Steve Winwood

Birth Name:

Stephen Lawrence Winwood

Birth Place:

Handsworth, Birmingham, England, United Kingdom

Profession

Soundtrack, Actor, Music department

Became interested in music early on and quickly took up the drums, guitar, piano and organ after learning from his father, a part-time musician, who played the saxophone and clarinet
Quote: "I would still play if no one listened․"
Quote: "[On switching gears as he got older] "Although I think there was a perceived changed in direction, I was still doing what I had always done, trying to incorporate jazz, rock and folk into the music․""
Quote: "[Regarding his time with Traffic] "It wasn't our mission to bring drugs to the world, we were there to bring music to the world․ We worked very hard and all we wanted to do was make music․""
Began working with Eric Clapton by the late '60s and would soon form Blind Faith by '69
After becoming weary of constant travel for group tours, he set out on a solo career by the mid-70s and relocated to New York a decade later to work under Island Records and later Virgin Records
After leaving Spencer Davis Group, he would form Traffic in 1967 shortly after meeting Jim Capaldi, Dave Mason and Chris Wood
Joined the Spencer Davis Group at 14-years-old and earned enough money to buy his own Hammond organ not long after

Fast Facts