Born inBattersea,London, Shearing was the youngest of nine children. He was born blind to working-class parents: his father delivered coal and his mother cleaned trains in the evening. He started to learn piano at the age of three and began formal training atLinden Lodge School for the Blind, where he spent four years.[3]
Though he was offered several scholarships, Shearing opted to perform at a localpub, the Mason's Arms inLambeth, for "25 bob a week"[4] playing piano andaccordion. He joined an all-blind band, Claude Bampton's Blind Orchestra, during that time, and was influenced by the records ofTeddy Wilson andFats Waller.[2] Shearing made his firstBBC radio broadcast during this time, after being befriended byLeonard Feather, with whom he started recording in 1937.[3]
In 1940, Shearing joinedHarry Parry's popular band. Around 1942 he was recruited byStéphane Grappelli (domiciled in London duringWorld War II) to join his band, which appeared at Hatchets Restaurant inPiccadilly in the early years of the war, and subsequently toured as "the Grappelly Swingtette" from 1943 onward.[5] Shearing won six consecutive Top PianistMelody Maker polls from this time onward.[6] Around that time he was also a member ofGeorge Evans's Saxes 'n' Sevens band.[citation needed]
Shearing immigrated to the United States, where his harmonically complex style mixing swing, bop and modern classical influences gained popularity. One of his first performances was at the Hickory House. He performed with theOscar Pettiford Trio and led a jazz quartet withBuddy DeFranco, which led to contractual problems, since Shearing was under contract toMGM and DeFranco toCapitol Records.[citation needed]
Shearing (centre) performing with the Quintet in Holland, 1962
In 1949, he formed the first George Shearing Quintet, a band withMargie Hyams (vibraphone),Chuck Wayne (guitar), later replaced byToots Thielemans (listed as John Tillman),John Levy (bass), andDenzil Best (drums).[7] This line-up recorded for Discovery, Savoy, and MGM, including the popular single "September in the Rain" (MGM), which sold over 900,000 copies in the United States alone with global sales in excess of one million;[7] "my other hit" to accompany "Lullaby of Birdland". Shearing said of this hit that it was "as accidental as it could be."[4] At this time, the novelistJack Kerouac heard him play inBirdland, and later described the performance in his 1957 novelOn the Road as "his great 1949 days before he became cool and commercial."[8][9]
Shearing's interest in classical music resulted in some performances with concert orchestras in the 1950s and 1960s, and his solos frequently drew upon the music ofSatie,Delius, andDebussy for inspiration. He became known for a piano technique known as "The Shearing Sound", or "Shearing voicing", a type of double melodyblock chord, with an additional fifth part that doubles the melody an octave lower. With the piano playing these five voices, Shearing would double the top voice with the vibraphone and the bottom voice with the guitar to create his signature sound. This piano technique is also known as "locked hands" and the jazz organistMilt Buckner is generally credited with inventing it.[10] In Shearing's later career he played with a more conventional piano technique while maintaining his recognisable improvisational style.
In 1956, Shearing became anaturalised citizen of the United States.[4] He continued to play with his quintet, with augmented players through the years, and recorded with Capitol until 1969. He created his own label, Sheba, that lasted a few years. Along with dozens of musical stars of his day, Shearing appeared onABC'sThe Pat Boone Chevy Showroom in 1959.[11][12] In 1953, he had appeared on the same network's reality show,The Comeback Story, in which he discussed how to cope with blindness.[13]
In 1970, he began to "phase out his by-now-predictable quintet"[2] and disbanded the group in 1978. One of his more notable albums during this period wasThe Reunion (1976), made in collaboration with bassistAndy Simpkins and drummerRusty Jones, and featuringStéphane Grappelli, the violinist with whom he had debuted as a sideman decades before.
Shearing remained fit and active well into his later years and continued to perform, even after being honoured with an Ivor Novello Lifetime Achievement Award in 1993. He never forgot his native country and, in his last years, would split his year between living in New York andChipping Campden, Gloucestershire, where he bought a house with his second wife, singer Ellie Geffert. This gave him the opportunity to tour the UK, giving concerts, often with Tormé, backed by the BBC Big Band. He was appointed OBE in 1996. In 2007, he was knighted. "So", he noted later, "the poor, blind kid from Battersea became Sir George Shearing. Now that's a fairy tale come true."[14]
In 2004, he released his memoirs,Lullaby of Birdland, which was accompanied by a double-album "musical autobiography",Lullabies of Birdland. Shortly afterwards, however, he had a fall at his home and retired from regular performing.[16]
On 14 February 2011, Shearing died from heart failure at 91.[16]
In October 2011,Derek Paravicini and jazz vocalistFrank Holder performed a tribute concert to the recordings of Shearing. Ann Odell transcribed the recordings and taught Paravicini the parts, as well as being the MD for the concerts. Lady Shearing also endorsed the show, sending a letter to be read out before the Watermill Jazz Club performance.[17]
Shearing was married to Trixie Bayes, with whom he had his only child Wendy, from 1941 to 1973. Two years after his divorce he married his second wife, the singer Ellie Geffert.[18] He was a member of theBohemian Club and often performed at the annualBohemian Grove Encampments. He composed music for two of theGrove Plays.[19]
1994 Honorary degree of Doctor of Music fromHamilton College in New York
1996 Included in Queen's Birthday Honours List, invested by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for "services to music and Anglo-US relations"
^Magee, David; music by George Shearing (1970).The bonny cravat: a Grove play with book & lyrics. San Francisco: Bohemian Club.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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