duel" helped to document the atmosphere of the period. 

                             

After 1952, drug problems resulted in jail time and periods of inactivity during the rest of the '50s (although Gordon did record two albums in 1955). By 1960, he had recovered sufficiently to cut a core series of dates for Blue Note including Doin' Alright, Dexter Calling, Swingin' Affair and Go). After re-establishing his reputation, he moved to Europe in 1962 and remained there until 1976. While on the continent, he was in peak form -- Gordon's many Steeple Chase recordings rank with the finest work of his career and include four dates with altoist Jackie McLean. 

Gordon returned to the U.S. on an occasional basis, recording in 1965, 1969-1970, and 1972, but by then he was almost forgotten in his native land though he remained a major attraction in Europe. Given this status, it proved an odd yet welcome surprise that his return to America in 1976 was treated as a major media event; illustrated by the double-live Homecoming from his American tour and the studio date Sophisticated Giant in 1977. 

A great deal of interest was suddenly shown in the living legend, with long lines of people waiting at clubs to see him. In 1978, appearing with Johnny Griffin, he sold out Carnegie Hall. In 1978 and 1980, Gordon was the DownBeat Musician of the Year and in 1980 he was inducted into the Jazz Hall of Fame. The US Government honoured him with a Congressional Commendation, a Dexter Gordon Day in Washington DC, and a National Endowment for the Arts award for Lifetime Achievement. 

During the 1980s, Gordon was weakened by emphysema. He remained a popular attraction at concerts and festivals, although his live appearances and recording dates would soon become infrequent. Gordon's most memorable works from the decade were not in music but in film. He starred in the 1986 movie Round Midnight as "Dale Turner", an expatriate jazz musician in Paris during the late 1950s based loosely on Lester Young and Bud Powell. That portrayal earned him a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Actor four years before his death from kidney failure and cancer of the larynx in Philadelphia, on April 25, 1990, at the age of 67. 

(Edited from Allmusic & Wikipedia)

Here’s a clip from October 30, 1969.  Oscar Peterson, piano; Dexter Gordon, tenor saxophone; Same Jones, bass and Bobby Durham on drums performing You Stepped Out of a Dream. 

Hagood Hardy born 26 February 1937

Hugh Hagood Hardy, CM (February 26, 1937 – January 1, 1997) was a Canadian composer, pianist, and vibraphonist. He played mainly jazz and easy listening music. He is best known for the 1975 single, "The Homecoming" from his album of the same name, and for his soundtrack to the Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea films. 

Hardy was born in Indiana to a Canadian father and an American mother, but his roots in Canada were deep. His great-uncle, Arthur Sturgis Hardy, was a Liberal politician and Ontario’s fourth premier (1896–99). When he was an infant, Hagood’s parents moved with him to Brantford, Ontario, where his grandfather was Judge of the County Court. Hardy’s family eventually settled in Oakville, where he studied piano with Edna Lawrence and Ellen Scott. He began playing the vibraphone in his teens. 

While earning a BA with a double major in political science and economics at the University of Toronto, Hardy took private music lessons with Gordon Delamont and performed in local jazz clubs and on CBC Television. He led his own group from 1957 until 1961, when he went to the US and played vibes for bandleader Gigi Gryce (in New York, 1961), flautist Herbie Mann (on tour, 1961–62), and pianists Martin Denny (in Hawaii and Las Vegas, 1962–64) and George Shearing (on tour, 1964–67). Hardy would later credit Shearing as a major influence. 

Upon returning to Toronto in 1968, Hardy founded Hagood Hardy Productions, which eventually specialized in commercial jingles for companies such as Kelloggs, General Motors, London Life, and Canadian Pacific. Also that year, Hardy formed a jazz trio with Ian Henstridge on bass and Ricky Marcus on drums. With the addition of singers Stephanie Taylor and Carrie Romano in 1969, the group became The Montage. A pop group with jazz and Latin American leanings, The Montage were active until 1974, mainly touring in the US and Europe. 

                             

In 1975, Hardy revised and recorded “The Homecoming,” which he originally composed in 1972 as a jingle for Salada Tea. Released by Hardy on his Isis Records label as a single off the album of the same name — subsequently distributed by Attic Records — the song became an international hit. 

Hardy received Juno Awards in 1976 for Composer and Instrumental Artist of the Year, and was also named instrumental artist of the year by Billboard magazine. In 1977 he was awarded another Juno for best instrumental artist, and received the Wm. Harold Moon Award (bestowed upon Canadian songwriters for great international contributions) from BMI Canada (now SOCAN). 

Starting in the mid-1970s, in addition to his advertising work, Hardy began to compose and record music for TV, radio, and films. He wrote scores for the feature films Second Wind (1975), Rituals (1976), and Klondike Fever (1980), and for the TV movies “Bethune” (1977), “Tell Me My Name” (1977), “An American Christmas Carol” (1979), and “Liberace: Behind the Music” (1988), among others. His work on the iconic CBC-TV movie “Anne of Green Gables” (1985) earned him a Gemini Award in 1986 for best score. He also wrote the score for “Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel” (1987) and for the spinoff series “Road to Avonlea” (1990–96). 

Hardy released more than a dozen pop-instrumental albums under his own name. Beginning in 1976, he performed programs of his best-known jingles and film music in symphonic “pop” concerts across Canada — either at the head of a small ensemble or as a soloist with symphony orchestras. In 1990, he introduced a jazz band in the hard bop style. They released the CD Morocco (1990) and performed on occasion in Toronto clubs. 

Dreamy, charming and emotionally evocative, Hardy’s music sold over a half a million copies in Canada. His debut album, The Homecoming, sold more than 200,000 copies in Canada, earning it double platinum status, while “The Homecoming” achieved gold single status in Canada. The compilation albums The Hagood Hardy Collection (1979) and All My Best (1988) both went gold, while A Christmas Homecoming (1980) and Alone (1995) both went platinum. 

In 1992, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada and composed “In My Heart” for the Canada 125 celebrations in Halifax. The following year, he established the Elora Fireside Jazz series in Elora, Ontario. Among his many charitable commitments, he was honorary chairman of the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and a UNICEF ambassador. 

In the 1995 provincial election he was the candidate for the Ontario Liberal Party in the riding of York South and faced local MPP and Premier of Ontario Bob Rae. The Ontario Liberals faltered in the election, and Hardy lost to Rae. In 1996 he received the Toronto Arts Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award. The SOCAN Hagood Hardy Jazz/Instrumental Music Award was renamed in his honour following his death in Hamilton, Ontario after an 18 month struggle with stomach cancer in Hamilton on January 1, 1997, at the age of 59.   (Edited from the Canadian Encyclopedia & Wikipedia)

Duke D'Mond born 25 February 1943

Duke D’Mond (25 February 1943 - 9 April 2009) was the lead singer of the pop parodists the Barron Knights. They scored their major successes with pastiches of popular hits on singles each of which had a particular theme such as conscription, the Olympics or Christmas. 

Born as Richard Palmer in Dunstable in 1943, D’Mond left school at 16. His father, who had wanted to be a professional singer, worked for the printers Waterlows, and D’Mond also joined the firm as an apprentice.  In 1961 he auditioned as the lead singer for a beat group from Leighton Buzzard and soon, as the Barron Knights, they were playing local clubs around Bedfordshire as well as experiencing the gruelling work schedules of Hamburg. 

They signed with a London publicist, Les Perrin, who renamed Palmer as Duke D’Mond (Duke of the World) and the rest of the band were Barron Anthony (bass), Pete Langford (guitar), Butch Baker (guitar) and Dave Ballinger (drums). With his mysterious name and striking good looks, D’Mond was the focal point, but he was, in the jargon of the day, “already taken”. He married Pauline, his childhood sweetheart, in 1964. 

The Barron Knights were at the bottom of the bill on The Beatles Christmas Show in 1963, but within a few months they were a chart attraction. They advocated the return of conscription in “Call up the Groups” so that their chart rivals would be out of the way. 

                              

They experienced what was to be a recurring problem as the music publisher Dick James would not allow a rewrite of a Lennon and McCartney song and so they reworked “Twist and Shout” instead. The single, recorded for EMI, went to No 3 and they had further Top 10 hits with “Pop Go the Workers” (1965) – this time using one of the two Beatles songs not published by James, “Love Me Do” – and “Merry Gentle Pops” (1965). 

Being an all-male group, part of the fun was parodying such female singers as Marianne Faithfull and Sandie Shaw. “We were never parodying the music as we thought it was great,”  said D’Mond during an interview in 1990. “I felt at the time that we were living in a wonderfully creative time for music.” D’Mond conceded that the Barron Knights format was not as original as many thought: “The Four Preps were our idols, but nobody over here knew their records like ‘The Big Draft’ and ‘More Money for You and Me’. 

Other singles such as Merry Gentle Pops (1965) and Under New Management (1966) were comparably popular, while Come to the Dance (1964) and An Olympic Record (1968) crept to the edge of the top 30. Other notable efforts included a flower-power spoof Here Come the Bees (1967). Generally, deviations from the comedy formula - such as a 1965 arrangement of the cabaret standard It Was a Very Good Year and a cover five years later of Traces, a US smash by Classics IV - were commercial failures. Yet, with or without hits, the group continued to command high fees for thoroughly diverting concert appearances, including a six-month run at the London Palladium in 1965 with Ken Dodd. The group also made soundtracks for commercials, receiving an industry award for one such commission for Smarties in 1967. 

They even made a return to the British charts in the late 1970s with Live in Trouble (most memorable for a take-off of Brotherhood of Man's Angelo) and then internationally with the million-selling A Taste of Aggro. Parodying groups ranging from Boney M to the Smurfs, this was their fifth and last top 10 entry. The album Night Gallery (1978), which included full-length parodies like “Awful Séance” for “Floral Dance” and “The Chapel Lead is Missing” for “The Three Bells”. In 1979 they had some unexpected success in America with a comment on the fuel shortage, “The Topical Song”, a riff on Supertramp’s “The Logical Song”. This and a subsequent string of minor chart entries, paved the way for a syndicated Channel 4 series in 1984. 

David Bowie’s publisher had rejected their reworking of “Space Oddity” as a conversation between two cats (“Birth Control to Ginger Tom”), but after they met Bowie on Top of the Pops, he gave permission. They were less fortunate, however, with the new musical Evita. Although no killjoys, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice realised that they couldn’t have audiences thinking of vacuum cleaners while Elaine Page was singing “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina”. 

D’Mond continued with the Barron Knights, always impressing audiences with the final number, “Peace in the Valley”. In 1999, they revived their parody format with “The Golden Oldie Old Folks Home” and “Hippy Hippy Shake” – now about hip replacements. After injuring his spine in a fall, D’Mond left the group in 2005, but he was still happy to sing in his local pub. 

He died in Oxford 9 April 2009 after suffering a heart attack and developing pneumonia aged 66. 

(Edited from The Independent & Guardian)

 

Joanie Sommers born 24February 1941

Joanie Sommers (born February 24, 1941) is an American singer and actress with a career concentrating on jazz, standards and popular material and show-business credits. Once billed as "The Voice of the Sixties", and associated with top-notch arrangers, songwriters and producers, Sommers' popular reputation became closely tied to her biggest, yet most uncharacteristic, hit song, "Johnny Get Angry". 

Born Joan Drost in Buffalo, New York, Sommers began singing in church to deal with "a difficult childhood". In 1951, aged 10, she appeared on a Buffalo television program singing Hank Williams' "Your Cheating Heart", winning an amateur talent contest. In 1955, her family relocated to Venice, California, where she went on to win honors as a vocalist with her high school band at Venice High, and did so again at Santa Monica City College. Her break came after a friend took her to the Deauville Country Club (now Braemar Country Club) where she sang with Tommy Oliver whose band was in residence at the time. He arranged for a demo record to be cut and presented it to Warner Brothers, whereupon Sommers was signed to the label. 

Warner initially used her vocal talents singing "Am I Blue" on a 1959 Warner specialty record, Behind Closed Doors at a Recording Session, and on one side of the spoken-word single "Kookie's Love Song" with Edd Byrnes. The pairing with Byrnes led to a small role in 77 Sunset Strip, the television series featuring Byrnes in the role of Kookie. In addition, she sang on Byrnes' I Don't Dig You and Hot Rod Rock which appeared on one of his albums. Concurrently, Tommy Oliver supported Sommers by starring her in his orchestra engagements at California venues Hollywood Palladium and The Chalet at Lake Arrowhead. 

Her 1960 debut single "One Boy" (from the musical Bye Bye Birdie) charted for three months, peaking at #54 on the Billboard Top 100. Both "One Boy" and the flip side "I'll Never Be Free" were Billboard Spotlight Winners. A subsequent touring schedule included venues such as New York's Left Bank Club, Hollywood's Crescendo, Freddie's in Minneapolis, and The Cloister in Chicago, and appearances on the Jack Paar Show and Bobby Darin Special. 

In early 1960, Warner released Sommers' first LP, Positively the Most, which did not include the One Boy hit single. Later that year, Warner released the single "Ruby-Duby-Du", featuring a vocal version of the Tobin Mathews & Co. instrumental from the movie Key Witness. 

                              

The record did not chart. In 1962, her single "Johnny Get Angry", released on Warner Bros. Records, reached #7 on the Billboard Hot 100. "When the Boys Get Together" charted at #94 later the same year. In a 2001 interview, Sommers commented on the legacy of her greatest hit: "Twenty albums with some of the greatest names in jazz and I'm eternally linked to 'Johnny Get Angry'". 

Throughout the 1960s Sommers appeared on television as a singer and game show contestant, including shows such as Everybody's Talking, Hollywood Squares, You Don't Say, and The Match Game, as well as a performer on Dick Clark's Where the Action Is, Hullabaloo, and other variety shows. In 1963, she appeared on the January 22 segment of The Jack Benny Program, where she sang "I'll Never Stop Loving You"; another guest was actor Peter Lorre. 

Her 1965 track, "Don't Pity Me" (Warner Bros. 5629 – "Don't Pity Me"/"My Block"), was a Northern Soul hit in the UK and often features on Northern Soul top lists. The 45RPM record routinely changes hands among collectors at over $500 a copy. The latter song, "My Block", was written by Jimmy Radcliffe, Bert Berns and Carl Spencer and had previously been recorded by Clyde McPhatter on his Songs Of the Big City album and by The Chiffons, recording as The Four Pennies on Rust Records. 

In a parallel career track of commercial vocal work, Sommers sang "It's Pepsi, For Those Who Think Young" (to the tune of "Makin' Whoopee") and, later, "Come Alive! You're in the Pepsi Generation" in commercials. She came to be referred to as "The Pepsi Girl". 

Sommers' voice work for animated films includes The Peppermint Choo Choo, which was scrubbed, although the music was released; Rankin/Bass' The Mouse on the Mayflower as Priscilla Mullins (1968); and B.C.: The First Thanksgiving (1973) in dual roles as the Fat Broad and the Cute Chick. Sommers was married to theatrical agent Jerry Steiner from 1961 until his sudden death in 1972 after which she withdrew from show business to focus on family life. Before retiring, she made numerous television appearances on the shows of Johnny Carson, Dinah Shore, Dean Martin, Mike Douglas, Bobby Darin, and others. 

Sommers started singing and making appearances again during the '80s and has recorded more albums, the last being in 2004.   (Edited from Wikipedia)

Johnny Winter born 23 February 1944

 John Dawson "Johnny" Winter III (February 23, 1944 – July 16, 2014) was an American singer and guitarist. Winter was known for his high-energy blues rock albums and live performances in the late 1960s and 1970s. 

Son of John and Edwina, Winter was a native of Beaumont, Texas. Both Johnny and his younger brother Edgar were born with albinism. The pair began playing music before they went to school, Johnny initially trying the clarinet before switching to the ukulele and guitar while Edgar played keyboards. The brothers won a high school talent contest singing Everly Brothers songs and were soon playing local bars and diners. In 1959 the Winter brothers, already known from local talent and TV shows, cut the singles School Day Blues and You Know I Love You for the Houston label Dart Records.

In 1962 Johnny formed Johnny and the Jammers, with Edgar on keyboards. In the early 60s Johnny recorded numerous singles for such local labels as Frolic, Diamond and Goldband, and scored a local hit with Eternally, distributed by Atlantic. Between 1965 and 1967 he played regularly across the deep South with Black Plague (featuring Edgar) and his own band It and Them (also known as The Crystaliers). In 1966 Johnny hit the Billboard Hot 100 with a version of Harlem Shuffle, which he recorded with the Traits. 

Winter was a regional star in the US south, but major success came knocking in the wake of a 1968 article in Rolling Stone magazine about the Texas music scene. He was then playing with his own trio, completed by the drummer Red Turner and the bassist Tommy Shannon, which had recently recorded the album The Progressive Blues Experiment on Austin's Sonobeat label. Winter was written up alongside names such as Janis Joplin, Steve Miller and the Sir Douglas Quintet, and was memorably described as "a 130lb cross-eyed albino with long fleecy hair playing some of the gutsiest fluid blues guitar you have ever heard". 

The result was a bidding war between record labels, which ended with Columbia signing Winter for $600,000 — reportedly the highest advance ever paid by the label up to that time. Winter’s eponymous debut album was released in 1969, and he soon became one of rock music’s most recognisable figures. 

                             

He performed at Woodstock, jammed with Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin, and was soon enjoying all the trappings of fame. His next album, Second Winter (also 1969), found him imaginatively interpreting Bob Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited and Chuck Berry’s Johnny B Goode, and in 1970 he teamed up with the noted rock guitarist and producer Rick Derringer to form Johnny Winter And . 

The studio and concert albums they released in 1970 and 1971 won Winter a huge American audience, but be became so debilitated by heroin addiction that he went into semi-retirement for two years before returning in 1973 with the album Still Alive And Well. a top 30 effort that featured Silver Train, written for him by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. 

While this represented a confident return to form, Winter’s recordings in the mid-Seventies often suggested a lack of focus. In truth, throughout his career Winter was torn between the blues he loved so much and the more commercial rock sound demanded by his record label and management. 

Then, in 1977, he was the producer of Hard Again, Muddy Waters’s comeback album. It won wide praise and a Grammy, and re-established Waters as a contemporary blues artist. At the same time, the recording sessions seem to have reinvigorated Winter in his album Nothin’ but the Blues (recorded at the same time, with Waters guesting on one of the songs, it too won a Grammy). He produced three further albums for Waters. 

Winter signed a contract with Alligator Records, a Chicago-based blues label, releasing several strong blues albums, and in 1988 moved to MCA, which issued the poorly-received rock album Winter of ’88. He then went to the Virgin blues label Point Blank, but the Nineties would turn into something of a lost decade for him: he became addicted to antidepressants, and delivered poor recordings and often incoherent performances. 

In 2005 his rhythm guitarist, Paul Nelson, took over Winter’s management duties and put the guitarist in rehab. By this time Winter was said to weigh only 90lb; he also suffered from a hip problem that would force him to perform seated. Six months later, however, he was able to return to recording and performing. As a veteran musician, Winter found himself attracting the kind of attention he had once lavished on the black bluesmen of his youth. 

Winter was professionally active until the time of his death near Zürich, Switzerland, on July 16, 2014. He was found dead in his hotel room two days after his last performance, at the Cahors Blues Festival in France. The cause of Winter's death was not officially released. According to his guitarist friend and record producer Paul Nelson, Winter died of emphysema combined with pneumonia. 

(Edited from The Guardian, Telegraph & Wikipedia)