Popular pianist dies in Texas freeze

From Austin 360:

Gene Taylor, a renowned blues and boogie-woogie pianist in Los Angeles in the 1970s and ’80s who moved to Austin in the 1990s to play with the Fabulous Thunderbirds, died Saturday at home in North Austin. He was 68.

Taylor’s housemate, filmmaker Monty McMillan, said Sunday that he found Taylor’s body in bed Saturday morning. The house had been without heat for five days as a result of statewide power outages related to the recent winter storm.

“I don’t really know exactly what happened.” McMillan said. “I don’t know if he had some underlying health condition, but I know the cold didn’t help.

“We both stayed in our own beds trying to stay warm. I came out of it OK, and he obviously didn’t.”

Gene Taylor was highly popular in Belgium and Sweden.