Everything about Edgar Winter totally explained
Edgar Winter (born
December 28,
1946 in
Beaumont, Texas) is an American musician who had significant success in the 1970s and 1980s. He is a keyboard player, vocalist,
saxophonist and percussionist, well-versed in
jazz,
blues and
rock.
He is the second son of John and Edwina Winter, who were very much responsible for Edgar and his older brother
Johnny Winter's early musical awareness. Both Edgar and Johnny have
albinism.
History
As teens Edgar and Johnny (who is three years older than Edgar) began performing together at local
watering holes such as Tom's Fish Camp. The two played in
R&B and
blues groups; Johnny and the Jammers, The Crystaliers, and The Black Plague. By the time he was of college age Edgar had become competent on keyboards, saxophone, bass, guitar and drums.
After recording with his brother, Edgar was signed to his own
Epic Records contract in 1970 and recorded two R&B flavored albums,
Entrance and
Edgar Winter's White Trash. In 1972 he formed The Edgar Winter Group which included
Dan Hartman,
Ronnie Montrose and
Chuck Ruff. It was with this band that he'd his biggest successes: first with the
1972 album
They Only Come Out at Night which featured the #1 hit instrumental "
Frankenstein" which pioneered the use of the synthesizer as a lead instrument and reached number one in the U.S. in May 1973 and the top 15 single
Free Ride; which reached number 14 that same year, then the album
Shock Treatment which featured the song "Easy Street".
The preponderance of vocals and songwriting by Hartman on
Shock Treatment led to the release of
Jasmine Nightdreams with all vocals by Winter. It was nominally a solo album, but it used the same personnel as the Edgar Winter Group. A full band album followed, the Edgar Winter Group with
Rick Derringer, featuring songs and vocals by Derringer.
Success was waning, however, and Edgar teamed with brother Johnny for a live album of blues and early rock classics, including
Harlem Shuffle (later a revival hit for
the Rolling Stones). This album too performed below expectations, so the White Trash was reformed. They recorded
Recycled, and toured as an opening act to support the album. The tour was cut short by a tragic plane crash, which killed some members of the tour's headliner,
Lynyrd Skynyrd. This was followed by two solo albums, an attempt at literate disco on the
Edgar Winter Album and a return to 1970s rock on
Standing on Rock. Since then there have been more obscure solo albums and session work, namely with
David Lee Roth on
Crazy from the Heat in 1985, which included a cover version of the song
Easy Street.
With over 20 albums and many television and radio appearances both to promote his music—and to give his opinion on everything politically incorrect— Edgar Winter's music is solidly in the popular vein. Winter's 1970s albums are bluesier than his later albums, but there are blues tunes like "Big City Woman" on his 1990 album
Not a Kid Anymore. In 2005, "Frankenstein" was featured in the
PlayStation 2 music video game Guitar Hero. It has also been covered by
Gary Hoey on the 2003 album "Wake Up Call", as well as by
Derek Sherinian in his album album
Inertia. "Free Ride" is the main song used in the Disney/Pixar video game "Cars" which is the video game spin off of the animated film of the same name, the initial guitar riff is used on the menu screens and the full song features during game play.
In 2006, Winter joined Hamish Stuart,
Rod Argent,
Richard Marx,
Billy Squier, and
Sheila E touring with
Ringo Starr & His All Starr Band.
Relationship with the Church of Scientology
Edgar is a
Scientologist. He has appeared in at least seven issues of the
Church of Scientology magazine
Celebrity between 1995 and 2005, which list the Scientology courses that he's completed.
Edgar also produced, arranged, and performed on the album
Mission Earth (1986). This album's words and music were written by Scientology founder
L. Ron Hubbard. L. Ron Hubbard supposedly left detailed instructions and audio tapes for the musicians and producers to follow when making the album. Edgar described
Mission Earth as "both a return to rock’s primal roots and yet highly experimental". Winter had glowing words for Hubbard when he wrote, "Ron's technical insight of the recording process was outstanding." Winter also described Hubbard's delineation of counter-rhythm in rock as something "which was nothing short of phenomenal, particularly inasmuch as it had then been entirely unexplored and only later heard in the African-based rhythms of
Paul Simon's work, some five years after Ron’s analysis."
Discography
Soundtracks
Edgar Winter's songs have been featured in the soundtracks of these films:
Invincible (2006)
(2003)
Knockaround Guys (2001)
Duets (2000)
You're Dead...
(1999)
The Secret Life of Girls (1999)
Detroit Rock City (1999)
(1997)
Wag the Dog (1997)
My Girl 2 (1994)
Wayne's World 2 (1993)
Dazed and Confused (1993)
Netherworld (1992)
Encino Man (1992)
My Cousin Vinny (1992)
Air America (1990)
Spirit of '76 (1990)
Maniac Mansion (Video Game) (1987)
The Windsurfing Movie (2007)Further Information
Get more info on 'Edgar Winter'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://edgar_winter.totallyexplained.com">Edgar Winter Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
