Johnny Winter

Born: February 23, 1944, in Beaumont, Texas JOHN DAWSON WINTER III Brother: EDGAR WINTER When Johnny and Edgar were just kids, they began performing as a duet and were soon appearing on local television shows. When Johnny was 14, they recorded their first two singles, which were received favorably. In 1968, Johnny was noticed by a ROLLING STONE magazine writer who wrote a short article about him that shortly thereafter gained him a record contract. If you like raw Texas blues, Winter's the man.

"Yeah, I've been off heroin for 20 years now. I have a drink before I play and after I get through playin' though."

"I think the blues will always be around. People need it (laughs). New artists will always come along and get the kids interested in it."

He gets my vote for "best albino guitarist."

"The blues was so big in the late '60s that it kinda wore itself out, and people weren't diggin' the blues as much. Everybody was tellin' me that I had to do something different, and I kind of agreed."

"Well, I don't play rock anymore, but the blues is pretty rockin' sometimes. But as far as the music they call rock, I haven't really ever played anything but rockier blues."

THE INCREDIBLY RIDICULOUS MTV-ROLLING STONE'S 100 TOP SONGS (1963-2000): 49. TANGLED UP IN BLUE, BOB DYLAN (1975) (I'm not a Dylan fan...at all.) MY TOP 100 SONGS: ELIZABETH REED, THE ALLMAN BROS.

POSTSCRIPT "Success is just a matter of attitude." DARCY E. GIBBONS

NEXT MUSIC PAGE = WISHBONE ASH TO MY MUSIC MAIN PAGE TO MY HOME PAGE E-MAIL