Blues legend Johnny Winter has died at the age of 70. The news was first reported by American Blues Scene and Jenda Derringer, wife of Winter's former bandmate Rick Derringer. Jenda wrote on Facebook: "[Johnny] passed early this morning in Zurich, Switzerland." She added: "He was not in good health and was very frail and weak."Johnny has always been one of the most respected singers and guitar players in rock and the clear link between British blues-rock and American Southern rock. Throughout the '70s and '80s, Johnny was the unofficial torch-bearer for the blues, championing and aiding the careers of his idols like Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker.Winter's big breakthrough came in 1968 when Rolling Stone writers Larry Sepulvado and John Burks featured him in a piece on the Texas Music scene, which prompted a bidding war among labels that Columbia eventually won.?Winter remained active up until his death and was scheduled to release a new studio album, "Step Back", on September 2 via Megaforce Records. The follow-up to 2011's "Roots" features a host of special guests, including Eric Clapton, Ben Harper, Billy Gibbons, Joe Perry, Dr. John, Leslie West, Brian Setzer and Joe Bonnamassa."As the great blues historian Robert Palmer once bluntly stated, 'Texas's blues pedigree is unsurpassed," writes Brad Tolinski in the liner notes for the recent career-retrospective boxed set "Johnny Winter: True To The Blues". "But of all of these bright lights, perhaps the most electrifying, exotic and resilient Texas export is a snowy white guitarist from Beaumont, whose truth-is-stranger-than-fiction given name is Winter. For well over five decades, John Dawson 'Johnny' Winter III has produced and played on some of the most exciting blues and rock recordings in the history of both genres. His absolute command of traditional music has earned him the respect of serious musicologists, while his tremendous agility, wicked speed and full-tilt aggression on the electric guitar and acoustic bottleneck has won over several generations of younger rock players looking to cop some the fastest and hottest licks ever committed to tape."
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