Johnny Winter was born on February 23rd, 1944 in Beaumont, Texas. His father was a banjo and saxophone player, his mother played piano. Johnny started on clarinet at the age of 5 and moved to the guitar by the age of 11. He formed several local bands, making his first recording "School Day Blues" with his band Johnny and The Jammers at the age of 15.

In 1962, Johnny and his brother Edgar went to see a performance by BB King at a local club. They were the only two whites in the club and they were albinos... Johnny asked if he could play with BB. "I was about 17, and BB didn't want to let me on stage at first." Finally BB let him play on stage, and he got a standing ovation.

When Johnny Winter arrived in New York City in 1968, the magazine Rolling Stone described him as "a cross-eyed albino with long fleecy hair, who plays some of the gutsiest fluid blues guitar you’ve ever heard". Forty years later in 2008, he can only play sitting in a chair, but he's still got the same speed and ferocity as he did in the 1960's.

His first 1969 disc quickly went into heavy rotation on FM underground radio. It contained covers such as Be Careful with a Fool (BB King), Good Morning Little School Girl (Sonny Boy Williamson), When You Got a Good Friend (Robert Johnson) and Back Door Friend (Lightnin' Hopkins), plus two original Winter songs: Dallas and I'm Yours and I'm Hers.

This album was followed by Second Winter. Johnny's trio included bassist Tommy Shannon (later in Stevie Ray Vaughan's group Double Trouble) and drummer John Turner.

Next appeared Johnny Winter And (1970), Still Alive and Well (1973) and John Dawson Winter III (1974).

Johhny Winter also helped to introduce blues giant Muddy Waters to a younger generation of listeners by producing and playing guitar on Waters' comeback album Hard Again (1977, Grammy Award), I'm Ready (1978, Grammy Award), Muddy Mississippi Waters Live (1979, Grammy Award) and King Bee (1981).

Johnny's Let Me In (1991, Grammy-nominated) has guest appearances by Dr. John and Albert Collins.

Hey Where's Your Brother (1992) earned him another Grammy nomination.

In 1993, he performs on Highway 61 Revisited, a highlight of Bob Dylan's 30th anniversary tribute released by Columbia Records on CD and video.

Live in New York City (1997) is a collection of concert favorites. The songs were selected by members of Winter's fan club.

I'm A Bluesman was released in 2004. Backing him on this disc is harmonica man James Montgomery, guitarist Paul Nelson, bassist Scott Spray and drummer Wayne June, and there's a guest appearance by keyboardist Reese Wynans (from SRV's group Double Trouble).

In 2005, Johnny Winter was nominated the W.C. Handy Award for Second Winter Legacy Edition.

Constantly shifting between simple country blues in the vein of Robert Johnson, to all-out electric slide guitar blues-rock, Johnny Winter has always been one of the most respected singers and guitar players in the clear link between British blues-rock and American Southern rock (a la the Allman Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd). He is the torch-bearer for the blues, championing and aiding the careers of his idols like Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker.

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