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

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.

In 1988, he was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame and in 2003, he was ranked 63rd in Rolling Stone magazines list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.

Johnny and his brother, both of whom were born with albinism, began performing at an early age.

When he was ten years old, the brothers appeared on a local childrens show with Johnny playing ukulele.

In 1968, he released his first album The Progressive Blues Experiment, on Austins Sonobeat Records.

As it happened, representatives of Columbia Records (which had released the Top Ten BloomfieldKooper Stills Super Session album) were at the concert.

Kings Its My Own Fault to loud applause, and within a few days, was signed to what was reportedly the largest advance in the history of the recording industry at that time600,000.

The album featured a few selections that became Winter signature songs, including his composition Dallas (an acoustic blues, on which Winter played a steel-bodied, resonator guitar ), John Lee Sonny Boy Williamson s Good Morning Little School Girl, and B.B.

Kings Be Careful with a Fool.

It introduced more staples of Winters concerts, including Chuck Berry s Johnny B.

Goode and Bob Dylan s Highway 61 Revisited.

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

According to Winter, I never even met Jim Morrison Theres a whole album of Jimi and Jim and Im supposedly on the album but I dont think I am cause I never met Jim Morrison in my life Im sure I never, never played with Jim Morrison at all I dont know how that rumor got started.

According to an article from the Houston Press, Winter left town for the express purpose of getting away from him.

As Ames left no obvious heirs, the ownership rights of the Ames master recordings remains unclear.

As Winter stated in an interview when the subject of Roy Ames came up, This guy has screwed so many people it makes me mad to even talk about him.

Originally to be called Johnny Winter and the McCoys, the name was shortened to Johnny Winter And, which was also the name of their first album.

The album included Derringers Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo and signaled a more rock-oriented direction for Winter.

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

Their mixture of the new rock songs with Winters blues songs was captured on the live album Live Johnny Winter And.

It included a new performance of Its My Own Fault, the song which brought Winter to the attention of Columbia Records.

After he sought treatment for and recovered from the addiction, Winter was put in front of the music press by manager Steve Paul to discuss the addiction candidly.

By 1973, he returned to the music scene with the release of Still Alive and Well, a basic blend of blues and hard rock, whose title track was written by Rick Derringer.

His comeback concert at Long Island, New Yorks Nassau Coliseum featured the And line-up minus Rick Derringer and Bobby Caldwell.

Saints Sinners and John Dawson Winter III, two albums released in 1974, continue in the same direction.

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.

A second live Winter album, Captured Live, was released in 1976 and features an extended performance of Highway 61 Revisited.

He got his chance in 1974, when renowned blues artists and their younger brethren came together to honor the musician (Muddy Waters) responsible for bringing blues to Chicago, and the resulting concert presented many blues classics and was the start of an admired TV series: Soundstage (this particular session was called Blues Summit in Chicago).

And in 1977, after Waters long-time label Chess Records went out of business, 3 Winter brought Waters into the studio to record Hard Again for Blue Sky Records, a label set up by Winters manager and distributed by Columbia.

In addition to producing the album, Winter played guitar with Waters veteran James Cotton on harmonica.

Winter produced two more studio albums for Waters, Im Ready (with Big Walter Horton on harmonica) and King Bee and a best-selling live album Muddy Mississippi Waters Live.

The partnership produced three Grammy Awards for Waters and an additional Grammy for Winters own Nothin But the Blues, with backing by members of Waters band.

Robert Palmer Deep Blues Ebook