Steve Winwood, born Stephen Lawrence Winwood, 12 May 1948, is an English singer, composer and multi-instrumentalist.
As part of the Birmingham music scene, he was something of a teen prodigy and became a source of envy for a young Christine Perfect for his powerful stage presence.
He first found success as lead singer, lead guitarist and organist for the Spencer Davis Group which enjoyed two UK No 1s with Winwood in the lineup in Keep on Running and Somebody Help Me. Their next three top twenty hits were all co-written by Winwood but in early 1967 at the age of eighteen, he left, keen to broaden his musical horizons.
To that end, he formed Traffic with a lineup that also featured drummer/lyricist Jim Capaldi, saxophonist/flautist Chris Wood and on guitar and vocals, future Fleetwood Mac member Dave Mason. This lineup enjoyed three hit albums and three major hit singles, including Mason's Hole In My Shoe which went to #2 but the relationship with Mason proved to be an on-and-off one with him being fired and hastily rehired between the first two albums although he rejoined briefly for the 1971 live album Welcome to the Canteen.
When Traffic broke up for a while between 1969 and 1970, Winwood functioned as keyboardist/vocalist/principal songwriter in the short lived supergroup Blind Faith which also featured Eric Clapton on guitar.
Traffic carried on with various lineups with Winwood, Capaldi and Wood at its core until 1974 after which Winwood went solo. His solo hits include While You See a Chance, Higher Love and Roll With It, the latter two both US #1s.
Winwood featured on two tracks on Christine McVie's self-titled 1984 album duetting with her on One in a Million and co-writing Ask Anybody as well as playing synthesiser on this and many other of the album's tracks.
He played a gig with the Rumours line-up of Fleetwood Mac in place of Lindsey Buckingham in 1996 at a private party prior to that year's Kentucky Derby. Ironically his former Traffic colleague Dave Mason had left the band only the year before.
Traffic briefly reformed as a duo featuring Winwood and Capaldi (Chris Wood had died from drink-related liver failure in 1983) for the 1994 album Far From Home. Capaldi died from cancer in 2005.