Muff Winwood

born on 15/6/1943 in Erdington, Birmingham, United Kingdom

Muff Winwood

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Muff Winwood (born Mervyn Winwood, 15 June 1943, Erdington, Birmingham[1]) is an English songwriter and record producer, and the older brother of Steve Winwood. Both were formerly members of the Spencer Davis Group in the 1960s, in which Muff Winwood played bass guitar.[2] He produced the first Dire Straits album, Dire Straits (1978).[2]

Early life

His father Lawrence was a motorcycle engine fitter who also played tenor saxophone in dance bands and had a collection of jazz and blues records. He attended the Cranbourne Road Primary School and the new Great Barr School which was one of the first comprehensive schools. He was a choir boy at St John's Church, Perry Barr and became interested in the guitar and then the bass.

Spencer Davis Group

Main article: Spencer Davis Group

Record producer

After leaving the Spencer Davis Group in 1967, Winwood moved within the music industry to a position as A&R man at Island Records.[2] He was there until 1978, when he became an executive at Columbia Records (ultimately EMI Records) until well into the 1990s. Besides Dire Straits, Winwood had earlier produced the hit album, Kimono My House (1974), and attaching hit single, "This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us" for Sparks.[2] He also produced their other 1974 album, Propaganda (which included the "Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth" single). As part of his A&R duties, Winwood signed Terence Trent D'Arby, Sade and The Psychedelic Furs amongst others.[2]

His other work included production with Marianne Faithfull, Nirvana, Traffic, Mott the Hoople, Love Affair, Kevin Ayers, After the Fire and The Noel Redding Band.

See also

  • List of bass guitarists

Muff is a Watford Football Club season ticket holder and former director. He sits in the Rookery. He now sings with The Knights of Harmony Barbershop Chorus singing baritone.

References

  1. IMDb.com - accessed October 2009
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Biography by Steve Kurutz. Allmusic.com. Retrieved on 5 October 2009.

External links

This page was last modified 06.05.2011 19:04:21

This article uses material from the article Muff Winwood from the free encyclopedia Wikipedia and it is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.