ARTIST SPOTLIGHT = Steve Winwood (3 songs)

This English musician’s repertoire includes the genres of rock, blue-eyed soul, R&B, pop & jazz. He is also a multi-instrumentalist, playing the keyboards, bass guitar, guitar, drums, mandolin, violin & other strings.

#1
This song, which he wrote with Will Jennings, was released December 1980 as the 1st single from his 2nd album, ‘Arc Of A Diver’. It peaked in early 1981 at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 & #17 on the Adult Contemporary charts; it also reached #3 in Canada & #16 in Australia, but stalled at #45 in England.

#2
After not much success the rest of the early-mid 1980s, he released this song 06/20/1986 as the 1st single from his 4th studio album, ‘Back In The High Life’. This song claimed #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 & Mainstream Rock charts, while reaching #7 on the Adult Contemporary chart. Elsewhere, it also claimed #1 in Canada & notched in the Top 15 in Australia (#8), New Zealand (#11) & England (#13). It has enjoyed further recognition in movies such as 1987’s ‘Stakeout’ & 1988’s ‘Big Business’ & in television shows like “Cold Case”, “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia” & “21 Jump Street”.

#3
Late 1986 & early 1987 success came in the form of “Back In The High Life Again” & “The Finer Things”. This song, then, hit the airwaves 08/11/1988 as the debut single from his album of the same name. That summer, it claimed #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (4 weeks), Adult Contemporary (2 weeks) & Mainstream Rock (4 weeks) charts. Later familiar tunes include 1988’s “Don’t You Know What The Night Can Do?” & 1990’s “1 & Only Man”.