Stephen Lawrence Winwood is an English musician and songwriter whose genres include blue-eyed soul, rhythm and blues, blues rock and pop rock. Though primarily a guitarist, keyboard player and vocalist, prominent for his distinctive soulful high tenor voice, Winwood plays other instruments proficiently, including drums, mandolin, bass and saxophone.
Winwood in 2009
Winwood on organ with Spencer Davis Group (Amsterdam, 1966)
Winwood with Blind Faith (1969)
Winwood on stage with Traffic (1973)
Blue-eyed soul is rhythm and blues (R&B) and soul music performed by white artists. The term was coined in the mid-1960s, to describe white artists whose sound was similar to that of the predominantly black Motown and Stax record labels. Though many R&B radio stations in the United States in that period would only play music by black musicians, some began to play music by white acts considered to have "soul feeling"; their music was then described as "blue-eyed soul".
The Righteous Brothers, one of the early artists most closely associated with blue-eyed soul
Steve Winwood performing with Traffic, 1969
Duffy, Welsh soul artist