Blind Faith
Encyclopedia
Blind Faith were an English
blues-rock band that consisted of Eric Clapton
, Ginger Baker
, Steve Winwood
and Ric Grech
. The band, which was one of the first "super-groups", released their only album, Blind Faith, in August 1969
. They were stylistically similar to the bands in which Winwood, Baker, and Clapton had most recently participated, Traffic
and Cream
.
and Ginger Baker
, with Eric Clapton doing his best to mediate
. In addition, Clapton had been tired of being coerced into playing commercially driven blues and hoped to move forward with a new, experimental, less straitjacketed approach to the genre.
Steve Winwood was facing similar problems in The Spencer Davis Group, where he had been the lead singer for three years. Winwood wanted to experiment with the band's sound by infusing jazz
elements, but left due to his musical differences, instead forming a new band — Traffic
— in 1967
. That band split temporarily in 1969, and Winwood started to jam with his good friend Clapton in Clapton's basement in Surrey
, England
. Winwood and Clapton had previously collaborated on the "Powerhouse
" project.
Clapton was pleased with the jam sessions, but was hesitant to start a serious group. Ginger Baker turned up one day to sit in with them in 1969, and the band took near-final form. Clapton questioned letting Baker in the band, because he had promised Jack Bruce that, if they were to work with one another again, all three of them would play. Moreover, Clapton didn't want to reunite with Cream barely nine weeks after the break-up, and also didn't want to deal with another "Cream-like" super-stardom situation. Winwood ultimately persuaded Clapton to finalize Baker's inclusion in the line-up, arguing that Ginger Baker strengthened their musicianship and that it would be hard to find an equally talented drummer.
By May 1969, Ric Grech, bassist with Family
, was invited to join them (leaving Family, mid-tour). Andy Johns (engineer) recorded most of the Blind Faith backing tracks at Morgan Studios and the album was finished at Olympic studios with Alan O'Duffy (engineer) who recorded some further tracks, all of the overdubs and mixed the album. This was done under the supervision of producer Jimmy Miller. Jimmy Miller provided focus to the band, who often preferred jamming over the standard commercial 3–5 minute track. By then the group was known collectively as Blind Faith, a slyly cynical reference by Clapton to his outlook on the new group.
's Hyde Park
on 7 June 1969. The performance was well received by fans there, but troubled Clapton, who thought that the band's playing was sub-par and that the adulation was undeserved and reminiscent of his Cream days when the crowds would applaud for nearly everything. Clapton, knowing the band had not rehearsed enough and was unprepared, was reluctant to tour and feared that the band would develop into a Cream repeat.
Because Steve Winwood was signed to Island Records
, he had to be "leased" to Polydor Records
(to whom Clapton and Baker were signed in the U.K.). Possibly as part of this deal, a promotional single was released by Island, although the promotion was for Island itself. It was a single announcing the fact that they were moving their offices. Titled "Change Of Address From 23 June 1969", the one-sided promo featured an instrumental jam by the group who were not mentioned at all on the label (the only other label info is the new address, phone number, and new cable address of Island). Recorded at Olympic, probably sometime between March and May 1969, it is thought that around 500 copies of the single were pressed, mostly sent to UK disc jockeys and other music industry insiders. The track was finally released widely when it appeared as a bonus track on the two-CD "Deluxe Edition" of the Blind Faith album in 2000 (titled "Change Of Address Jam").
The recording of their album continued, followed by a short tour of Scandinavia
, where the band played smaller gigs and were able to rehearse their sound and prepare it for bigger audiences in the U.S. and the UK. After Scandinavia, the band toured the United States, making their debut at Madison Square Garden
on 12 July for more than 20,000. The band toured for seven more weeks in the U.S., finishing their tour in Hawaii
on 24 August 1969.
A major problem with the tour was that the band had only a few songs in their catalogue – barely enough to fill an hour. They were forced to play old Cream and Traffic songs, to the delight of a crowd which usually preferred their older, popular material to their new Blind Faith material. Clapton was now exactly where he didn't want to be – stuck in a "super Cream" that was causing riots during their live shows. They were playing the same material from his Cream days, to appease the audience and to fill the void left by the lack of adequate new material.
Opening acts for the band included the bands Free
, Taste
and an R&B-based rock act called Delaney & Bonnie. Clapton particularly liked the soulful, folksy-sounding blues of Delaney & Bonnie; he began spending most of his time with them instead of Blind Faith, letting Winwood take a more prominent role in the band.
(on their Atco
label in the U.S.) and for Clapton and Baker (Blind Faith sales were helping to stimulate demand for Cream albums, also distributed by Atco).
The release of the album provoked controversy because the cover featured a topless pubescent girl, holding in her hands a silver space ship designed by Mick Milligan, a jeweller at the Royal College of Art. Some perceived the ship as a phallic
symbol. The U.S. record company issued it with an alternative cover which showed a photograph of the band on the front.
The cover art was created by photographer Bob Seidemann
, a personal friend and former flatmate of Clapton who is known primarily for his photos of Janis Joplin
and the Grateful Dead
. Rumours about the girl's relationship to the band fuelled the controversy; among them were that she was Baker's illegitimate daughter, and that she was a groupie
kept as a slave by the band members. Actually, the young girl was a London suburbanite, who posed upon consent by her parents and for a fee, as described in Seidemann's mini essay about the origins of the Blind Faith album cover artwork.
The cover was nameless – only the wrapping paper told the buyer who the artist was and the name of the album. Though initially banned in some countries, the original artwork was quite popular and collectible. It also became available later in the 1970s on the RSO label worldwide. Under licensing agreement during the mid-1980s, the Blind Faith album was remastered to high definition vinyl and gold compact disc by Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab
. During 2000 the entire album was remastered and re-released as a two-CD deluxe edition release from Polydor that includes alternates, out-takes and studio rehearsal versions of the band's music created during the early months of 1969.
. Out-takes and other recordings were included in the two-CD issue Blind Faith - Deluxe Edition mentioned above.
Thereafter, Clapton stepped out of the spotlight, first to sit in with the Plastic Ono Band and then to tour as a sideman
for Delaney & Bonnie and Friends, with whom he had become good friends during the U.S. tour. This freed him of the limelight that he had considered a plague to both Cream and Blind Faith. After his sideman stint, he took several members from Delaney & Bonnie to form a new super-group, Derek and the Dominos
. Clapton never dropped his Blind Faith repertoire completely, as "Presence of the Lord" and "Can't Find My Way Home
" have been performed occasionally throughout his solo career.
Unlike Clapton, Ginger Baker had enjoyed his Blind Faith experience and looked to carry on an offshoot of the band in the form of Ginger Baker's Air Force
with both Grech and Winwood. After a few shows together, Winwood left with Grech and went to Island Records to reunite and reform Traffic (Grech is featured on bass on the Traffic albums The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys and Welcome to the Canteen
). Winwood would later go on to have a successful solo career and Grech was a member of various groups before his death in 1990 due to a brain hemorrhage.
Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood both appeared in the movie Blues Brothers 2000
.
Clapton and Winwood would later look favourably on their work in the band and featured several Blind Faith songs in the Clapton (Crossroads
) and Winwood collections and catalogues.
held at the Toyota Park Center
of Bridgeview (Illinois
), where the duo performed a number of Blind Faith songs as part of their set. Their inspired performance led the two to announce plans to perform three reunion concerts at Madison Square Garden that took place on 25, 26 and 28 February 2008. It was not an official Blind Faith reunion; rather "Winwood and Clapton". They performed primarily Blind Faith songs as well as some selections from Traffic, Derek and the Dominos, Clapton's solo career and some Jimi Hendrix
covers. Their band consisted of Willie Weeks
on bass, Ian Thomas on drums and Chris Stainton
on keyboards. A DVD of these performances was released in 2009.
On 10 June 2009, Winwood and Clapton began a 14-date United States summer
tour at the Izod Center in New Jersey
. Their backing band was similar to the one at Madison Square Garden, with Ian Thomas replaced by Abe Laboriel Jr.
and backing vocalists Michelle John and Sharon White added. The former Blind Faith bandmates ran their third European tour from 18 May to 13 June 2010 with drummer Steve Gadd
.
Winwood and Clapton met again for a series of 5 concerts at London's Royal Albert Hall
from May 26 to June 1, 2011. The former Blind Faith members are scheduled for a 12-date tour in Japan from November 17 to December 7, 2011.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
blues-rock band that consisted of Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
, Ginger Baker
Ginger Baker
Peter Edward "Ginger" Baker is an English drummer, best known for his work with Cream and Blind Faith. He is also known for his numerous associations with World music, mainly the use of African influences...
, Steve Winwood
Steve Winwood
Stephen Lawrence "Steve" Winwood is an English international recording artist whose career spans nearly 50 years. He is a songwriter and a musician whose genres include soul music , R&B, rock, blues-rock, pop-rock, and jazz...
and Ric Grech
Ric Grech
Richard Roman Grech was a British rock musician.-Career:Grech originally gained notice in the United Kingdom as the bass guitar player for the progressive rock group Family. He joined the band when it was a largely blues-based live act in Leicester known as the Farinas; he became their bassist in...
. The band, which was one of the first "super-groups", released their only album, Blind Faith, in August 1969
1969 in music
-Events:Perhaps the two most famous musical events of 1969 were concerts. At a Rolling Stones concert in Altamont, California, a fan was stabbed to death by Hells Angels, a biker gang that had been hired to provide security for the event...
. They were stylistically similar to the bands in which Winwood, Baker, and Clapton had most recently participated, Traffic
Traffic (band)
Traffic were an English rock band whose members came from the West Midlands. The group formed in April 1967 by Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, Chris Wood and Dave Mason...
and Cream
Cream (band)
Cream were a 1960s British rock supergroup consisting of bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce, guitarist/vocalist Eric Clapton, and drummer Ginger Baker...
.
Formation and early history
The beginnings of Blind Faith date from mid-1968, with the break-up of Cream. In retrospect as the first "super-group", Cream had become a financial powerhouse, selling millions of records within a few years and raising the group's (and each member's) repertoire to international popularity. Despite that success, the band were crumbling from within because of frequent animosity between Jack BruceJack Bruce
John Symon Asher "Jack" Bruce is a Scottish musician and songwriter, respected as a founding member of the British psychedelic rock power trio, Cream, for a solo career that spans several decades, and for his participation in several well-known musical ensembles...
and Ginger Baker
Ginger Baker
Peter Edward "Ginger" Baker is an English drummer, best known for his work with Cream and Blind Faith. He is also known for his numerous associations with World music, mainly the use of African influences...
, with Eric Clapton doing his best to mediate
Mediation
Mediation, as used in law, is a form of alternative dispute resolution , a way of resolving disputes between two or more parties. A third party, the mediator, assists the parties to negotiate their own settlement...
. In addition, Clapton had been tired of being coerced into playing commercially driven blues and hoped to move forward with a new, experimental, less straitjacketed approach to the genre.
Steve Winwood was facing similar problems in The Spencer Davis Group, where he had been the lead singer for three years. Winwood wanted to experiment with the band's sound by infusing jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
elements, but left due to his musical differences, instead forming a new band — Traffic
Traffic (band)
Traffic were an English rock band whose members came from the West Midlands. The group formed in April 1967 by Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, Chris Wood and Dave Mason...
— in 1967
1967 in music
The summer of 1967 is "The Summer of Love" in San Francisco. It also became an important year for psychedelic rock, with releases from The Beatles The summer of 1967 is "The Summer of Love" in San Francisco. It also became an important year for psychedelic rock, with releases from The Beatles The...
. That band split temporarily in 1969, and Winwood started to jam with his good friend Clapton in Clapton's basement in Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Winwood and Clapton had previously collaborated on the "Powerhouse
Eric Clapton's Powerhouse
Eric Clapton and the Powerhouse was a British blues studio supergroup formed in 1966.-History:The Powerhouse was formed with full intention of being a short-lived studio project...
" project.
Clapton was pleased with the jam sessions, but was hesitant to start a serious group. Ginger Baker turned up one day to sit in with them in 1969, and the band took near-final form. Clapton questioned letting Baker in the band, because he had promised Jack Bruce that, if they were to work with one another again, all three of them would play. Moreover, Clapton didn't want to reunite with Cream barely nine weeks after the break-up, and also didn't want to deal with another "Cream-like" super-stardom situation. Winwood ultimately persuaded Clapton to finalize Baker's inclusion in the line-up, arguing that Ginger Baker strengthened their musicianship and that it would be hard to find an equally talented drummer.
By May 1969, Ric Grech, bassist with Family
Family (band)
Family were an English rock band that formed in late 1966 and disbanded in October 1973. Their style has been characterised as progressive rock, although their sound often explored other genres, incorporating elements of styles like as folk, psychedelia, acid, jazz fusion and rock and roll...
, was invited to join them (leaving Family, mid-tour). Andy Johns (engineer) recorded most of the Blind Faith backing tracks at Morgan Studios and the album was finished at Olympic studios with Alan O'Duffy (engineer) who recorded some further tracks, all of the overdubs and mixed the album. This was done under the supervision of producer Jimmy Miller. Jimmy Miller provided focus to the band, who often preferred jamming over the standard commercial 3–5 minute track. By then the group was known collectively as Blind Faith, a slyly cynical reference by Clapton to his outlook on the new group.
Debut and touring
News of the group's formation created a buzz of excitement among the public and press, which even heralded the band as "super Cream". The group debuted at a free concert at LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
's Hyde Park
Hyde Park, London
Hyde Park is one of the largest parks in central London, United Kingdom, and one of the Royal Parks of London, famous for its Speakers' Corner.The park is divided in two by the Serpentine...
on 7 June 1969. The performance was well received by fans there, but troubled Clapton, who thought that the band's playing was sub-par and that the adulation was undeserved and reminiscent of his Cream days when the crowds would applaud for nearly everything. Clapton, knowing the band had not rehearsed enough and was unprepared, was reluctant to tour and feared that the band would develop into a Cream repeat.
Because Steve Winwood was signed to Island Records
Island Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
, he had to be "leased" to Polydor Records
Polydor Records
Polydor is a record label owned by Universal Music Group, headquartered in the United Kingdom.-Beginnings:Polydor was originally an independent branch of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Its name was first used as an export label in 1924, the British and German branches of the Gramophone...
(to whom Clapton and Baker were signed in the U.K.). Possibly as part of this deal, a promotional single was released by Island, although the promotion was for Island itself. It was a single announcing the fact that they were moving their offices. Titled "Change Of Address From 23 June 1969", the one-sided promo featured an instrumental jam by the group who were not mentioned at all on the label (the only other label info is the new address, phone number, and new cable address of Island). Recorded at Olympic, probably sometime between March and May 1969, it is thought that around 500 copies of the single were pressed, mostly sent to UK disc jockeys and other music industry insiders. The track was finally released widely when it appeared as a bonus track on the two-CD "Deluxe Edition" of the Blind Faith album in 2000 (titled "Change Of Address Jam").
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
, where the band played smaller gigs and were able to rehearse their sound and prepare it for bigger audiences in the U.S. and the UK. After Scandinavia, the band toured the United States, making their debut at Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
on 12 July for more than 20,000. The band toured for seven more weeks in the U.S., finishing their tour in Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
on 24 August 1969.
A major problem with the tour was that the band had only a few songs in their catalogue – barely enough to fill an hour. They were forced to play old Cream and Traffic songs, to the delight of a crowd which usually preferred their older, popular material to their new Blind Faith material. Clapton was now exactly where he didn't want to be – stuck in a "super Cream" that was causing riots during their live shows. They were playing the same material from his Cream days, to appease the audience and to fill the void left by the lack of adequate new material.
Opening acts for the band included the bands Free
Free (band)
Free were an English rock band, formed in London in 1968, best known for their 1970 signature song "All Right Now". They disbanded in 1973 and lead singer Paul Rodgers went on to become a frontman of the band Bad Company along with Simon Kirke on drums; lead guitarist Paul Kossoff died from a...
, Taste
Taste (band)
Taste was an Irish rock and blues band formed in 1966 that gained fame in large part because of their unique style, and the talent and charisma of the band's founder, songwriter and musician Rory Gallagher...
and an R&B-based rock act called Delaney & Bonnie. Clapton particularly liked the soulful, folksy-sounding blues of Delaney & Bonnie; he began spending most of his time with them instead of Blind Faith, letting Winwood take a more prominent role in the band.
Album release and controversy
Upon its release, Blind Faith topped Billboard's charts at the #1 spot for Pop Album in both the U.S. and the UK, and peaked at #40 on the Black Albums chart – an impressive feat for a British rock quartet. The album sold more than half a million copies within the first month of its release and was a huge profit-making device for both Atlantic RecordsAtlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
(on their Atco
Atco Records
ATCO Records is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, currently operating through WMG's Rhino Entertainment.-Beginnings:Atco Records was founded in 1955 as a division of Atlantic Records. It was devised as an outlet for productions by one of Atlantic's founders, Herb Abramson, who...
label in the U.S.) and for Clapton and Baker (Blind Faith sales were helping to stimulate demand for Cream albums, also distributed by Atco).
The release of the album provoked controversy because the cover featured a topless pubescent girl, holding in her hands a silver space ship designed by Mick Milligan, a jeweller at the Royal College of Art. Some perceived the ship as a phallic
Phallus
A phallus is an erect penis, a penis-shaped object such as a dildo, or a mimetic image of an erect penis. Any object that symbolically resembles a penis may also be referred to as a phallus; however, such objects are more often referred to as being phallic...
symbol. The U.S. record company issued it with an alternative cover which showed a photograph of the band on the front.
The cover art was created by photographer Bob Seidemann
Bob Seidemann
Bob Seidemann is an American graphic artist and photographer best known for the creation of several album covers and portraits of musicians in the 1960s and 1970s.Seidemann first gained notoriety in 1967 for a photographic interpretation of the Pietà...
, a personal friend and former flatmate of Clapton who is known primarily for his photos of Janis Joplin
Janis Joplin
Janis Lyn Joplin was an American singer, songwriter, painter, dancer and music arranger. She rose to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company and later as a solo artist with her backing groups, The Kozmic Blues Band and The Full Tilt Boogie Band...
and the Grateful Dead
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...
. Rumours about the girl's relationship to the band fuelled the controversy; among them were that she was Baker's illegitimate daughter, and that she was a groupie
Groupie
A groupie is a person who seeks emotional and sexual intimacy with a musician or other celebrity. "Groupie" is derived from group in reference to a musical group, but the word is also used in a more general sense, especially in casual conversation....
kept as a slave by the band members. Actually, the young girl was a London suburbanite, who posed upon consent by her parents and for a fee, as described in Seidemann's mini essay about the origins of the Blind Faith album cover artwork.
The cover was nameless – only the wrapping paper told the buyer who the artist was and the name of the album. Though initially banned in some countries, the original artwork was quite popular and collectible. It also became available later in the 1970s on the RSO label worldwide. Under licensing agreement during the mid-1980s, the Blind Faith album was remastered to high definition vinyl and gold compact disc by Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab is a company known as an innovator in the production of audiophile-quality sound recordings. All releases are advertised as being produced from the first-generation analog master recordings, and using proprietary technology, which MFSL claims allows for improved sound...
. During 2000 the entire album was remastered and re-released as a two-CD deluxe edition release from Polydor that includes alternates, out-takes and studio rehearsal versions of the band's music created during the early months of 1969.
Dissolution and separate paths
After the tour finished in August, the band returned to England surrounded by rumours of break-up or a possible UK tour. By October, the band had effectively dissolved within a year of its creation, and it did not produce another studio or live album – though several live tracks from the band can be found on Steve Winwood's 1995 retrospective album The Finer ThingsThe Finer Things
The Finer Things is a compilation album of recordings by Steve Winwood. It includes songs from his early days with The Spencer Davis Group through Traffic and Blind Faith and into his work during his solo career.-Disc 1:# Dimples - Spencer Davis Group...
. Out-takes and other recordings were included in the two-CD issue Blind Faith - Deluxe Edition mentioned above.
Thereafter, Clapton stepped out of the spotlight, first to sit in with the Plastic Ono Band and then to tour as a sideman
Sideman
A sideman is a professional musician who is hired to perform or record with a group of which he or she is not a regular member. They often tour with solo acts as well as bands and jazz ensembles. Sidemen are generally required to be adaptable to many different styles of music, and so able to fit...
for Delaney & Bonnie and Friends, with whom he had become good friends during the U.S. tour. This freed him of the limelight that he had considered a plague to both Cream and Blind Faith. After his sideman stint, he took several members from Delaney & Bonnie to form a new super-group, Derek and the Dominos
Derek and the Dominos
Derek and the Dominos were a blues rock band formed in the spring of 1970 by guitarist and singer Eric Clapton with keyboardist Bobby Whitlock, bassist Carl Radle and drummer Jim Gordon, who had all played with Clapton in Delaney, Bonnie & Friends...
. Clapton never dropped his Blind Faith repertoire completely, as "Presence of the Lord" and "Can't Find My Way Home
Can't Find My Way Home
The New York No Wave band Swans version of "Can't Find My Way Home" appeared on their 1989 album The Burning World and was also released as a single.- Track listing :# "Can't Find My Way Home"...
" have been performed occasionally throughout his solo career.
Unlike Clapton, Ginger Baker had enjoyed his Blind Faith experience and looked to carry on an offshoot of the band in the form of Ginger Baker's Air Force
Ginger Baker's Air Force
Ginger Baker's Air Force was a jazz-rock fusion band comprising Ginger Baker on drums, Steve Winwood on organ and vocals, Ric Grech on violin and bass, Jeanette Jacobs on vocals, Denny Laine on guitar and vocals, Phil Seamen on drums, Alan White on drums, Chris Wood on tenor sax and flute, Graham...
with both Grech and Winwood. After a few shows together, Winwood left with Grech and went to Island Records to reunite and reform Traffic (Grech is featured on bass on the Traffic albums The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys and Welcome to the Canteen
Welcome to the Canteen
Welcome to the Canteen is the fifth album by English rock band Traffic. It was recorded live at Fairfield Halls, Croydon and the Oz Benefit Concert, London, July 1971 and released in September of that year...
). Winwood would later go on to have a successful solo career and Grech was a member of various groups before his death in 1990 due to a brain hemorrhage.
Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood both appeared in the movie Blues Brothers 2000
Blues Brothers 2000
Blues Brothers 2000 is a 1998 American musical comedy film that is a sequel to the 1980 film The Blues Brothers. Directed by John Landis, the film featured Dan Aykroyd and John Goodman, with cameos by many musicians.-Plot:...
.
Clapton and Winwood would later look favourably on their work in the band and featured several Blind Faith songs in the Clapton (Crossroads
Crossroads (box set)
Crossroads is a music collection box set by Eric Clapton. The set includes his work with The Yardbirds, John Mayall's Blues Breakers, Cream, Blind Faith, Delaney & Bonnie & Friends, and Derek and the Dominos, as well as his solo career...
) and Winwood collections and catalogues.
Clapton and Winwood together again
In July 2007, Clapton and Winwood reunited for a performance during the second Crossroads Guitar FestivalCrossroads Guitar Festival
The Crossroads Guitar Festival is a music festival and benefit concert first held in 2004 and again in 2007 and 2010. The festivals benefit the Crossroads Centre founded by Eric Clapton, a drug treatment center located in Antigua. The concerts are also intended to be a showcase for a variety of...
held at the Toyota Park Center
Toyota Park (Bridgeview)
Toyota Park is a soccer-specific stadium located at 71st Street and Harlem Avenue in Bridgeview, Illinois. It is the home stadium of the Chicago Fire Soccer Club, members of Major League Soccer . Toyota Park was developed at a cost of around $100 million. The facility opened June 11, 2006...
of Bridgeview (Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
), where the duo performed a number of Blind Faith songs as part of their set. Their inspired performance led the two to announce plans to perform three reunion concerts at Madison Square Garden that took place on 25, 26 and 28 February 2008. It was not an official Blind Faith reunion; rather "Winwood and Clapton". They performed primarily Blind Faith songs as well as some selections from Traffic, Derek and the Dominos, Clapton's solo career and some Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
covers. Their band consisted of Willie Weeks
Willie Weeks
Willie Weeks is an American bass guitarist. He has gained fame performing with famous musicians in a wide variety of genres. He has been one of the most in-demand session musicians throughout his career. Weeks has also gained notoriety touring with many of rock's heavyweights throughout his career...
on bass, Ian Thomas on drums and Chris Stainton
Chris Stainton
Christopher "Chris" Stainton is an English session musician, keyboard player and songwriter, who first gained recognition with Joe Cocker in the late 1960s...
on keyboards. A DVD of these performances was released in 2009.
On 10 June 2009, Winwood and Clapton began a 14-date United States summer
Summer
Summer is the warmest of the four temperate seasons, between spring and autumn. At the summer solstice, the days are longest and the nights are shortest, with day-length decreasing as the season progresses after the solstice...
tour at the Izod Center in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
. Their backing band was similar to the one at Madison Square Garden, with Ian Thomas replaced by Abe Laboriel Jr.
Abe Laboriel Jr.
Abe Laboriel Jr. is an American session drummer. He is the son of Mexican bassist Abraham Laboriel, Sr. and brother of producer, songwriter, and film composer Mateo Laboriel....
and backing vocalists Michelle John and Sharon White added. The former Blind Faith bandmates ran their third European tour from 18 May to 13 June 2010 with drummer Steve Gadd
Steve Gadd
Steve Gadd is an American session and studio drummer, notable for his work with popular musicians from a wide range of genres.-Biography:...
.
Winwood and Clapton met again for a series of 5 concerts at London's Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
from May 26 to June 1, 2011. The former Blind Faith members are scheduled for a 12-date tour in Japan from November 17 to December 7, 2011.
Members
- Eric ClaptonEric ClaptonEric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
– guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, vocals - Steve WinwoodSteve WinwoodStephen Lawrence "Steve" Winwood is an English international recording artist whose career spans nearly 50 years. He is a songwriter and a musician whose genres include soul music , R&B, rock, blues-rock, pop-rock, and jazz...
– organOrgan (music)The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
, bass, guitar, pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
, vocals, harmonica - Ginger BakerGinger BakerPeter Edward "Ginger" Baker is an English drummer, best known for his work with Cream and Blind Faith. He is also known for his numerous associations with World music, mainly the use of African influences...
– percussionPercussion instrumentA percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
, drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person .... - Ric GrechRic GrechRichard Roman Grech was a British rock musician.-Career:Grech originally gained notice in the United Kingdom as the bass guitar player for the progressive rock group Family. He joined the band when it was a largely blues-based live act in Leicester known as the Farinas; he became their bassist in...
– bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, violinViolinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
, vocals
Discography
- Blind Faith August 1969 #1 (US), September 1969 #1 (UK)(Gold).
Chart positions
Blind Faith on the Billboard (North America):| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1969 | Black Albums | 40 |
| Pop Albums | 1 | |
| 1977 | Pop Albums | 126 |