Steve Winwood was born in the Handsworth area of Birmingham in 1948. By the age of ten he was a multi-instrumentalist and a full time musician by the age of 15. Winwood formed the band Traffic and they released their debut album Mr Fantasy in 1967. Winwood also connected with Eric Clapton, releasing just the one album together in 1969. Traffic continued to release albums from 1970 through to 1974 when the band broke up.

His self-titled solo album was released in 1977, albeit in a very different musical landscape and progressively became stronger in his sound; His Arc Of A Diver album connected in the US becoming a platinum selling album driven on by the While You See A Chance single. Winwood returned with the Back In The High Life album which sold over 3 million copies and featured his first US number one single Higher Love (featuring Chaka Khan on vocals too), winning a host of awards and accolades.

Followed up by the Roll With It album, both the Album and the eponymously titled title track were a Number 1 success. In 1988 he was nominated 3 times at the Grammys for Roll With It for Record Of The Year, Album Of The Year and also Best Pop Vocal Performance.