Steve Winwood: The sound track of high school

Long before I started listening to music, he broke on the scene as a teenager fronting one band then having success with a few others.

Yet, when I came upon Steve Winwood in the Spring of 1986, he was strictly solo, reeling off a string of hits over a three-year period.

His name came across my newsfeed yesterday in reference to his 1986 album “Back in the High Life”. It reminded me just how much I loved his songs back in the mid ’80s.

Summer of 1986
When I first heard his name, I could not make out if it was Steve Winwood or Steve Windwood, like the group of musical instruments. That was in the summer of 1986, when I discovered him through his song “Higher Love”. It was a great song in a summer of great music.

“Higher Love” was the first single released from his album “Back in the High Life”, and began a run of unparalleled success for Winwood. “Higher Love” would go all the way to number one, becoming Winwood’s first chart-topping song on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.

I did not know until recently that Chaka Khan did the background vocals. That makes sense as I think of it.

The album
Around that time, my brother joined Columbia House so I could get the deal for signing up a new member. One of the albums he bought was “Back in the High Life” and he dubbed it onto tape for me.

I listened to that tape over and over and discovered songs that would soon make their way to the radio as well.

The second single was “Freedom Overspill”, which peaked at number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The third single was a sort of title track called “Back in the High Life Again”, which had really caught my interest when I listened to the tape. It is a soulful song that I just loved. “Back in the High Life Again”, also hit the top 20, peaking at number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100.

“The Finer Things” was the fourth single from the album, and it peaked at number eight, giving Winwood four top 20 songs from “Back in the High Life Again”.

He also won Grammy Awards in 1987 for Record of the Year for “Higher Love”; and Male Pop Vocal Performance also for “Higher Love”.

The early years
I used to listen to LA-107 FM broadcasting from Lethbridge. It had a lot of interesting features, including profiles of artists, usually when they released new material. This was where I learned more about Steve Winwood.

His career actually began when he was 14 in England with the Spencer Davis Group. Their biggest hit in the States was “Gimme Some Lovin’”, which peaked at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100. It is probably their most well-known song. They also hit number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “I’m a Man”.

Winwood would leave the Spencer Davis Group in 1967 to form Traffic. They had success early on in the United Kingdom and Canada with the songs “Paper Sun” and “Hole in my Shoe”, which hit the top five in both countries. However, Traffic never cracked the top 20 in the States

In 1969, Winwood was on the move again, helping found the super group Blind Faith, which consisted of Winwood, Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, and Ric Grech. However, they released only one album. It did peak at number one on the Billboard 200 album chart, and they had one short summer tour of three months. The band ended when Clapton left to pursue other interests.

After that, Winwood started recording a solo album, but called in some of the guys from Traffic, which led to a reunion and five more albums.

He eventually went solo, releasing his self-titled debut album in 1977. The album peaked at number 22 on the Billboard 200 album chart, but did not chart any singles. His second album, “Arc of a Diver”, released in 1980, featured his first big solo hit.

“While You See a Chance”, went all the way to number seven on the Billboard Hot 100. The album was also a hit, peaking at number three on the Billboard 200.

His third album, “Talking Back to the Night”, came out in 1982, and is best known for having the original version of a song called “Valerie”. “Talking Back to the Night”, peaked at number 28 on the Billboard 200, but yielded no hit singles at the time.

His fourth album was “Back in the High Life”, and that’s where I really picked up his trail.

Valerie’s journey
Steve Winwood released a song called “Valerie” in 1982, as part of his third solo album “Talking Back to the Night”. It hit the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, peaking at number 70.

In 1987, Winwood released a re-mix of “Valerie” as part of a greatest hits album called “Chronicles”. With the help of a sound engineer who helped him commercialize the songs for “Back in the High Life”, “Valerie” was a much different song and had a much different result.

It not only went all the way to number nine on the Billboard Hot 100, but became my favourite Steve Winwood song of all time.

I did not realize it was a re-mix until I went to Angelo's for a pizza. It was a hang-out across the street from the student residence we lived in. I was with a friend named Glen Robson, who was a bit older than me. Angelo’s always had MuchMusic playing on one of the TVs situated around the place. When “Valerie” came on, I told Glen how much I loved this song.

“It seems to me, I have heard this song before,” he said. In fact, he was referring to the original version, which he had heard five years earlier.

I am not sure I have ever heard the original.

Yet, hearing “Valerie”, takes me back to Angelo’s and a dear friend I lost track of long ago.

At that point, it was time for another solo album, and Steve Winwood delivered once again.

Rolling on
“Roll With It”, the follow-up to “Back in the High Life”, and Winwood’s fifth solo album, came out in 1988. The first single was the title track, “Roll With It”. The song went all the way to number one on the Billboard Hot 100, giving Winwood his second chart topper.

I have to admit “Roll With It” was on the radio so often in the summer of 1988, I got tired of hearing it.

The follow-up single was “Don’t You Know What the Night Can Do?”, and it peaked at number six on the Billboard Hot 100. The song also appeared in a beer commercial for Michelob, and Winwood took some criticism for that. It was also his last top 10 single to date, although the next single “Holding On”, peaked at number 11.

Steve Winwood continues writing, recording, and performing, with his latest album coming out in 2008.

He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Traffic in 2004.

Parting thoughts
“Back in the High Life” came along just as the most eventful time in my high school life was starting. It finished running its course as I was getting ready to head off to university.

When I hear one of the songs off it, I am taken back to a particular point in time at the end of Grade 11, all of Grade 12, and the summer of 1987.

The same goes for “Valerie”, a single that came out in September of 1987, when I was just starting university in Edmonton.

Steve Winwood was another part of the soundtrack of high school for me.