Jesse Winchester
| Jesse Winchester | |
|---|---|
Winchester in 2011
|
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | James Ridout Winchester Jr. |
| Born |
May 17, 1944 Bossier City, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Origin | Memphis, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Died | April 11, 2014 (aged 69) Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S. |
| Genres | Country, country rock, folk |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter, producer |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar, keyboards |
| Years active | Circa 1961 – 2014 (his death) |
| Labels | Appleseed, Bearsville, Stony Plain, Ampex, Victor, Sugar Hill, Great Big Island, Wounded Bird, Blue Plate |
| Website | jessewinchester |
James Ridout "Jesse" Winchester Jr. (May 17, 1944 – April 11, 2014) was an American-Canadian musician and songwriter. He was born and raised in the southern United States. Opposed to the Vietnam War, he moved to Canada in 1967 to avoid military service and began his career as a solo artist. His highest-charting recordings were of his own songs, "Yankee Lady" in 1970 and "Say What" in 1981. He became a Canadian citizen in 1973, gained amnesty in the U.S. in 1977 and resettled there in 2002.
Winchester was best known as a songwriter. His works were recorded by many notable artists, including Patti Page, Elvis Costello, Jimmy Buffett, Joan Baez, Anne Murray, Reba McEntire, the Everly Brothers, Lyle Lovett, and Emmylou Harris. A number of these recordings achieved positions on various charts.
Winchester was born at Barksdale Army Air Field, near Bossier City, Louisiana, and raised in northern Mississippi . Winchester was one of three children born to James Ridout Winchester Sr. (1917-1962) and Frances Ellyn Manire Winchester (1920-2010). Through his father's side, he is part of the Lee family of Virginia (Henry Lee II and Richard Henry Lee were two of his 4th-great-grandfathers). In 1952, after a heart attack left his father unable to farm, his family moved to Memphis, Tennessee, where he graduated from Christian Brothers High School in 1962 as a merit finalist, a National Honor Society member and the salutatorian of his class. He graduated from Williams College, in Williamstown, Massachusetts, in 1966. Upon receiving his draft notice the following year, Winchester moved to Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to avoid military service. "I was so offended by someone's coming up to me and presuming to tell me who I should kill and what my life was worth," he told Rolling Stone magazine in 1977.
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