Kurt Frank Winter (April 2, 1946 – December 14, 1997) was a Canadian guitarist and songwriter, best known as a member of

The Guess Who The Guess Who are a Canadian rock band formed in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1965. The band originated in 1962 and achieved an international hit single with a cover of " Shakin' All Over" in 1965 under the name Chad Allan and the Expressions. After ...

Biography

Winter was born in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749, ...

Manitoba , image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg , map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada , Label_map = yes , coordinates = , capital = Winn ...

. He attended

Daniel McIntyre Collegiate Institute Daniel McIntyre Collegiate Institute is a high school located in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Founded in the late 19th century, the school is named after Daniel McIntyre, Winnipeg's first school superintendent. Notable alumni *Bill Norrie (1929-2012), ...

. John Einarson
Profile of Kurt Winter
Manitoba Music Museum, 2012. Retrieved 2015-10-29. 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).Profile of Gettysbyrg Address
canadianbands.com. Retrieved 2015-11-04.
canadianbands.com. Retrieved 2015-11-03. In 1969 Winter, Wallace, and Schmidt formed the band

Brother A brother is a man or boy who shares one or more parents with another; a male sibling. The female counterpart is a sister. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to non-familia ...

, who were associates of

. Brother was together for less than six months, but became known for the fact that all three members later joined The Guess Who. Guitarist

Randy Bachman Randolph Charles Bachman (; born September 27, 1943) is a Canadian guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He was a founding member of the bands The Guess Who and Bachman–Turner Overdrive. Bachman recorded as a solo artist and was part of a num ...

left The Guess Who in 1970, and that band's leader Burton Cummings recruited Winter and Greg Leskiw as Bachman's replacements. Winter was with The Guess Who for four years and became one of the band's primary songwriters in tandem with Cummings.John Einarson
Winter's tale
Winnipeg Free Press, December 15, 2013. Retrieved 2015-11-10. After six studio albums, Winter left The Guess Who for undisclosed reasons in 1974, and was replaced by

Domenic Troiano Domenic Michele Antonio Troiano (January 17, 1946 – May 25, 2005) was a Canadian guitarist and songwriter, best known as a member of Mandala, Bush, James Gang, and The Guess Who. He also recorded music for film and television, often made guest ...

. After The Guess Who broke up, various former members of that band attempted reunion tours with floating lineups. Winter briefly joined a lineup led by bassist

Jim Kale Michael James Kale (born August 11, 1943) is a retired Canadian musician, best known as the original bassist for the rock band The Guess Who. He also served in the band Scrubbaloe Caine. In 1987, he was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of ...

in 1977-78, and contributed to the album ''Guess Who's Back''. Winter then retired from the music industry and resided in Winnipeg for the rest of his life. Burton Cummings invited Winter to write songs for his 1990s solo albums, though Winter chose a life away from music. Winter suffered from health problems attributed to excessive alcohol use, and died at age 51 from

kidney failure Kidney failure, also known as end-stage kidney disease, is a medical condition in which the kidneys can no longer adequately filter waste products from the blood, functioning at less than 15% of normal levels. Kidney failure is classified as eit ...

on December 14, 1997. His alma mater, Daniel McIntyre Collegiate Institute, initiated an annual scholarship in Winter's name in 1998. Cummings memorialized Winter in "Kurt's Song" on his 2008 album, '' Above the Ground''. Cummings described Winter as "one of my fondest writing partners". Stephen Ostick
Cummings picks wah-wah as career highlight
Winnipeg Free Press, October 3, 1988. As reprinted by Hillman Web. Retrieved 2015-11-14.

Discography

With The Guess Who: * 1970 '' Share the Land'' * 1971 ''

The Best of The Guess Who ''The Best of The Guess Who'' is the fourth compilation album by the Canadian group The Guess Who. It was originally released by RCA Records in April 1971 and contains recordings made between 1968 and 1970. The album reached number 12 on the '' ...

'' * 1971 '' So Long, Bannatyne'' * 1972 '' Rockin''' * 1972 '' Live at the Paramount '' * 1973 '' Artificial Paradise'' * 1973 '' #10'' * 1973 ''

The Best of The Guess Who Volume II ''The Best of The Guess Who Volume II'' is the fifth compilation album by the Canadian group The Guess Who. It was originally released by RCA Records in 1973, and contains recordings made between 1970 and 1973. Release history In addition to t ...

'' * 1974 ''

Road Food Road food is a cuisine concerning food prepared especially for hungry travelers who arrive by road. Most road food establishments are casual dining restaurants. American road food is associated with "comfort food" such as hamburgers, hot dogs, fri ...

'' * 1978 ''Guess Who's Back'' * 1988 ''Track Record: The Guess Who Collection'' * 1997 ''The Guess Who: The Ultimate Collection'' * 1999 ''The Guess Who: Greatest Hits'' * 2003 ''Platinum & Gold Collection: The Guess Who'' * 2006 ''Bachman Cummings Song Book''

References

External Links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Winter, Kurt 1946 births 1997 deaths Canadian songwriters The Guess Who members Musicians from Winnipeg Writers from Winnipeg Canadian rock guitarists Canadian male guitarists Deaths from kidney failure 20th-century Canadian guitarists 20th-century Canadian male musicians