Steve Winwood was an integral part of several groups before hitting it big with his second solo album, Arc of a Diver.
After leading the Spencer Davis Group (“Gimme Some Lovin’” and “I’m a Man”), he and three others formed Traffic. They released seven albums (with a brief interlude where Winwood joined Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker and Ric Grech to form the supergroup Blind Faith for one album).
He did some session work in the 1970s before releasing his first, self-titled, solo album. It failed to chart, so he went back to the drawing board.
For Arc of a Diver, Winwood wrote the music for the entire album, played all the instruments, and produced and engineered the album himself – at his own studio! Truly an impressive effort.
Arc of a Diver was released in the last days of 1980.
The lead single, “While You See a Chance”, was a smash hit. It has a distinctive sound, heavy on the keyboards but allowing Winwood’s clear voice to shine through.
The songs on Arc of a Diver:
- While You See a Chance
- Arc of a Diver
- Second-Hand Woman
- Slowdown Sundown
- Spanish Dancer
- Night Train
- Dust
None of the other songs really hit the big time, but what made this a perfect album for me was the consistent quality and sound throughout the album. Every song is good, it’s a cohesive group of songs, all without falling into the late 70s/early 80s concept album rut.
Winwood released two more solo albums, Talking Back to the Night (featuring the title track and “Valerie”) followed by Back in the High Life with the smash hit “Higher Love”.
It’s important to note the contributions of lyricist Will Jennings, who cowrote lyrics on Arc of a Diver, Talking Back to the Night, and Back in the High Life. Jennings wrote or cowrote lyrics for many hit songs, including Eric Clapton’s “Tears in Heaven”, Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On”, and Dionne Warwick’s “I’ll Never Love This Way Again”.
Winwood continued to record his own albums, along with session work, but “Back in the High Life” was his last time in the high life. His most recent session work was on the new Rolling Stones album, Foreign Tongues, released in 2026.
I’m always interested in the successes of other Steves, and while researching this I was delighted to find out that Winwood and I share not one but two names. We are both Stephen Lawrences.