This biography was originally published by Sidgwick & Jackson in 1988 as Back In The High Life. At the time there was only one other Winwood biography on the market, by Chris Welch. That is now out of print which, astonishingly, makes this fully updated version the only biography of Winwood. Scandalous considering the man's achievements. In addition to being a virtuoso musician, his white soul voice is on a par with Van Morrison and Rod Stewart. The original edition looked at Winwood's early years as a child prodigy in Birmingham, the rise and fall of the Spencer Davis Group, the trials and tribulations of Traffic, Blind Faith, as well as Winwood's successful solo career up to 1988. It also covered the personal life of a very private man, his divorce, remarriage and his reinvention as a country squire. Clayson has fully updated his work to cover the years since its original publication. This includes the Traffic reunion in 1994, the solo albums, the Steve Winwood Band and the collaborations - most notably with Eric Clapton, with whom he released a DVD of their 2009 Madison Square gigs. Lest anyone dare think that Winwood is past it, consider that the 2008 album Nine Lives entered the Billboard chart at number 12, and in the winter of 2010 he played five sell-out shows with Clapton at the Albert Hall and toured Japan with him in June 2011. BBC 4 made a programme about Winwood in February 2011 called English Soul. Everyone will know at least one Winwood song as his massive 1982 hit Valerie was sampled by Eric Prydz in 2003's Call On Me. In a typically generous gesture nice guy Winwood rerecorded the samples for Prydz.