Steve Winwood

Steve Winwood, Cropredy Festival, England (2009)

Stephen Lawrence Winwood , called Steve Winwood , also Stevie Winwood (born May 12, 1948 in Handsworth , Birmingham , England ) is a British multi-instrumentalist and singer .

Beginnings

Steve Winwood came into contact with music at a young age, supported by his parents Lillian and Lawrence. His father was proficient in a variety of instruments including clarinet, saxophone, mandolin, violin, and bass, and was also in a band that performed at weddings and various dance events over the weekend. Steve learned classical guitar and piano at school, and very soon he and his older brother Muff Winwood (born June 14, 1943) played in their father's band. In addition, Steve became a pianist with his brother's Muff Woody Jazz Band , which added blues and rhythm & blues elements to the band's music.

The Spencer Davis Group 1963-1967

During a performance by the Muff Woody Jazz Band at the Golden Eagle in Birmingham in 1963, the Winwood brothers met the guitarist Spencer Davis , a linguistics student at the University of Birmingham. He was deeply impressed by the brothers and suggested a collaboration, which, with the addition of Pete York (drums), the Spencer Davis Group was born. The band name is deceptive, because the musical head of the band was Steve Winwood, who was just 15 years old as lead singer, lead guitarist, pianist or organist and later as a songwriter. Shortly after the band was founded, they got a record deal from Chris Blackwell with his record label Island Records , to which Steve Winwood was loyal for years.

While the band quickly became known as an attractive live act beyond Birmingham, the first singles, including covers of John Lee Hooker's Dimples and Ed Cobbs Every Little Bit Hurts , did not make it into the charts. The breakthrough came with the number Keep On Running written by Jackie Edwards , which climbed to the top of the British charts at the beginning of 1966. The follow-up single Somebody Help Me , also by Jackie Edwards, also reached the top position shortly afterwards. Steve Winwood now also appeared as a songwriter on the singles Gimme Some Lovin ' , later a hit for the Blues Brothers , and I'm a Man , both singles becoming top ten hits both in the UK and for the first time in the US.

Traffic and Blind Faith 1967-1975

Steve Winwood in Hamburg (1973)

It was therefore all the more surprising in April 1967 that the announcement was made that he would leave the Spencer Davis Group in order to found the band Traffic together with Chris Wood , Jim Capaldi and Dave Mason . The first single Paper Sun developed into a top ten number, and the debut album Mr. Fantasy was also very successful. The follow-up album Traffic prolonged the success, even if Dave Mason had left the band shortly before the album was released in favor of a solo career. After a hugely successful tour of the United States, the group finally fell apart in early 1969.

The next project began as a loose collaboration - in the form of private jam sessions - between Winwood and Eric Clapton , whose band Cream had also just split up. With the addition of Ginger Baker , however, a new so-called supergroup was quickly born, and Ric Grech from Family on bass completed the Blind Faith line-up . The expectations of the band as the quasi-successor to Cream were enormous. On June 7, 1969 they made their debut at a free open-air concert in London's Hyde Park in front of over 100,000 spectators, and shortly afterwards the top-class album Blind Faith was released , which contains only six tracks, but because of the successful synthesis of Blues, rock and pop represents a milestone in progressive British blues-rock. Without enough time to develop as a band and with only one album in their luggage, Blind Faith found themselves headlining a major US tour, but focused on differences and different ideas about the future musical direction of Blind Faith among the four individualistic band members emerged. This led to the dissolution of Blind Faith after the tour ended in September 1969.

After a brief stint at Ginger Baker's Air Force , the recording sessions for Winwood's first solo album Mad Shadows began . In the course of these sessions, Capaldi and later Wood joined them, and what had started as a solo project ended with the Traffic album John Barleycorn Must Die . During the course of the following tour, Jim Gordon , Reebop Kwaku Baah and again Dave Mason joined Traffic (albeit briefly). After a few other very successful albums, When The Eagle Flies and the subsequent tour in 1975 temporarily ended the chapter Traffic.

Solo career

Steve Winwood then moved back to Gloucestershire for the next two years and worked there in his home studio , interrupted only by brief appearances as a session musician, including the GO project of the Japanese Stomu Yamashta . In 1977 the debut album Steve Winwood was finally released , which musically already pointed in the future direction, but was only moderately successful commercially. The breakthrough as a solo artist was only to come with the follow-up album Arc of a Diver in 1980. Winwood worked on this album in his home studio for over two years, recording all of the instruments and vocals himself. It stayed on the US Billboard charts for almost a year and reached number 3 as the best listing, and it also contained the first solo top ten hit with While You See a Chance . In 1982 the album Talking Back to the Night followed , again recorded and produced single-handedly, with all songs springing from the joint pen with Will Jennings , who was already involved in most of the songs of Arc of a Diver . The album established Winwood as a solo artist, but was unable to build on the huge success of its predecessor, neither commercially nor artistically.

For his next album, Steve Winwood changed the previous way of working, where he had done practically everything on his own. With Russ Titelman , an experienced producer was hired, and an illustrious group of musicians, including Chaka Khan , James Taylor , Joe Walsh of the Eagles and Randy Brecker , accompanied Winwood on Back in the Highlife , released in July 1986. The album climbed to number 7 of the US charts, the first single Higher Love was even more successful and reached number 1. Winwood received two Grammys for this song in the same year: Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male . In the wake of this success, the compilation Chronicles was published in 1987 , which contained a total of ten songs from the three previous albums . Valerie from the album Talking Back to the Night , represented here in a remix version, reached number nine in the US charts in 1987. The album Chronicles also marked Winwood's departure from the Island Records label, on which he had released since the beginning of his recording career.

In 1988 the album Roll With It was released by Virgin Records , which was much more oriented towards the soul of the 1960s, also recognizable by the participation of the Memphis Horns . Both the album and the single of the same name reached number 1 in the US charts, the follow-up single Don't You Know What the Night Can Do also made it into the top ten. The album also marked the end of an extremely successful phase, and with the following albums Steve Winwood was never able to continue these successes.

Recorded with a number of Nashville musicians followed in 1990 Refugees of the Heart , which was only able to place itself in the middle of the charts. For the single One and Only Man , Winwood worked with Jim Capaldi for the first time in a long time. This collaboration finally resulted in a brief reunion of Traffic (albeit without Chris Wood, who had died in 1983) and the album Far From Home in 1994. In 1997, the solo album Junction Seven was released in close cooperation with Narada Michael Walden , but that turned out to be quite disappointing for a long time and could not follow on from earlier successes. In general, it had become relatively quiet around him in the course of the 1990s, even if a number of guest appearances on albums by well-known artists testify to Winwood's high reputation and position in the music industry. Steve Winwood participated with a number of other music greats, including the sequel to the Blues Brothers Blues Brothers 2000 .

It was not until 2003 that Steve Winwood released a new solo album, About Time, on his own record label, Wincraft Music. Together with drummer Walfredo Reyes Jr. and guitarist José Pires de Almeida Neto , a Latin American -influenced jazz rock record was created , which is mainly supported by the sound of the Hammond organ (for example, there is no bass on the record). Although Winwood moved further away from his great hit parade times of the 1980s, on the other hand the record was received with great approval by fans from his time with Traffic. Better known, however, is his guest vocals appearance on the single Call On Me by Swedish DJ Eric Prydz , which dominated the charts for weeks in 2004 and is a remix version of Winwood's Valerie from the album Talking Back to the Night .

At the end of February 2008, Winwood and Eric Clapton toured again after exactly 40 years for three concerts in Madison Square Garden in New York City. The live recording was released on DVD in 2009. In 2009 Winwood came to Germany for four live concerts. In the same year, Winwood went on a European tour with Eric Clapton, playing hits from both artists' solo albums as well as from their short blind faith career together.

In 2008, Rolling Stone listed Winwood 33 of the 100 best singers of all time .

Studio musician

As a studio musician , Steve Winwood played among others with:

• Jimi Hendrix Experience : Electric Ladyland , Track: Voodoo Chile
• Jim Capaldi : Oh How We Danced, Some Come Running (1988)
• Eric Clapton : Back Home
• Phil Collins : ... But Seriously
• Marianne Faithfull : Broken English
• David Gilmour : About Face
• Billy Joel : The Bridge
• John Martyn : Solid Air, One World
• Mike Oldfield : Guilty
• Vivian Stanshall : Sir Henry at Rawlinson End
• Tina Turner : Break Every Rule
• Talk Talk : The Color of Spring
• Jade Warrior : Waves
• Howlin 'Wolf : London Sessions
• Zucchero : Blue Sugar
• Paul Weller : Stanley Road
• Christina Aguilera : Makes Me Wanna Pray

His other session activities can be found under the links provided.

Discography

Studio albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1977	Steve Winwood	-	-	-	UK12 (9 weeks) UK	US22 (17 weeks) US	First published: June 1977
1980	Arc of a Diver	DE26 (33 weeks) DE	-	-	UK13 silver (20 weeks)UK	US3 platinum (43 weeks)US	First published: December 30, 1980
1982	Talking back to the night	DE9 (19 weeks) DE	-	-	UK6 (13 weeks) UK	US28 (25 weeks) US	First published: August 2, 1982
1986	Back in the high life	DE18 (16 weeks) DE	-	CH12 (11 weeks) CH	UK8th gold (42 weeks)UK	US3 × 3 Triple platinum (86 weeks)US	First published: June 30, 1986
1988	Roll with It	DE7 (19 weeks) DE	-	CH4 (13 weeks) CH	UK4th gold (16 weeks)UK	US1 × 2 Double platinum (45 weeks)US	First published: June 21, 1988
1990	Refugees of the Heart	DE25 (17 weeks) DE	-	CH27 (7 weeks) CH	UK26 (3 weeks) UK	US27 gold (20 weeks)US	First published: November 6, 1990
1997	Junction Seven	DE15 (11 weeks) DE	-	CH38 (3 weeks) CH	UK32 (3 weeks) UK	US123 (4 weeks) US	First published: June 3, 1997
2003	About time	DE37 (5 weeks) DE	-	-	UK97 (1 week) UK	US126 (2 weeks) US	First published: June 17, 2003
2008	Nine lives	DE22 (7 weeks) DE	-	CH74 (1 week) CH	UK31 (1 week) UK	US12 (8 weeks) US	First published: April 29, 2008

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

Compilations & live albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1971	Winwood	-	-	-	-	US93 (8 weeks) US	First published: May 1971 compilation
1987	Chronicles	-	-	-	UK12 gold (17 weeks)UK	US26th platinum (26 weeks)US	First published: October 9, 1987 compilation
2009	Live from Madison Square Garden	DE8th gold (33 weeks)DE	AT25 (10 weeks) AT	CH33 (7 weeks) CH	UK40 (2 weeks) UK	US14 (11 weeks) US	First published: May 19, 2009 Live album with Eric Clapton
2010	Revolutions - The Very Best Of	DE33 (3 weeks) DE	-	-	UK11 gold (7 weeks)UK	-	First published: June 8th 2010 compilation
2017	Winwood: Greatest Hits Live	DE30 (3 weeks) DE	AT42 (2 weeks) AT	CH64 (1 week) CH	UK34 (1 week) UK	US62 (1 week) US	First published: September 1, 2017

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

more publishments

• 1991: Keep On Running
• 1995: The Finer Things
• 2002: Best of
• 2003: Well All Right

Video albums

• 2009: Live from Madison Square Garden (DE:gold, US: platinum)

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1981	While You See a Chance Arc of a Diver	-	-	-	UK45 (5 weeks) UK	US7 (18 weeks) US	First published: January 1981
	Arc of a Diver Arc of a Diver	-	-	-	-	US48 (9 weeks) US	First published: April 1981
1982	Still in the Game Talking Back to the Night	-	-	-	-	US47 (10 weeks) US	First published: July 1982
	Valerie Talking Back to the Night	-	-	-	UK19 (12 weeks) UK	US9 (24 weeks) US	First published: September 1982
1986	Higher Love Back in the High Life	DE49 (9 weeks) DE	-	-	UK13 silver (10 weeks)UK	US1 (22 weeks) US	First release: June 1986 feat. Chaka Khan
	Freedom Overspill Back in the High Life	-	-	-	UK69 (3 weeks) UK	US20 (15 weeks) US	First published: September 1986
	Back in the High Life Again Back in the High Life	-	-	-	UK53 (4 weeks) UK	US13 (21 weeks) US	First published: December 1986
1987	The Finer Things Back in the High Life	-	-	-	-	US8 (23 weeks) US	First published: February 1987
1988	Talking Back to the Night Chronicles	-	-	-	-	US57 (10 weeks) US	First published: February 1988
	Roll with It Roll With It	DE53 (9 weeks) DE	-	-	UK53 (5 weeks) UK	US1 (18 weeks) US	First published: June 1988
	Don't You Know What the Night Can Do? Roll With It	-	-	-	UK89 (2 weeks) UK	US6 (18 weeks) US	First published: August 1988
	Holding On Roll With It	-	-	-	-	US11 (17 weeks) US	First published: November 1988
1989	Hearts on Fire Roll With It	-	-	-	-	US53 (9 weeks) US	First published: February 1989
1990	One and Only Man Refugees of the Heart	DE70 (8 weeks) DE	-	-	UK87 (1 week) UK	US18 (15 weeks) US	First published: October 1990
1997	Spy in the House of Love Junction Seven	DE86 (9 weeks) DE	-	-	UK82 (1 week) UK	-	First published: May 1997
	Gotta Get Back to My Baby Junction Seven	DE89 (7 weeks) DE	-	-	-	-	First published: August 1997

Awards for music sales

Golden record  Belgium 2019: for the author participation Higher Love ( Kygo & Whitney Houston )  France 2005: for the author participation Call on Me ( Eric Prydz )  Canada 1983: for the album Talking Back to the Night 1991: for the album Refugees of the Heart 2019: for the author participation Higher Love (Kygo & Whitney Houston)  New Zealand 1981: for the album Arc of a Diver 1986: for the album Back in the High Life 1988: for the Chronicles album 2019: for the author participation Higher Love (Kygo & Whitney Houston)  Sweden 2005: for the author participation Call on Me (Eric Prydz)  Switzerland 2005: for the author participation Call on Me (Eric Prydz)  United States 2019: for the author participation Higher Love (Kygo & Whitney Houston)

Platinum record  Australia 2004: for the author participation Call on Me (Eric Prydz) 2019: for the author participation Higher Love (Kygo & Whitney Houston)  Canada 1981: for the album Arc of a Diver  United Kingdom 2016: for the author participation Call on Me (Eric Prydz) 2019: for the author participation Higher Love (Kygo & Whitney Houston) 2 × platinum record  Canada 1988: for the album Roll with It

Note: Awards in countries from the chart tables or chart boxes can be found in these.

Country / Region	silver	gold	platinum	Sales	swell
Awards for music sales (country / region, awards, sales, sources)
Australia (ARIA)	-	-	2 × platinum2	140,000	aria.com.au
Belgium (BEA)	-	gold1	-	20,000	ultratop.be
Germany (BVMI)	-	2 × gold2	-	275,000	musikindustrie.de
France (SNEP)	-	gold1	-	200,000	snepmusique.com
Canada (MC)	-	3 × gold3	3 × platinum3	440,000	musiccanada.com
New Zealand (RMNZ)	-	4 × gold4th	-	37,500	nztop40.co.nz
Sweden (IFPI)	-	gold1	-	10,000	sverigetopplistan.se
Switzerland (IFPI)	-	gold1	-	20,000	hitparade.ch
United States (RIAA)	-	2 × gold2	8 × platinum8th	8,100,000	riaa.com
United Kingdom (BPI)	2 × silver2	4 × gold4th	2 × platinum2	1,860,000	bpi.co.uk
All in all	2 × silver2	19 × gold19th	15 × platinum15th

See also

• Eric Clapton and the Powerhouse

Web links

Commons : Steve Winwood  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Steve Winwood in the catalog of the German National Library
• Steve Winwood in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Information on sonybmg.de
• English official website
• German-speaking fansite
• American fansite
• Online scene magazine
• Sparks from the Fantasy Factory - Steve Winwood for his sixtieth. In: faz.net of May 12, 2008

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 100 Greatest Singers of All Time. Rolling Stone , December 2, 2010, accessed August 9, 2017 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US