Sir George Shearing OBE (born August 13, 1919, Battersea, London) is an English-American jazz pianist who, during the 1950s, had a popular Jazz group for MGM Records and Capitol Records. He has written over 300 compositions and has had multiple albums on the Billboard charts throughout the 1950s, 1960s, 1980s and 1990s.[1] He is also the first American citizen to be granted a Knighthood.[2]
He became known for a piano technique known as Shearing's voicing, a type of double melody block chord, with an additional fifth part that doubles the melody an octave lower.
Shearing's interest in classical music resulted in some performances with concert orchestras in the 1950s and 1960s, and his solos frequently draw upon the music of Debussy and, particularly, Erik Satie for inspiration.
Shearing was born on August 13, 1919 in Battersea, South London, England and 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 at Linden Lodge School for the Blind, where he spent four years.[3] "Lullaby.