SANTA CRUZ, CA (CelebrityAccess) — George Winston, the Grammy-winning solo pianist who sold more than 15 million albums during a career that spanned more than five decades, has died. He was 73.
Winston’s passing was announced by a spokesperson who said that he died in his sleep on June 4th after a 10-year battle with cancer.
Winston suffered from several forms of cancer, including thyroid cancer, skin cancer, and myelodysplastic syndrome, the latter of which was treated successfully with a a bone marrow transplant in 2013.
A native of Michigan, Winston was drawn to the keyboard at an early age, taking inspiration from stride piano legends such as Thomas “Fats” Waller and Earl Hines.
His debut solo album came in 1972 when he released Piano Solos on John Fahey’s Takoma Records but the album attracted little attention and Winston would not achieve chart success until nearly a decade later with the release of the William Ackerman-produced Autumn on Ackerman’s Windham Hill label.
Two years later, Winston followed Autumn with Winter Into Spring with both albums being certified platinum.
His other recordings include Forest, which won Winston the Grammy for Best New Age Album in 1996, December, Summer, and Linus and Lucy: The Music of Vince Guaraldi.
In 1983, he launched his own label, Dancing Cat Records, which provided a platform for Winston’s acoustic guitar and harmonica recordings as well as a collection of Hawaiian slack key artists and later collected his own Windham Hill releases.
Winston released his final album, Night, last year. The album features four original compositions from Winston, along with renditions of late New Orleans pianist Allen Toussaint’s “Freedom For The Stallion”, Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” among others.
Winston is pre-deceased by his parents, George and Mary Winston, and is survived by his sister, niece and nephew.
His family announced plans to hold private memorial services but asked well-wishers to make donations in his behalf to the following organizations.
Feeding America:
https://www.feedingamerica.org/
City Of Hope Cancer Center:
https://tinyurl.com/GeorgeWinstonCityOfHope
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center:
https://tinyurl.com/GeorgeWinstonSloanKettering
