Chuck Sullivan
Chuck Sullivan’s recently published book entitled: About Time: The Unsung Genius of Steve Winwood has been getting rave reviews from Winwood fans across the globe. Through numerous first-hand interviews with notable musicians who have recorded or performed with Winwood such as Russ Kunkel, Andy Newmark, Wally Reyes, Johnson Somerset, Michael Rhodes, Tommy Lepson, and Jose Neto, along with three years of extensive research, Sullivan has connected the dots of Winwood’s career from a musician’s viewpoint. Readers can enjoy being on the Winwood bus as an insider. Winwood continues to write, produce, and perform at his usual high level of musicianship, creating his own musical genres. Sullivan’s experience as a musician, songwriter, and producer for over 50 years qualifies him as uniquely positioned to examine the evolution of Winwood’s music from a lyric, music, business, and collaborative perspective, making the case that Winwood, who has recorded over 200 songs on 22 albums, is one of the greatest musicians of our time. Once you fully understand Winwood’s contributions to popular music from iconic bands
The Spencer Davis Group, Traffic, Blind Faith and his impressive solo career, you will agree he is under-appreciated. His songs I’m a Man, Gimme Some Lovin, Dear Mr. Fantasy, The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys, Valerie, Higher Love, The Finer Things, and Roll With It, to name a few, are fascinating backdrops to over five decades of music history.
Winwood’s musical influences include blues, folk, rock, funk, pop, and most recently Latin rhythms. His immediately recognizable blue-eyed soulful voice makes him one of the greatest singers of our time. Winwood is also an extremely talented Hammond B-3 organist, synthesizer keyboardist, and guitarist. His work as a session player helped him become a visionary engineer and producer - sometimes creating entire albums by himself.
About the Author
Chuck Sullivan has been playing music since he was 12. He’s an accomplished drummer, percussionist, songwriter and producer. He has recorded over 30 albums with numerous touring bands including Big Yankee Dollar, Bill Holland and Rent’s Due, Soul Crackers, The Newkeys, Paper Umbrella, and The Powers That Be. He’s shared the stage with Nils Lofgren, Bruce Springsteen, Steuart Smith, Jeff ‘Skunk’ Baxter, Jon Carroll, Clarence Clemons, and Joe Walsh, among others — including a command performance at the White house backing up the legendary Chuck Berry and the Grammy-award winning Starland Vocal Band. Sullivan understands performing and life on the road as a musician.
Sullivan has also written, recorded and published over 65 compositions in various genres, from vocal pop/rock and funk/R&B songs, to instrumental movie soundtracks. He has produced several compilation CDs that feature over 500 artists. The author has extensive experience in the studio.
With a BA degree in English and a minor in Music, the author has written short stories and poetry, and published articles in The Washington Post. Sullivan has also written many liner notes for concert programs as well as worked with internationally renowned writers and graphic artists such as Richard Harrington, Eve Zibart, Mark Walston, Desson Thompson, and Dick Bangham.
The author is the co-founder and business manager of the premier Washington D.C. based production company BandHouse Gigs. Since 2004, they have produced over 34 sold-out tributes to iconic stars, including Steve Winwood, at Strathmore Hall, Wolf Trap, Rams Head, The Hamilton, The Fillmore and The Warner Theatre. Sullivan drums and arranges the percussion section on every show. BandHouse also produces live multi-track CDs and DVDs of their shows, with Sullivan being the Executive Producer of the CDs as well as assisting a 4-camera video crew, resulting in spectacular music videos. Sullivan brings all his expertise and musical perspectives in writing this book.
While writing the liner notes for the 2015 Winwood tribute, Sullivan learned there were only two books written about Steve Winwood and both of them were published in 1989 — no books had been written about his music since then. It became the author’s quest to assemble all the career highlights in one place and write the definitive book about the remarkable musical journey of Steve Winwood.
The author particularly admires Winwood’s message to focus on music — not pop stardom — and always strive to improve. This book is a celebration of Winwood’s incredible, ever-evolving musical career. There is no one like him in the history of pop music!