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Canadian musician (1946–1997) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kurt Frank Winter (April 2, 1946 – December 14, 1997) was a Canadian guitarist and songwriter, best known as the lead guitarist for The Guess Who from 1970 to 1974.
Kurt Winter | |
|---|---|
Kurt Winter with The Guess Who in 1970 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Kurt Frank Winter |
| Born | April 2, 1946 |
| Origin | Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada |
| Died | December 14, 1997 (aged 51) |
| Genres | Rock, Hard rock, Pop rock |
| Occupation(s) | Guitarist, songwriter |
| Instrument |
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Winter was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He attended Daniel McIntyre Collegiate Institute.[1] From the mid-1960s he was a member of several local Winnipeg rock bands, collaborating at various times with bassist Bill Wallace and drummer Vance Schmidt (later known as Vance Masters).[2][3][4] In 1969 Winter, Wallace, and Schmidt formed the band Brother, who were associates of The Guess Who.[1]
Guitarist Randy Bachman left The Guess Who in 1970, and that band's leader Burton Cummings recruited Winter and Greg Leskiw as Bachman's replacements.[2][3] Winter was with The Guess Who for four years and became one of the band's primary songwriters in tandem with Cummings.[5] After six studio albums, Winter left The Guess Who for undisclosed reasons in 1974,[5] and was replaced by Domenic Troiano. Winter briefly joined a lineup led by bassist Jim Kale in 1977–78, and contributed to the album Guess Who's Back.[6]
Winter then retired from the music industry and resided in Winnipeg for the rest of his life.[1] Burton Cummings invited Winter to write songs for his 1990s solo albums, though Winter chose a life away from music.[1] Winter suffered from health problems attributed to excessive alcohol use, and died at age 51 from kidney failure on December 14, 1997.[1] His alma mater, Daniel McIntyre Collegiate Institute, initiated an annual scholarship in Winter's name in 1998.[5] Cummings described Winter as "one of my fondest writing partners".[7]
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