Jerry McGeorge (born October 22, 1945, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States) came to prominence in late 1965 as an American guitarist with the Chicago rock band The Shadows of Knight.
His early guitar influences included Scotty Moore, James Burton, Chet Atkins, Charlie Byrd, Les Paul, and the Brazilian Bossa Nova artist, Laurindo Almeida.
McGeorge was quoted in the 1980s: "My parents were adamantly against my listening to rock & roll at home, so, from the time I was about eleven years old I'd sneak a small transistor radio and an earpiece under my pillow at night.
Their over-protective upbringing was a complete failure: Within five years I was not only a touring rock musician, I was helping throw TV sets out of hotel windows."
Attempts to replace them were unsuccessful and McGeorge became interested in the sudden opening in the Shadows of Knight created by the loss of rhythm guitarist, Norm Gotsch, who was also drafted into the U.S. military.
His high energy level, showmanship and inventive secondary role play behind the often brilliant guitar work of Joe Kelley, intertwined with drummer Tom Shiffour's riffing, helped give the band its signature sound.
It soon became apparent that he had been retained short-term simply to ensure the band could fulfill numerous California contractual obligations, among them a notable March 1968 appearance at the Fillmore Auditorium with Traffic.
McGeorge's broad range of studies made him equally at home with rock, country, electric blues, jazz & classical guitar.
In the late 1970s, concerns over an accelerating hearing loss and disenchantment with the musician's lifestyle caused McGeorge to abandon his music career and enter the auto industry.
In 1999 he made a surprise appearance in Arlington Heights, Illinois, at a reunion of bands and fans of The Cellar teen dance club, at which the Blackstones, Shadows of Knight and H.P.
Teamed up again with original Shadows of Knight bandmate, Joe Kelley, the pair stole the show with a set of improvised electric blues.