More Info on Boz ScaggsSimilar Undetermined MusicSearch Artistopia
Biography
Infobox musical artist | name = Boz Scaggs| image = BozSkaggs0449.jpg| caption = In concert in 2006| image_size = | background = solo_singer| birth_name = William Royce Scaggs| alias =| birth_date = birth date and age|mf=yes|1944|6|8|birth_place = Canton, Ohio , United States | death_date =| origin =| instrument = Guitar , Human voice|vocals | genre = Blue-eyed soul , Rock music|rock , blues rock , soft rock , Jazz fusion|jazz rock | occupation = Singing|Singer , songwriter , guitarist | years_active = 1965& ndash;present| label = Columbia Records|Columbia , Atlantic Records|Atlantic , Virgin Records|Virgin | associated_acts = Steve Miller Band | website = http://www.bozscaggs.com BozScaggs.com| notable_instruments = Epiphone Casino Fender Stratocaster Gibson ES335 Gibson Les Paul Gibson SG Ovation Guitar William Royce "Boz" Scaggs (born June 8, 1944) is an United States|American singing|singer , songwriter and guitarist . He gained fame in the 1960s as a guitarist and occasional lead singer with the Steve Miller Band and in the 1970s with several solo Top 40|Top 20 hit single s in the United States , along with the #2 album , Silk Degrees . Scaggs continues to write, record music and tour. http://www.bozscaggs.com Boz Scaggs - Fade Into Light
Early life and career
Scaggs was born in Canton, Ohio , the son of a traveling salesman. The family moved to McAlester, Oklahoma , then to Plano, Texas|Plano , at that time a Texas farm town just north of Dallas. He attended a Dallas private school, St. Mark's School of Texas|St. Mark's , where a schoolmate gave him the nickname "Bosley"; this was later shortened to "Boz". Ben Fong-Torres , "Boz-Scaggs: The Lowdown", as reprinted at http://www.bozscaggs.org/bozography.htm.
After learning guitar at the age of 12, he met Steve Miller (musician)|Steve Miller at St. Mark's. In 1959, he became the vocalist for Miller's band, The Marksmen. The pair later attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison together, playing in blues bands like The Ardells and The Fabulous Knight Trains.
Leaving school, Scaggs briefly joined the burgeoning rhythm and blues scene in London. After singing in bands such as The Wigs and Mother Earth (band)|Mother Earth , he traveled to Sweden as a solo performer, and in 1965 recorded his solo debut album, Boz , which was not a commercial success. Scaggs also had a brief stint with the band The Other Side with Mac MacLeod and fellow American Jack Downing .
Returning to the U.S., Scaggs promptly headed for the booming Psychedelic rock|psychedelic music center of San Francisco in 1967. Linking up with Steve Miller again, he appeared on the Steve Miller Band 's first two albums, Children of the Future (Steve Miller Band album)|Children of the Future and Sailor (album)|Sailor . After being spotted by Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner , Scaggs secured a solo contract with Atlantic Records in 1968, releasing his second album, "Boz Scaggs" in 1969.Citation needed|date=May 2009
1970s
Despite good reviews, his sole Atlantic album , Boz Scaggs (album)|Boz Scaggs , featuring the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section and session guitarist Duane Allman , performing Fenton Robinson 's "Loan Me A Dime," achieved only moderate sales, as did follow-up albums on Columbia Records .
The Atlantic album (SD-8239) eventually went out of print and in 1977, it was completely remixed and reissued on Atlantic (SD-19166). This remix brought out Duane Allman's guitar in a more up-front way, which changed the original mix, drowning backing voices and keyboards (not to mention a weird volume drop at the final 30 second of "Finding Her"). This remix is the version that's currently available on CD.
In 1976, he linked up with session musician s who would later form Toto (band)|Toto and recorded his smash album Silk Degrees . The album reached #2 on the US Billboard 200 , and #1 in a number of countries across the world, spawning three hit single (music)|singles : " Lowdown (Boz Scaggs song)|Lowdown ", " Lido Shuffle ", and "What Can I Say", as well as the Middle of the road (music)|MOR standard " We're All Alone ," later recorded by Rita Coolidge and Frankie Valli . "Lowdown" sold over one million copies in the US. A sellout world tour followed, but his follow-up album, the 1977 Down Two Then Left , did not fare as well commercially as Silk Degrees .
1980s-present
The 1980 album Middle Man spawned two top 20 hits, "Breakdown Dead Ahead" and "Jojo," and Scaggs enjoyed two more hits in 1980-81 (" Look What You've Done to Me " from the Urban Cowboy soundtrack, and " Miss Sun " from a greatest hits set, both US #14 hits). But Scaggs' lengthy hiatus from the music industry (his next LP, Other Roads , would not appear until 1988) slowed down his chart career dramatically. "Heart of Mine" in 1988, from Other Roads , is Scaggs' latest Top 40 hit.
Scaggs continued to record and tour sporadically throughout the 1980s and 1990s, and for a time was semi-retired from the music industry. He opened the San Francisco nightclub , ''Slim's'', in 1988, and remains a co-owner as of 2008.cite news|publisher=San Francisco Chronicle|title=Boz Scaggs' nightclub Slim's 20 years old|url= http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi? f=/c/a/2008/10/31/PK4N13NB7I.DTL|author=Joel Selvin|authorlink=Joel Selvin|date=November 2, 2008
After Other Roads , Scaggs took another hiatus and then came back with Some Change in 1994. He released Come On Home, an album of blues , and My Time, an anthology in the late 1990s. He garnered good reviews with Dig (Boz Scaggs album)|Dig although the CD, which was released on September 11, 2001, was lost in the post- September 11, 2001 attacks|9/11 melée. In May 2003, Scaggs released But Beautiful , a collection of jazz standard s that debuted at #1 on the jazz chart. In 2008 he released "Speak Low" which the artist described in the liner notes as "a sort of progressive, experimental effort ... along the lines of some of the ideas that Gil Evans explored."
He tours each summer, has a loyal cadre of fans, remains popular in Japan, and released a DVD and a live CD in 2004. Other releases followed. In 2008, Scaggs undertook an expanded tour across the US.
In the summer of 2010, Scaggs began a tour with Donald Fagen and Michael McDonald (singer)|Michael McDonald . They are performing together as one band billed as The Dukes of September Rhythm Revue. The show includes classic rock, soul/R& B songs by various artists and personal repertoire songs from all three headliners.
Family
Scaggs and his wife Dominique grow grapes in Napa County, California , and have produced their own wine. http://www.scaggsvineyard.com Scaggsvineyard.com - accessed May 10, 2010 Scaggs' son, Austin Scaggs , is a music journalism|music journalist with a column called "The Smoking Section" in Rolling Stone . Another son, Oscar, died of a heroin overdose in 1998 at the age of 21. http://www.vh1.com/artists/news/510546/19990104/scaggs_boz.jhtml Boz Scaggs' Son Dead From Overdose from VH1|VH1.com . January 4, 1999. Accessed June 13, 2008.
While the 1969 self-titled Atlantic album failed to chart upon initial release, it peaked at #171 when reissued in 1974. Three years later the album was reissued once again, this time in a remixed form. This version, however, did not chart (#209).
| first= Martin C. | last= Strong | year= 2000 | title= The Great Rock Discography | edition= 5th | publisher= Mojo Books | location= Edinburgh | pages= 847–848 | isbn= 1-84195-017-3
References
Reflist
External links
Wikipedia books|Boz Scaggs
http://www.bozscaggs.com Boz Scaggs Official Website
http://www.bozscaggs.org Boz Scaggs Official Fan Site
http://www.bozscaggs.info/ Boz Scaggs Lyrics and information
http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/bozscaggs Boz Scaggs Official Yahoo Group
http://www.bozscaggs.proboards.com/ Boz Scaggs Message Board
http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/friendsofbozscaggs Friends of Boz Scaggs Yahoo Group
http://www.last.fm/group/Boz+Scaggs Boz Scaggs Last.fm Group
Boz Scaggs Persondata | NAME =Scaggs, Boz | ALTERNATIVE NAMES =Scaggs, William Royce | SHORT DESCRIPTION = | DATE OF BIRTH =June 8, 1944 | PLACE OF BIRTH = Canton, Ohio , United States | DATE OF DEATH = | PLACE OF DEATH = DEFAULTSORT:Scaggs, Boz Category:1944 births Category:Living people Category:American blues guitarists Category:American rock guitarists Category:American soul guitarists Category:American male singers Category:American rock singer-songwriters Category:American soft rock musicians Category:American soul musicians Category:Blue-eyed soul singers Category:Blues rock musicians Category:People from Canton, Ohio Category:People from Dallas, Texas Category:Musicians from Texas Category:Musicians from Dallas, Texas Category:St. Mark's School (Texas) alumni Category:Grammy Award winners Category:University of Wisconsin& ndash;Madison alumni
