Or even if you don’t.Ĭlass of 2020: Rainbow, BTO, Steve Earle, Boston, Little Feat, and Badfinger (replacing Todd Rundgren, finally inducted into the RRHOF in 2021 Boston replaced Judas Priest, who were finally inducted into the RRHOF in 2002).Ĭlass of 2019: Mountain, the Cramps, Roy Buchanan, Nazareth, the Georgia Satellites, the New York Dolls, and the Tragically Hip (yes, I’m Canadian).Ĭlass of 2018: Motörhead, Free, the MC5, Humble Pie, the J. (For the uninitiated, strict rules demand that Newt’s Rock Hall can only include bands and artists that haven’t already been inducted into the official Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, so when the RRHOF finally saw fit to induct Deep Purple in 2016, I had to replace them in mine with Thin Lizzy ).īut can you believe that Johnny Winter and Rory Gallagher, considering how long they’ve been eligible, still haven’t been inducted by the Cleveland institution? I mean, how much more rock ‘n’ roll can you get than those two? It’s a bloody outrage, if you ask me. Having gotten sick of waiting for Jann Wenner and his questionable cronies to recognize Wray, I went ahead and inducted him into the inaugural class of Newt’s Rock Hall back in 2015, along with Johnny Winter, Rory Gallagher, Iron Maiden, and Deep Purple. Wray, who pretty well invented the raunchy guitar riff, has been eligible for induction into the Rock Hall for decades.

Winter’s last performance was at the Cahors Blues Festival in France on Monday.After ten years of my complaining about Link Wray not being in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the boneheads who run the high-falutin’ joint in Cleveland finally caved and decided to induct him, in the “musical influence” division.

2. Eric Clapton, Ben Harper and Joe Perry of Aerosmith are among the famed musicians who collaborated with Winter for it.Īlso read: Kurt Cobain Working on Solo Album Before Death, Hole Guitarist Says His latest album, “Step Back,” is set to be released on Sept. He continued to tour, and made a string of blues-focused albums for smaller labels through the ’80s, ’90s and later. He later produced three Grammy Award-winning albums for his blues idol, Muddy Waters, while releasing a number of his own albums, including “Still Alive and Well,” “Saints & Sinners” and “John Dawson Winter III. While his brother Edgar Winter enjoyed more success on the charts with songs like the instrumental “Frankenstein,” Johnny Winter’s 1970 album “Johnny Winter And” produced a hit in the Rick Derringer song “Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo.” On the whole, though, he was less interested in pop hits than in playing the blues, and his career was sidelined by a heroin addiction in the early ’70s. His second album for the label, “Second Winter,” produced another colorful rave in Rolling Stone, with Lester Bangs calling it “an unrelenting floodtide of throbbing, burning sound, a work of folk art which captures the tradition of blues and rock from the prehistoric Delta bottleneck sundown moans to the white-hot metal pyrotechnics of today and tomorrow.” He formed his first band at the age of 11, made his first record at 15 and became the protégé of a Zydeco bluesman named Clarence “Bon Ton” Garlow.Īlso read: Jeff Hanneman, Slayer Guitarist, Dead at 49īy the time he was 24 Winter had become a legend in Texas music circles, and his national profile was boosted immeasurably by a Rolling Stone article about the music scene in the state that called him “the hottest item outside of Janis Joplin.” It went on to describe Winter this way: “If you can imagine a 130-pound cross-eyed albino bluesman with long fleecy hair playing some of the gutsiest fluid blues guitar you have ever heard, then enter Johnny Winter.”Ī bidding war ensued, with Columbia Records signing Winter. He played clarinet as a child - but after a dentist told him the instrument was giving him a bad overbite, he shifted to ukulele and then guitar. Winter, ranked by Rolling Stone as the 63rd greatest guitarist of all time, was born in Beaumont, Texas in 1944. Evidence suggests his death was medically related. See photos: Hollywood’s Notable Deaths of 2014Īccording a police spokeswoman Reuters spoke to, a prosecutor has ordered an autopsy because the cause of death is not clear, but there was no indication of third-party involvement.

“An official statement with more details shall be issued at the appropriate time.” “His wife, family and bandmates are all saddened by the loss of their loved one and one of the world’s finest guitarists,” a brief statement on his Facebook read. Johnny Winter, a legendary blues guitarist, was found dead in his hotel in Zurich, Switzerland on Wednesday.

Rock and roll johnny winter