Allegations of theft and greed over control of the late guitarist Johnny Winter’s music are flying, the Associated Press reports.
The legal wrangle is between Winter’s former personal manager and bandmate, Paul Nelson, and the family of Winter’s late wife, Susan, who died in 2019.
Winter played at Woodstock in 1969, produced albums for Muddy Waters, and was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame.
He released more than two dozen albums and was nominated for several Grammy awards, winning his first one posthumously in 2015 for Best Blues Album for “Step Back.” Nelson produced the album and also took home a Grammy for it.
Winter’s in-laws contend Nelson and his wife improperly took more than $1.5 million from Winter’s music business.
Nelson and his wife claim the relatives tricked severely ill Susan Winter into signing over control of Winter’s music.
The case was scheduled to go to trial in a Connecticut court in April, but was rescheduled for September. The battle will decide ownership of Winter’s music catalogue, recordings royalties and merchandise sales, and control over any commercial use of his songs.
“The case is about preserving Johnny Winter’s legacy and vindicating and making sure the Nelsons haven’t improperly taken the moneys rightfully owed to the plaintiffs,” said Timothy Diemand, a lawyer for the Susan Winter’s siblings, Bonnie and Christopher Warford.
Nelson wants to be reinstalled as the beneficiary of Susan Winter’s estate.
“The Plaintiffs orchestrated the wrongful termination of Paul Nelson during a difficult time in Susan Winter’s last year of life,” the Nelsons said in a statement released by their lawyer, Matthew Mason. They said it was clear that both Johnny and Susan Winter wanted Nelson to be responsible for Johnny Winter’s music and legacy.
Winter died at the age of 70 on July 16, 2014, in a hotel room just outside Zurich, Switzerland, while on tour.