May 12: Steve Winwood Birthday

Listening to music for me is like homework. Music will give me enjoyment, but as soon as it’s giving me that enjoyment, I want to analyse it, and then it becomes work. Why does it sound like that? How?… then I dissect it.
~Steve Winwood

To make a living from doing something I love is fantastic. As long as people want to listen to me, I’ll keep doing it. In fact, to tell you the truth, even if no one did want to listen to me, I’d still be doing it!
~Steve Winwood

Networking is rubbish; have friends instead.
~Steve Winwood

Steve Winwood exploded onto the London music scene as a teenager with his powerful, soulful tenor — notably on “Gimme Some Lovin'” and “I’m a Man” with the Spencer Davis Group. “I thought he had the greatest voice,” said Billy Joel, “this skinny little English kid singing like Ray Charles.” The frontman for the jazz-infused pop of Traffic and then the jam rock of Blind Faith (with Eric Clapton), Winwood re-emerged in the mid-Eighties with the hits “Back in the High Life Again” and “Higher Love” — highly polished soul pop that made him a star all over again. “He was able to copy Jimmy Reed, and I thought, ‘Where the hell is this voice coming from?’ ” said Spencer Davis. “From a diminutive guy, at that age, how can he do it? But he did it.”
~rollingstone.com

Gimme Some Lovin’ (Letterman Show – 22 july 2010)

Spencer Davis Group – Gimme Some Lovin’ (1966)

Wikipedia:

Birth name	Stephen Lawrence Winwood
Born	12 May 1948 (age 71) Handsworth, Birmingham, England
Genres	Rock, progressive rock, blue-eyed soul, blues rock, psychedelic rock, jazz fusion, soft rock
Occupation(s)	Musician, songwriter, producer
Instruments	Vocals, organ, keyboards, guitar, bass guitar, drums, mandolin, violin
Years active	1963–present
Labels	Island, Virgin, Wincraft Music,Columbia
Associated acts	Spencer Davis Group, Traffic, Blind Faith, Eric Clapton, Jim Capaldi,Ginger Baker’s Air Force
Website	www.stevewinwood.com

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.

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 100number 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.” In 2008, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Winwood #33 in its 100 Greatest Singers of All Time. Winwood has won two Grammy Awards.

The Spencer Davis Group

Jan Wenner: Do you like Stevie Winwood singing?
Bob Dylan: Oh sure, sure… Stevie Winwood, he came to see us in Manchester. Last time we were in Manchester… That was 1966. Or was it Birmingham? His brother – he’s got a brother named Muff – Muff took us all out to see a haunted house, outside of Manchester, or Birmingham, one of those two. Or was it Newcastle? Something like that. We went out to see a haunted house, where a man and his dog was to have burned up in the thirteenth century. Boy, that place was spooky. That’s the last time I saw Stevie Winwood
~Bob Dylan (to Jann Wenner, Nov 1969)

I’m a Man

The Spencer Davis Group are a mid-1960s British beat group from Birmingham, England, formed by Spencer Davis with Steve Winwood and his brother, Muff Winwood. Their best known songs include “Somebody Help Me”, the UK number one “Keep on Running” (both of which were written by reggae musician Jackie Edwards), “I’m a Man” and “Gimme Some Lovin'”, which peaked at #2 in the UK and #7 in the United States.

Steve Winwood left in 1967 to form Traffic before joining Blind Faith, then forging a career as a solo artist. After releasing a few more singles, the band ceased activity in 1968. They briefly reunited from 1973 to 1974, and Davis has since restarted a new group in 2006.

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Traffic

Don’t buy this ‘believe in yourself’ rubbish. Why do they keep telling youngsters that? There’s no point believing in yourself if you don’t know what you’re doing. Once you’ve got a vision of what you want to do, by all means stick to that passionately and doggedly. Believe in your ideas. It’s not quite the same thing.
~Steve Winwood

Traffic was an English rock band whose members came from the West Midlands. The group formed in April 1967 by Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, Chris Wood and Dave Mason. They began as a psychedelic rockgroup whose early singles were influenced by The Beatles, and diversified their sound through the use of instruments such as keyboards like the Mellotron and harpsichord, sitar, and various reed instruments, and by incorporating jazz and improvisational techniques in their music. Their first three singles were “Paper Sun”, “Hole in My Shoe”, and “Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush”.

After disbanding in 1969, during which time Winwood joined Blind Faith, Traffic reunited in 1970 to release the critically acclaimed album John Barleycorn Must Die. The band’s line-up varied from this point until they disbanded again in 1975. A partial reunion, with Winwood and Capaldi, took place in 1994.

In 2004, Traffic was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Dave Matthews inducts Traffic Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductions 2004

Traffic – Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys – Live 72 (Full Song)

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Blind Faith

I think a lot of people came into rock n’ roll to try to change the world. I came into rock n’ roll to make music.
~Steve Winwood

Can’t Find My Way Home, London 1969

Blind Faith were an English blues rock band, composed of Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, Steve Winwood, and Ric Grech. The band, which was one of the first “super-groups”, released their only album, Blind Faith, in August 1969. They were stylistically similar to the bands in which Winwood, Baker, and Clapton had most recently participated, Traffic and Cream. They helped to pioneer the genre of blues/rock fusion.

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Steve Winwood – English Soul (2010) – documentary (60min)

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Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood Live From Madison Square Garden (2008)

-Egil