Constant artistic differences and personnel changes led to Traffic's final break-up and Winwood's release of his self-titled first solo album in 1977. This was followed by his 1980 hit Arc Of A Diver (lyrics by Vivian Stanshall), and Talking Back to the Night in 1982. Both albums recorded at his home in Gloucestershire with Winwood playing all instruments.


Back in the High LifeHe enlisted the help of a coterie of stars to record Back in the High Life (1986) in the US, and the album was a hit. In 1986, he topped the Billboard Hot 100 with "Higher Love", and with this earned two Grammy Awards: for Record of the Year and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. In his hit song "While You See a Chance", in a stanza where he sings "And that old grey wind is blowing and theres nothing left worth knowing," Winwood accidentally overdubs "nothing left..." with "no one left..." The entire track was thrown together in a relatively quick fashion, and at one point Winwood accidentally deleted the drum track introduction in preparation for vocals. The keyboard introduction that he composed on the spot to replace it is now iconic.

All these albums were released on Island Records. However, at the peak of his commercial success, Winwood moved to Virgin Records and released Roll With It and Refugees Of The Heart. The album Roll With It and the title track hit #1 on the album and singles charts in the summer of 1988. He recorded another album with Jim Capaldi released under the Traffic name, Far From Home, then resumed his solo career with his final Virgin album Junction Seven.



In 1994, Capaldi and Winwood reunited Traffic for a new album, Far From Home, and a tour, including a performance at Woodstock II Festival. The same year, Winwood appears on A Tribute To Curtis Mayfield CD, recording Mayfield's "It's Alright". In 1995 and 1996, Winwood released "Reach for the Light" for the animated film Balto.


Steve Winwood in concert at the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, California. Photo by Dwight McCann / Chumash Casino ResortIn 1997, Winwood released a new album, Junction Seven, toured the US and sang with James Taylor at the VH-1 Honors.

In 1998, Winwood joined Tito Puente, Arturo Sandoval, Ed Calle and other musicians to form the band Latin Crossings for a European tour, after which they split without making any recordings. Winwood also starred in the film Blues Brothers 2000, appearing on stage with Issac Hayes, Eric Clapton, and KoKo Taylor at the battle of the bands competition; the band is called the Louisiana Gator Band.

In 2003, Winwood released a new studio album, About Time, co-produced by Johnson Somerset and engineered by George Shilling, on his new record label, Wincraft Music.

2004 saw his 1982 song "Valerie" used by Eric Prydz in a song called "Call on Me". It spent five weeks at #1 on the UK singles chart. Winwood heard an early version of Prydz's remix and liked it so much, he not only gave permission to use the song, he re-recorded the samples for Prydz to use

In 2005, the Soundstage Performances DVD was released, featuring his recent work from the album About Time along with his hits including "Higher Love" and "Back in the High Life". Winwood also performs hits from his days with Traffic (inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004) as well as current recordings that represent a tapestry of tastes woven after 40 years in music.

In 2005, he accepted an invitation from 2008 Grammy Award winner Ashley Cleveland to appear on her album Men and Angels Say. This album of rock, blues and country arrangements of well known hymns includes "I Need Thee Every Hour" which features a vocal duet and organ performance.

Additionally, Christina Aguilera features Winwood on one of her songs from her 2006 record Back to Basics, called "Makes Me Wanna Pray".


In July 2007, Winwood shared the stage with Eric Clapton, in Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival. Among the songs they played together were "Presence of the Lord" and "Can't Find My Way Home" from their Blind Faith days. Winwood played several guitar leads in a six song set. The two continued their collaboration with three sold-out nights at Madison Square Garden in New York City in February 2008. On 19 February 2008 Winwood and Clapton released a collaborative EP through iTunes titled Dirty City. Clapton and Winwood released a CD and DVD of their Madison Square Garden shows and then toured together in the summer of 2009

A new studio album, Nine Lives, was released 29 April 2008 on Columbia Records. The album opened at #12 on the Billboard 200 album chart, his highest US debut ever. Also in 2008, Winwood received an honorary doctorate from the Berklee College of Music.