Johnny Winter, Blues Star, Is Dead at 70

Johnny Winter, the Texas blues icon, died in Zurich, Switzerland on Wednesday at the age of 70.

The star guitarist—Rolling Stone named him one of the 100 best ever—was playing till the end, performing his last gig in Austria on Saturday. Since his self-titled album was released in 1969, Winter has recorded and produced dozens of albums of classic rock and blues, including several with his childhood idol Muddy Winters.

A biography on his Facebook page describes Winter as “the clear link between British blues rock and American Southern rock à la the Allman Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd.”

“His wife, family and bandmates are all saddened by the loss of their loved one and one of the world’s finest guitarists,” says a post on his page.