- British (later naturalized American) jazz pianist/composer, accidentally blinded when only a few days old. A prolific recording artist for the MGM, Capitol, and Concord Jazz labels, with his quintet and trio, his theme song, which he also composed, is "Lullabye of Birdland."
- He was awarded the O.B.E. (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the Queen's Honours List for his services to jazz music.
- He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 1716 Vine Street in Hollywood, California.
- Born the youngest of nine children to impoverished working-class parents--his father was a coal delivery man and his mother cleaned trains in the evening.
- Learned to play piano from the age of three. During his teens he played in a blind students' band led by Claude Bampton before joining the orchestra of Bert Ambrose. During World War II he played in Harry Parry's Radio Rhythm Club Band, doubling on accordion for Frank Weir and his Sextet in 1947.
- In 1947 , Shearing emigrated to the United States, where his harmonically complex style mixing swing, bop and modern classical influences gained popularity.
- He formed a musical partnership with Mel Tormé that lasted for 10 years. Each had the highest opinion of the other, and Tormé was more than irritated that the two Grammy Awards that their work won in 1983 and 1984 were awarded to him alone and not shared with the pianist.
- Inspired by his visits to Harlem listening to the music of Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie 'Bird' Parker, he sat down to write the jazz 'standard', 'Lullaby of Birdland': It took him just ten minutes.
- He was awarded Knight Bachelor of the Order of the British Empire in the 2007 Queen's New Years Honours List for his services to music.
- Pianist with Harry Parry's band.
- Upon his death, he was interred at the Saint Thomas Church on Fifth Avenue in New York City. His location plot is the Columbarium.
- His music was greatly admired by actress Laraine Day and she collected every album he ever made.
- He lives in Valencia, California. (December 2006)
- The famous George Shearing Quintet was formed in 1949 and continued to operate (with changing personnel) until 1978. Members of the group have included Denzil Best, Gary Burton, Israel Crosby and Cal Tjader.
- Popularized the locked hands block chord technique of piano playing invented by Milt Buckner.
- Shearing won six consecutive Top Pianist Melody Maker polls from this time onwards.
- In 1940, Shearing joined Harry Parry's popular band.
- He was was a British jazz pianist who for many years led a popular jazz group that recorded for Discovery Records, MGM Records and Capitol Records.
- Though he was offered several scholarships, Shearing opted to perform at a local pub, the Mason's Arms in Lambeth, for "25 bob a week" playing piano and accordion.
- Shearing was the composer of over 300 titles, including the jazz standards "Lullaby of Birdland" and "Conception", and had multiple albums on the Billboard charts during the 1950s, 1960s, 1980s and 1990s.
- Shearing made his first BBC radio broadcast during this time, after being befriended by Leonard Feather, with whom he started recording in 1937.
- He was a member of the Bohemian Club and often performed at the annual Bohemian Grove Encampments.
- 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.
- Around 1942 he was recruited by Stéphane Grappelli (domiciled in London during World War II) to join his band, which appeared at Hatchets Restaurant in Piccadilly in the early years of the war, and subsequently toured as "the Grappelly Swingtette" from 1943 onwards.
- He joined an all-blind band, Claude Bampton's Blind Orchestra, and was influenced by the records of Teddy Wilson and Fats Waller.
- In 2012 Derek Paravicini and jazz vocalist Frank Holder did 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.
- The cover of his Big Red Book ( from the celebrating television program: This Is Your Life) was written in braille lettering.
- Shearing's first US job was at the Onyx Club in New York, playing when Sarah Vaughan, the headliner, took an interval. He moved over the road to The Two Deuces, where he did the same job for Ella Fitzgerald.
- He was encouraged to emigrate to the States by American visitors to Britain like Fats Waller, Mel Powell, Glenn Miller and Coleman Hawkins.
- He put together his famous Quintet in January 1949 that he created his own identity. The highly original style, bland and uniquely palpable, became known as "The Shearing Sound", and it was copied by pianists across the world. The jazz writer Richard Cook described the Quintet sound as "Bop relaxing in the lounge with an aperitif".
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