Steve Winwood, 2005, Knoxville, Tennessee. Author en:ScottFisher
Stephen Lawrence “Steve” Winwood (born 12 May 1948) is an English musician whose genres include rock, blue-eyed soul, rhythm and blues, blues rock, pop rock, and jazz. A multi-instrumentalist, he can play keyboards, bass guitar, drums, guitar, mandolin, violin, and other strings. Steve co-wrote and recorded “Gimme Some Lovin'” and “I’m A Man” before leaving to form Traffic with Chris Wood, Jim Capaldi and Dave Mason.
BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS
Full Name: Stephen Lawrence Winwood
Description: Vocalist, Composer, UK
Known For: Original member of “The Spencer Davis Group”
Instruments: Voice, Guitar, Bass guitar, Piano/Keyboards/Organ, Synthesizer, Drums, Mandolin
Music Styles: Rock
Location: United Kingdom
Date Born: 12th May 1948
Location Born: Great Barr, United Kingdom
CONTACT DETAILS
Web Site: http://www.stevewinwood.com/
YOUTUBE VIDEO
BIOGRAPHICAL PROFILE
Steve Winwood
An English born Blues Singer,Songwriter, Guitarist, Organist.
A multi instrumentalist with a career backing blues singers such
as Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson and many others.
Mainly known for groups such as ‘The Spencer Davis Group’ – ‘Traffic’ -‘Blind Faith’ before he turned solo.
At the age of 15 Winwood became a member of the Spencer Davis Group with his older brother ‘Muff’ (who later had much success as a record producer).
Winwood was a key member of The Spencer Davis Group, Traffic, Blind Faith and Go. He also had a successful solo career with hits including “Valerie”, “Back in the High Life Again” and two US Billboard Hot 100 number ones; “Higher Love” and “Roll With It”. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Traffic in 2004.
In 2005 Winwood was honoured as a BMI Icon at the annual BMI London Awards for his “enduring influence on generations of music makers.”[3] In 2008, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Winwood #33 in its 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.[4] Winwood has won two Grammy Awards.
Steve co-wrote and recorded “Gimme Some Lovin'” and “I’m A Man” before leaving to form Traffic with Chris Wood, Jim Capaldi and Dave Mason. During this time, Winwood briefly joined forces with guitarist Eric Clapton as part of the group Eric Clapton’s Powerhouse. Songs were recorded for the Elektra label but only three tracks were released on the compilation album, What’s Shakin’.
He formed Blind Faith in 1969 with Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker and Ric Grech. The band was short-lived, due to Clapton’s greater interest in Blind Faith’s opening act Delaney & Bonnie & Friends: Clapton left the band after the tour had ended. However, Baker, Winwood and Grech stayed together to form Ginger Baker’s Air Force.
Stephen Lawrence Winwood was born in Handsworth, Birmingham, England. His father, Lawrence, a foundryman by trade, was a semi-professional musician, playing mainly the saxophone and clarinet. Young Winwood became interested in swing and Dixieland jazz as a boy and started playing drums, guitar and piano. He first performed with his father and older brother, Muff, in the Ron Atkinson Band at the age of eight.Winwood was a choirboy at St John’s Church, Perry Barr, and later admitted to having “sneaked a few plays” of the organ there. While he was still young the family moved from Handsworth to the semi-rural suburb of Kingstanding at the northern edge of the city.
Early years
While he was still a pupil at the Great Barr School, Winwood was a part of the Birmingham rhythm and blues scene, playing the Hammond B-3 organ and guitar, backing blues singers such as Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, T-Bone Walker, Howlin’ Wolf, B.B. King, Sonny Boy Williamson II, Eddie Boyd, Otis Spann, Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley on their United Kingdom tours, the custom at that time being for US singers to travel solo and be backed by pickup bands. At this time, Winwood was living on Atlantic Road in Great Barr, close to the Birmingham music halls where he played. Winwood had modelled himself on Ray Charles.
Winwood joined the Spencer Davis Group at age 14, along with his older brother, Muff, who later had success as a record producer. Steve’s distinctive high tenor, singing voice and vocal style drew comparisons to Ray Charles. At the end of 1965 the group had their first number one single with “Keep On Running” and the money from this success allowed Winwood to buy his own Hammond B-3 organ.
During this time Winwood joined forces with guitarist Eric Clapton as part of the one-off group Eric Clapton and the Powerhouse. Songs were recorded for the Elektra label, but only three tracks made the compilation album, What’s Shakin’.
Winwood co-wrote and recorded the hits “Gimme Some Lovin'” and “I’m a Man” before leaving the Spencer Davis Group. Winwood met drummer Jim Capaldi, guitarist Dave Mason, and multi-instrumentalist Chris Wood when they jammed together at The Elbow Room, a club in Aston, Birmingham. After Winwood left the Spencer Davis Group in April 1967, the quartet formed Traffic. Soon thereafter, they rented a cottage near the rural village of Aston Tirrold, Berkshire to write and rehearse new music. The period at the cottage proved important in the band’s development.
Early in Traffic’s formation, Winwood and Capaldi formed a songwriting partnership, with Winwood writing music to match Capaldi’s lyrics. This partnership was the source of most of Traffic’s material, including popular songs such as “Paper Sun” and “The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys”, and outlived the band, producing several songs for Winwood and Capaldi’s solo albums. Winwood’s performance role in Traffic varied from album to album and song to song; he might perform lead vocal and guitar on one track, and piano and bass on the next. Over the band’s history, however, he played the majority of their lead vocals, keyboard instruments, and guitars. He also frequently played bass and percussion up to and including the recording sessions for their fourth album.
Winwood formed the supergroup Blind Faith in 1969 with Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker and Ric Grech. The band was short-lived owing to Clapton’s greater interest in Blind Faith’s opening act Delaney & Bonnie & Friends—Clapton left the band at tour’s end. However, Baker, Winwood and Grech stayed together to form Ginger Baker’s Air Force. The lineup consisted of 3/4 of Blind Faith (without Clapton, who was replaced by Denny Laine), 2/3 of Traffic (Winwood and Chris Wood, minus Jim Capaldi) plus musicians who interacted with Baker in his early days, including Phil Seamen, Harold McNair, John Blood and Graham Bond. However, the project turned out to be just another short-lived one. Winwood soon went into the studio to begin work on a new solo album, tentatively titled Mad Shadows. However, Winwood ended up calling in Wood and Capaldi to help with session work, which prompted Traffic’s comeback album John Barleycorn Must Die. In 1976, Winwood played guitar on the Fania All Stars’ Delicate and Jumpy record and performed as a guest with the band in their only UK appearance, a sold-out concert at the Lyceum Theatre, London.
In 1972, Winwood recorded the part of Captain Walker in the highly successful orchestral version of The Who’s Tommy. He recorded a 1973 album with Remi Kabaka, Aiye-Keta, for Antilles Records, and in 1976 provided vocals and keyboards on Go, a concept album by Japanese composer Stomu Yamashta.
Solo career
Weariness with the grind of touring and recording prompted Winwood to leave Traffic and retire to sessioning for some years. Under pressure from Island Records, he resurfaced with his self-titled first solo album in 1977. This was followed by his 1980 hit Arc of a Diver (which included his first solo hit, “While You See a Chance”) and Talking Back to the Night in 1982. Both albums were recorded at his home in Gloucestershire with Winwood playing all instruments. He continued to do sessions during this period, and in 1983 he co-produced and played on Jim Capaldi’s top 40 hit “That’s Love” and co-wrote the Will Powers top 20 hit “Kissing with Confidence”
In 1986, as his relationship was faltering he moved to New York. There he enlisted the help of a coterie of stars to record Back in the High Life in the US, and the album was a hit. He topped the Billboard Hot 100 with “Higher Love”, and earned two Grammy Awards: for Record of the Year and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. Winwood embarked on an extensive tour of North America in support of the album.
All these albums were released on Island Records. However, at the peak of his commercial success, Winwood moved to Virgin Records and released Roll with It and Refugees of the Heart. The album Roll with It and the title track hit #1 on the USA album and singles charts in the summer of 1988. Another album with Virgin, Far from Home, was officially credited to Traffic, but nearly all the instruments were played by Winwood. Despite lacking a significant hit, it broke the top 40 in both the UK and USA. His final Virgin album Junction Seven also broke the UK top 40, but was Winwood’s first commercial flop in the USA.
In July 2007, Winwood performed with Eric Clapton in the latter’s Crossroads Guitar Festival. Among the songs they played together were “Presence of the Lord” and “Can’t Find My Way Home” from their Blind Faith days. Winwood played several guitar leads in a six song set. The two continued their collaboration with three sold-out nights at Madison Square Garden in New York City in February 2008.On 19 February 2008 Winwood and Clapton released a collaborative EP through iTunes titled Dirty City. Clapton and Winwood released a CD and DVD of their Madison Square Garden shows and then toured together in the summer of 2009.
Personal life
Between 1978 and 1986 Winwood was married to Nicole Weir (d. 2005), who had contributed background vocals to some of his early solo work. The two married at Cheltenham Register Office.
Winwood now lives in Nashville, Tennessee with his wife Eugenia Crafton, a native of Trenton, Tennessee, whom he married in 1987. They have four children – Mary-Clare, Eliza, Cal and Lilly – and also own a 300-year-old manor house in the Cotswolds, Gloucestershire, England.
Winwood and Grech stayed together to form Ginger Baker’s Air Force. The lineup consisted of basically 3/4 of Blind Faith (sans Clapton, replaced by Denny Laine), of Traffic (Winwood and Chris Wood, minus Jim Capaldi.
Traffic were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004.
Albums with Traffic include.
Mr. Fantasy (1967)
Traffic (1968)
Last Exit (1969)
John Barleycorn Must Die (1970)
Welcome to the Canteen (1971)
The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys (1971)
Shoot Out at the Fantasy Factory (1973)
On the Road (1973)
When the Eagle Flies (1974)
Far from Home (1994)
The Last Great Traffic Jam (2005)
With Blind Faith
Blind Faith (1969)
Solo recordings include.
Winwood (1971)
Winwood & Friends (1972)
Go (1976)
Steve Winwood (1977)
Arc of a Diver (1980)
Talking Back to the Night (1982)
Back in the High Life (1986)
Roll with It (1988)
Refugees of the Heart (1990)
Junction Seven (1997)
About Time (2003)
WORKS
Discography
Solo
1977: Steve Winwood
1980: Arc of a Diver
1982: Talking Back to the Night
1986: Back in the High Life
1988: Roll with It
1990: Refugees of the Heart
1997: Junction Seven
2003: About Time
2008: Nine Lives
Traffic discography
Studio albums
Mr. Fantasy Released: December 1967
Label: Island (ILPS 9061)
Format: LP
Released as Heaven Is in Your Mind in US
Released as Reaping in Canada
Traffic Released: October 1968
Label: Island (ILPS 9081)
Format: LP
Last Exit Released: May 1969
Label: Island (ILPS 9097)
Format: LP
John Barleycorn Must Die Released: July 1970
Label: Island (ILPS 9116)
Format: LP
The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys Released: November 1971
Label: Island (ILPS 9180)
Format: LP
Shoot Out at the Fantasy Factory Released: February 1973
Label: Island (ILPS 9224)
Format: LP
When the Eagle Flies Released: 1974
Label: Island (ILPS 9273)
Format: LP
Far from Home Released: 9 May 1994
Label: Virgin (CDV 2727)
Format: CD
Blind Faith
1969: Blind Faith
GO
1976: Go Live from Paris
Session work
Chris Knipp – blast
The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Electric Ladyland, 1968
McDonald and Giles – McDonald and Giles, 1971
Shawn Phillips – Faces, 1972
London Symphony Orchestra – Tommy – As Performed by the London Symphony Orchestra & Chamber Choir, 1972
Jim Capaldi – Oh How We Danced, 1972
Eddie Harris – E.H. in the U.K. (Atlantic, 1973)
Lou Reed – Berlin, 1973
Jim Capaldi – Whale Meat Again, 1974
Robert Palmer – Sneakin’ Sally Through the Alley, 1974
Jim Capaldi – Short Cut Draw Blood, 1975
Jade Warrior – Waves, 1975
Toots & the Maytals – Reggae Got Soul, 1976
John Martyn – One World, 1977
Pierre Moerlen’s Gong – Downwind, 1978
George Harrison – George Harrison, 1978
Vivian Stanshall – Sir Henry at Rawlinson End, 1978
Jim Capaldi – Daughter of the Night, 1978
Marianne Faithfull – Broken English, 1979
Jim Capaldi – The Sweet Smell of… Success, 1980
Jim Capaldi – Let the Thunder Cry, 1981
Marianne Faithfull – Dangerous Acquaintances, 1981
Jim Capaldi – Fierce Heart, 1983
David Gilmour – About Face, 1984[28]
Christine McVie – Christine McVie, 1984
Eddie Harris – E.H. in the U.K.
Billy Joel – The Bridge, 1986
Talk Talk – The Colour of Spring, 1986
Jim Capaldi – Some Come Running, 1988
Soulsister – Heat, 1990
Paul Weller – Stanley Road, 1995
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