Steve
Winwood was born in Birmingham, England in 1948. His family was very musically-inclined;
Steve’s father and brother Muff both performed in local jazz outfits. Steve
quickly took to playing the piano and guitar, soon joining his family in
performances.
The
Spencer Davis Group was launched after guitarist Spencer Davis watched
the Winwood brothers performing as part of the Muff Woody Jazz Band at
the Golden Eagle in Birmingham, England. Impressed with their musical versatility,
Davis recruited Muff to play bass and Steve to play keyboards and guitar.
Pete York later joined on drums. The band signed a contract with Island
Records soon thereafter, and the band’s first single “Dimples,” a John
Lee Hooker cover, hit the charts. The band built its fan base through constant
touring, but did not break through until it released “Keep on Running,”
the band’s first big hit. “Somebody Help Me” and “When I Come Home” followed
and achieved big sales.
Steve
took some time off from the Spencer Davis Group for a brief stint with
Eric Clapton’s Powerhouse side project. Powerhouse featured Cream’s Jack
Bruce on bass, the Spencer Davis Group’s Pete York on drums, Ben Palmer
on piano, and Manfred Mann’s Paul Jones on harmonica. Their efforts yielded
three tracks “I Want to Know,” “Steppin’ Out,” and “Crossroads”—later included
on the British blues collection What’s Shakin’.
Re-joining
the Spencer Davis Group, Steve enlisted producer Jimmy Miller to help with
the recording of two originals: “I’m a Man” and “Gimmie Some Lovin’.” Local
musicians Dave Mason and Jim Capaldi helped out on vocals and percussion.
Both songs were international smashes; the Spencer Davis Group was poised
for massive fame, but Winwood wanted to strike out on his own and explore
new musical directions. He left the Spencer Davis Group to form Traffic
with Mason, Capaldi, and Chris Wood.
Traffic’s
first singles, “Paper Sun” and “Hole in My Shoe,” were instant successes.
The band subsequently recorded their first album Mr. Fantasy in the English
countryside. The band’s sound was an eclectic, progressive mix, featuring
Steve on guitar and organ, Capaldi on drums, Wood on flute and saxophone,
and
Mason
on bass and guitar. The band released Traffic in 1968 and Last Exit in
1969; the albums featured Mason’s work to a much greater extent. Clearly,
though, there wasa divide among the band’s creative forces; half the songs
were Winwood/Wood/Capaldi creations,the others were solo Mason contributions.
Mason left the band amidst charges that his songs did not fit the Traffic
mold. The remaining three members toured in support of the albums, but
Steve concluded the band’s time had come to an end and he left to form
Blind Faith with Eric Clapton.
Their
only album, Blind Faith, released in 1969, featured Steve’s classic “Can’t
Find My Way Home,” but the subsequent tour degenerated into concerts featuring
the greatest hits of Traffic and Cream, so the band members gave up on
the experiment. After Blind Faith folded, Ginger Baker assembled a “dream”
band,
Air
Force, that included Steve, Graham Bond, Denny Laine of the Moody Blues
and later of Paul McCartney’s Wings, Chris Wood of Traffic, Rick Grech
of Blind Faith, Remi Kabaka, Phil Seamen, and three backup singers. The
band released a self-titled double live album in 1970. Steve contributed
vocals to “Man of Constant Sorrow,” “Do What You Like,” and “Doin’ It.”
The band’s enormous sound, though, triggered its own downfall. Steve left
after only a few performances.
After
the Blind Faith and Air Force experiments failed, Steve began work in Mad
Shadows, a solo album that ultimately evolved into John Barleycorn Must
Die, a Traffic album featuring Capaldi and Wood.
Faced
with the limitations of three players on stage, Traffic recruited bassist
Rick Grech, percussionist Rebop Kwaku Baah, and drummer Jim Gordon. This
unit joined Dave Mason for a tour in the fall of 1971 that was captured
on the live album Welcome to the Canteen. The Mason reunion was short-lived,
and the band recorded The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys in 1972 without
him. While touring in support of the new album, Steve developed peritonitis.
Part of his recovery included production and low-key projects. In 1973,
Steve collaborated in the studio with Remi Kabaka and Abdul Lasisi Amao
of Air Force. The three released the album Aiye-Keta (Third World), featuring
the classic “Happy Vibes.” Steve then returned to Traffic, travelling to
Jamaica to record Shootout at the Fantasy Factory, which featureda new
lineup—Roger Hawkins on drums and David Hood on bass. The live album On
the Road documented the subsequent tour. That same year, Steve, Capaldi,
Rebop, and Grech joined Eric Clapton for his Rainbow Concert; Steve also
joined the star-studded cast of the Who’s Tommy. Traffic returned to the
countryside to record When the Eagle Flies in 1974; the lineup consisted
only of Winwood, Capaldi, Chris Wood and Rosco Gee on bass.
Tired
of the album/tour treadmill, Steve finally left Traffic. In 1976, Steve
joined an informal group called Go. The band featured Yamashta on keyboards
and percussion and Mike Shrieve on drums. A self-titled album released
in 1976 boasted a progressive synthesized sound with spacy lyrics from
Yamashta and other writers. Former bandmates Rebop Kwaku Baah and Rosco
Gee contributed to the sessions. Supported by Klaus Schulze on synthesizers,
Al DiMeola on guitar, Jerome Rimson on bass, Pat Thrall on guitar, Brother
James on congas, and Karen Friedman on vocals, Go recorded a live album
entitled Go Live From Paris.
The
band parted ways after the tour.
Following
his departure from Traffic and his brief stay with Go, Steve began his
solo career in 1977 with a Traffic-esque album entitled Steve Winwood.
The album sold poorly in the days of punk. Steve grew tired of the music
industry and considered quitting it entirely. He decided to give it one
more try and set about recording Arc of a Diver, an album produced and
performed entirely by Steve. Co-writer Will Jennings captured Steve’s feelings
on many of the tracks, and the hopeful “While You See a Chance” catapulted
Steve back onto the charts. Steve returned the following year with another
completely solo effort, Talking Back to the Night, but it failed to hit
the charts. Steve took four years to record his next album, forsaking the
solo approach and instead enlisting the help of musicians such as Joe Walsh
and James Taylor. Back in the High Life, released in 1986, was a smash.
Four hit singles and a Grammy for Record of the Year re-established Steve
as a force in the music industry. Chronicles, a hits compilation, whetted
fans’ appetites until Roll With It was released. This R&B album hearkened
back to Steve’s early work with the Spencer Davis Group. Buoyed by the
renewed appeal of Traffic, Steve recorded Refugees of the Heart in 1990,
hoping to capture the band’s eclectic feel. A tour followed, and the enormous
response to the Traffic tunes led to his reunion with Jim Capaldi. He and
Capaldi reunited in 1994 to record Far From Home, a new Traffic album.
A tour
followed, including an appearance at Woodstock II. After a few years off,
Steve has returned with Junction 7, a new album that energetically
combines many of the influences reflected in the various stages of Steve’s
career, including blues, Latin, world beat, and rock music.
