Oscar Peterson: Jazz Piano Virtuoso Dies at 82

Oscar Peterson was a Canadian jazz pianist and composer. Born on August 15, 1925, in Montreal, he was trained in classical piano and rose to fame as a teenager.

Peterson recorded with Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Ray Brown and many others, and led his own trios. He won eight Grammy Awards and received a Lifetime Achievement Grammy in 1997. He played in a style that combined speed with blues feeling and was called the Maharaja of the keyboard by Duke Ellington.

A stroke in 1993 weakened his left hand, but he kept performing. Peterson died of kidney failure at his home in Mississauga, Ontario, on December 23, 2007, at age 82.

Achievements: Eight Grammy Awards, Companion of the Order of Canada.

Birth: August 15, 1925 - Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Profession: Jazz pianist.

Interesting Facts: Duke Ellington called him the Maharaja of the keyboard.