Steve Winwood Parents: Meet Lawrence Winwood

Steve Winwood is a legendary British musician, singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist.

His father Lawrence, was a foundryman by trade and was a semi-professional musician who primarily played the saxophone and clarinet.

The family relocated from Handsworth to Birmingham’s Kingstanding, where Winwood attended the Great Barr School, one of the city’s first comprehensive schools.

When he was eight years old, he joined his father and older brother Muff in the Ron Atkinson Band.

Muff later recalled that when Steve started playing regularly with them in licenced pubs and clubs, the piano had to be turned with its back to the audience to hide him because he was clearly underage.

Steve Winwood first rose to fame in the 1960s as a member of the Spencer Davis Group, a British rock band that had several hits, including “Gimme Some Lovin’” and “Keep on Running.”

At the annual BMI London Awards in 2005, Winwood was named a BMI Icon for his “enduring influence on generations of music makers.”

Rolling Stone ranked Winwood No. 33 on its list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time in 2008. Winwood has received two Grammy Awards.

In 2011, he received the Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Song Collection from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers, and Authors.