--- ---  # Johnny Winter, Blues Star, Is Dead at 70  by [Noah Rayman](https://time.com/author/noah-rayman/)  ## Noah Rayman Jul 17, 2014 12:50 PM UTC  Johnny Winter in concert Johnny Winter in concertGai Terrell—Redferns/Getty Images  by [Noah Rayman](https://time.com/author/noah-rayman/)  ## Noah Rayman Jul 17, 2014 12:50 PM UTC Johnny Winter, the Texas blues icon, [died](https://www.facebook.com/pages/Johnny-Winter/58833032349?fref=photo) 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](https://www.facebook.com/pages/Johnny-Winter/58833032349?sk=info) 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. Johnny Winter, Blues Star, Is Dead at 70 ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3001352/johnny-winter-blues-texas-dead/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3001352/johnny-winter-blues-texas-dead/"},"headline":"Johnny Winter, Blues Star, Is Dead at 70","datePublished":"2014-07-17T12:50:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:12:08.578Z","description":"Texan was one of Rolling Stone's top 100 guitarists ever","url":"https://time.com/3001352/johnny-winter-blues-texas-dead/","keywords":["celebrities","Music","remembrance","Rolling Stone","guitar"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta067ce7ab9656568/69869c1555a8597610a81d52/winter.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Noah Rayman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/noah-rayman/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta067ce7ab9656568/69869c1555a8597610a81d52/winter.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"(FILE) Blues Legend Johnny Winter Dies At 70 Photo of Johnny WINTER","caption":"(FILE) Blues Legend Johnny Winter Dies At 70 Photo of Johnny WINTER","creditText":"Gai Terrell—Redferns/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3001352/johnny-winter-blues-texas-dead/","name":"Johnny Winter, Blues Star, Is Dead at 70"}}]}] ```