William Royce "Boz" Scaggs (born June 8, 1944) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist.[1] He was a bandmate of Steve Miller in The Ardells in the early 1960s and the Steve Miller Band from 1967 to 1968.
After a hiatus for most of the 1980s, he returned to recording and touring in 1988, releasing Other Roads and later joining The New York Rock and Soul Revue. Scaggs opened the nightclub Slim's, a popular San Francisco music venue until it closed in 2020. He has continued to record and tour throughout the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s, with his most recent album being 2018's Out of the Blues.
Scaggs is credited for helping the formation of Toto. For his 1976 album, Silk Degrees, he hand-picked musicians after taking suggestions from several people.[2] These musicians were David Paich, David Hungate, and Jeff Porcaro. The three were already friends and had frequently performed together on other albums, such as Steely Dan's Pretzel Logic. By going on tour with Scaggs, it solidified the prospect of starting a band. Columbia picked up on this talent by offering the new group a contract "without audition". Steve Porcaro described this as "a record deal thrown in our laps".[3] Paich stated "I'm not sure if Toto would have happened as soon, or quite the same way, without Silk Degrees".[4] Their friendship has continued throughout the decades shown by the varying collaborations and concerts performed together. Paich teamed up once more for Scaggs' 2001 album, Dig, where he contributed to 6 out of the 11 songs.[5]
Early life and career
Scaggs was born in Canton, Ohio,[1] the eldest child to Royce and Helen Scaggs. His father was a traveling salesman who had flown in the Army Air Corps during World War II. Their family moved to McAlester, Oklahoma, then to Plano, Texas (at that time a farm town), just north of Dallas. He learned his first instrument, the cello, at age 9. He received a scholarship to attend a private school in Dallas, St. Mark's School of Texas.[6]
At St. Mark's, he met Steve Miller, who helped him to learn the guitar at age 12. A classmate wanted to give Scaggs a "weird" nickname. This started out as "Bosley", then "Boswell" and "Bosworth".[7] The name was later shortened to Boz.[8] In 1959, he became the vocalist for Miller's band, The Marksmen. After graduation in 1962, the pair later attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison together, playing in blues bands like the Ardells and the Fabulous Knight Trains.[1]
Leaving school in 1963 due to his love for music, Scaggs signed up for the Army Reserve and formed a new band, The Wigs. By 1965, the band joined the burgeoning R&B scene in London. However, success never materialized and the group disbanded within a few months. Scaggs then travelled throughout Europe, earning money from busking.[9] He arrived in Stockholm, Sweden where he recorded his first solo debut album, Boz, in 1965 with the Karusell Grammofon AB label, which failed commercially.[1] He also had a brief stint with the band the Other Side with Mac MacLeod and Jack Downing.
Returning to the U.S., Scaggs promptly headed for the booming psychedelic music center of San Francisco in 1967 after receiving a postcard invitation from Steve Miller to join his band. Scaggs travelled to the U.S. via India and Nepal. Linking up with Steve Miller again, he appeared on the Steve Miller Band's first two albums, Children of the Future and Sailor in 1968.[10] He left the band due to different music tastes and tension between himself and Miller at the time. Scaggs secured a solo contract with Atlantic Records in 1968, releasing his second album, Boz Scaggs, a year later. It was produced by Jann Wenner (co-founder of the Rolling Stone Magazine) and features the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section and session guitaristDuane Allman.[10] Despite good reviews, this release achieved only moderate sales. He then briefly hooked up with Bay Area band Mother Earth in a supporting role on their second album Make a Joyful Noise on guitar and backup vocals.
Scaggs next signed with Columbia Records releasing the albums Moments in 1971 and My Time in 1972. His first two Columbia albums were modest sellers and seeking a new more soulful direction his record company brought in former Motown producer Johnny Bristol for 1974's Slow Dancer album.[10] Although the album only made No. 81 on the US Billboard Album Chart, it subsequently attained gold status, no doubt getting a boost from the huge success of Scaggs's next album Silk Degrees.[1]
1976–1981: the hit years
In 1976, using session musicians who later formed the band Toto, he recorded Silk Degrees,[10] with Joe Wissert on producing duties.[1] The album, which received a Grammy nomination for album of the year and a further nomination for Wissert as Producer of the Year, reached No. 2 on the US Billboard 200, and No. 1 in a number of other countries, spawning four hit singles: "It's Over", "Lowdown", "What Can I Say", and "Lido Shuffle",[1] as well as the poignant ballad "We're All Alone",[10] which Rita Coolidge (who had performed backing vocals on an earlier Scaggs album) took to the top of the charts in 1977. "Lowdown" sold over one million copies in the US[11] and won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Song, which was shared by Scaggs and David Paich. In Saturday Night Fever, John Travolta choreographed his dance to "Lowdown".
In an interview, Travolta states "The Bee Gees weren't even involved in the movie in the beginning, I was dancing to Stevie Wonder and Boz Scaggs."[12] However, Columbia denied the song's use as there was another disco movie using "Lowdown" (Looking for Mr. Goodbar).[13]
A sellout world tour followed. Scaggs was performing at Avery Fisher Hall (now the David Geffen Hall) in New York's Lincoln Center during the infamous July 13th New York City blackout in 1977. He was around 15 minutes into the concert when the power went out. Scaggs told the audience to save their ticket stubs as he would do a repeat concert on the Friday night, a few days after.[14] Scaggs performed with Fleetwood Mac for a few concerts between 1976 and 1977.[15]
His follow-up album in 1977 Down Two Then Left did not sell as well as Silk Degrees and neither of its singles reached the Top 40.[1] For Down Two Then Left, Scaggs continued working with Toto and additionally Ray Parker Jr, who later created the Ghostbusterstheme song in 1984.
The 1980 album Middle Man spawned two top 20 hits, "Breakdown Dead Ahead" (No. 15, Hot 100) and "Jojo" (No. 17, Hot 100); and Scaggs also enjoyed two more top 20 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 reaching No. 14 on the Hot 100. "Miss Sun" was an unreleased Toto demo from 1977 .
Later career
Scaggs in concert in 2006
Scaggs took a long break from recording as he felt making music became a "career" and that music had "left him". He did attempt to make a new album in 1983, but "it didn't feel right". In 1985, he succumbed to feelings of anxiety and felt he had to get a record out as there was "something very big missing" in his life.[16]
Scaggs' next album, Other Roads, did not appear until 1988[10] due to Columbia rejecting the record as "they didn't feel they had a strong hit single",[16] making Scaggs spend more time perfecting the album. "Heart of Mine", from Other Roads, is Scaggs' last top-40 hit as of 2018.[1] Also in 1988, he opened the San Francisco nightclub, Slim's, and remained an owner of the venue until the club's closure in 2020.[17]
In the summer of 1998, Boz toured as the opening act for Stevie Nicks.
After another hiatus from recording, his next album, Dig, received good reviews. However, the CD was released on an unfortunate date–September 11, 2001.[19] In May 2003, Scaggs released But Beautiful, a collection of jazz standards that debuted at number one on the jazz chart. In 2008 he released Speak Low, which he described in the liner notes as "a sort of progressive, experimental effort ... along the lines of some of the ideas that Gil Evans explored." During 2004, he released a DVD and a live 16-track CD Greatest Hits Live that was recorded August 2003 at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco. Dig was re-released in 2006, with the exception of the song 'Get On The Natch'.
His next album Memphis was released in March 2013. It was recorded in that Southern American city at the Royal Studios. The album included some of his favorite compositions from other artists. A tour of the United States, Canada and Japan followed the release. Before the year ended, he added live dates across North America and Australia for 2014. In 2015, he released A Fool to Care, a compilation of mostly covers, including "Whispering Pines" with Lucinda Williams, and one original blues composition, "Hell to Pay", performed with Bonnie Raitt. The album rose to number 1 on the Billboard Blues Album chart and number 54 on the Billboard 200.[20] In 2018, he released Out of the Blues, reaching number 1 on the Billboard Top Blues Albums chart.
In February 2024, he made his first post-pandemic visit to Japan, touring for seven shows in five locations throughout the country. From the stage of his Tokyo show, he announced that he would donate the guitars he used for his Japan tour to a charity auction to support the recovery from the Noto Peninsula Earthquake which had struck on New Year's Day that year.[citation needed]
Personal life
Scaggs married his first wife, Donna Carmella Storniola,[21] in 1973. They had two sons: Austin, a music journalist for Rolling Stone, and Oscar, who died on December 31, 1998, from a heroin overdose.[22][23] Scaggs and Carmella divorced in 1980.[24] After 3.5 years, Scaggs won joint custody of his sons.[7] Carmella died in February 2017.[25]
In 1992, he married Dominique Gioia.[26] In 1996, they moved to Napa Valley and planted 2.2 acres of Grenache, Mourvedre, Syrah, and Counoise.[27] In 2000 they made their first wine. In 2006, Scaggs Vineyard was certified organic.[28] In 2016, Scaggs sold his plot to Newfound Wines.[29]
In 2017, his house burnt down as a result of the Northern California wildfires in October. He and his wife were on tour at the time. He lost everything: vineyard, cars, and sentimental objects such as decades worth of legal pads and cocktail napkins with lyrics on them.[30]
Awards and nominations
Grammy Awards
Year
Type
Category
For
1977
Nominee
Album of the Year
Silk Degrees
Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male
"Lowdown"
Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male
Silk Degrees
Winner
Best Rhythm & Blues Song
"Lowdown"
1981
Nominee
Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or a Television Special
"Look What You've Done to Me"
1998
Nominee
Best Contemporary Blues Album
Come On Home
2019
Nominee
Best Contemporary Blues Album
Out of the Blues
In 2019, Scaggs was awarded the Texas Medal of Arts.
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.
* While the 1969 self-titled Atlantic album failed to chart upon initial release, it peaked at No. 171 when reissued in 1974. Three years later the album was reissued once again, this time in a remixed form. This version, however, only bubbled under the Billboard 200, reaching No. 209.
David Frank Paich is an American keyboardist, singer, and songwriter, best known as the co-founder, principal songwriter, keyboardist, and secondary vocalist of the rock band Toto since 1977. He wrote or co-wrote much of Toto's original material, including the band's three most popular songs: "Hold the Line", "Rosanna", and "Africa". With Toto, Paich has contributed to 17 albums and sold over 40 million records. He and guitarist and singer Steve Lukather are the only members to appear on every studio album.
Steven Lee Lukather is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer, best known as the sole continuous founding member of the rock band Toto. His reputation as a skilled guitarist led to a steady flow of session work beginning in the 1970s that has since established him as a prolific session musician, recording guitar tracks for more than 1,500 albums spanning a broad array of artists and genres. He has also contributed to albums and hit singles as a songwriter, arranger and producer. Notably, Lukather played guitar on Boz Scaggs' albums Down Two Then Left (1977) and Middle Man (1980), and was a prominent contributor to several studio albums by Michael Jackson, including Thriller (1982). Lukather has released nine solo albums, the latest of which, Bridges, was released in June 2023.
Toto is an American pop rock band formed in 1977 in Los Angeles, California. Toto combines elements of pop, rock, soul, funk, hard rock, R&B, blues, and jazz. Having released 14 studio albums and sold over 40 million records worldwide, the group has received several Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2009.
Toto IV is the fourth studio album by American rock band Toto, released in March 1982 by Columbia Records.
Jeffrey Thomas Porcaro was an American drummer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for being the co-founder and drummer of the rock band Toto but is one of the most recorded session musicians in history, working on hundreds of albums and thousands of sessions. While already an established studio player in the 1970s, he came to prominence in the United States as the drummer on the Steely Dan album Katy Lied.
Guy Allison is an American musician. He was the touring keyboardist for the Doobie Brothers from 1996 to 2015 and was featured on their 2000 release Sibling Rivalry.
"Human Nature" is a song performed by American singer Michael Jackson, and the fifth single from his sixth solo album, Thriller. The track was produced by Quincy Jones and performed by members of Toto with Michael Jackson providing vocals.
David Hungate is an American bass guitarist noted as a member of the Los Angeles pop-rock band Toto from 1976 to 1982 and again from 2014 to 2015, and the son of judge William L. Hungate. Along with most of his Toto bandmates, Hungate did sessions on a number of hit albums of the 1970s, including Boz Scaggs's Silk Degrees and Alice Cooper's From the Inside.
Steven Maxwell Porcaro is an American keyboardist, songwriter, singer, and film composer, known as one of the founding members of the rock band Toto and the last surviving Porcaro brother ; as the songwriter of "Human Nature" by Michael Jackson and songs by Toto; and as the composer of the TV series Justified. He has won three Grammys, including Record of the Year for "Rosanna" and Album of the Year for Toto IV, and three nominations.
Silk Degrees is the seventh solo album by Boz Scaggs, released on Columbia Records in February 1976. The album peaked at No. 2 and spent 115 weeks on the Billboard 200. It has been certified five times platinum by the RIAA and remains Scaggs's best selling album.
Middle Man is the ninth studio album by Boz Scaggs, released by Columbia Records in 1980. Scaggs hired members of the band Toto as session musicians and shared songwriting credits with them, returning to the commercial, soul-influenced rock of the latter. It would take him eight years to release his following album Other Roads, again retaining the personnel of the three preceding it.
Other Roads is the tenth studio album by Boz Scaggs released in 1988. After an eight-year hiatus from recording, Scaggs returned in 1988 with this album, a record aimed primarily at the adult contemporary market.
"Hold the Line" is a song by American rock band Toto from their 1978 eponymous debut studio album. Written by the band's keyboardist David Paich, the lead vocals on the song were performed by Bobby Kimball.
"Look What You've Done to Me" is a 1980 song recorded by Boz Scaggs, composed by Scaggs and David Foster for the movie Urban Cowboy. It reached #14 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in November, #13 on the Cash Box Top 100, reached #30 in Canada and went to #3 on the US Adult Contemporary chart. The song reflects on a broken romance as depicted in the film.
"We're All Alone" is a song written by Boz Scaggs, which became a hit for Frankie Valli in 1976. The next year it was a top-ten hit for Rita Coolidge in the US and the UK. Scaggs introduced it on his 1976 album Silk Degrees, and included it as the B-side of two of the four single releases from that LP, including "Lido Shuffle".
"Lowdown" is a song originally recorded in 1976 by Boz Scaggs from his album Silk Degrees. The song was co-written by Scaggs and keyboardist David Paich. Paich, along with fellow "Lowdown" session musicians bassist David Hungate and drummer Jeff Porcaro, would later go on to form the band Toto.
Hits! is a compilation album by Boz Scaggs, first released in 1980. It focuses primarily on material released in 1976 and 1980. The album has been certified platinum by the RIAA.
"Lido Shuffle" is a song written by Boz Scaggs and David Paich and introduced on the 1976 Boz Scaggs album Silk Degrees. It was subsequently released as a single in 1977 and was produced by Joe Wissert.
"Africa" is a song by American rock band Toto, appearing as the tenth and final track on their fourth studio album Toto IV (1982). It was released as the second single from the album in Europe in June 1982 and the third single in the United States in October 1982 through Columbia Records. The song was written by band members David Paich and Jeff Porcaro, produced by the band, and mixed by Grammy-winning engineer Elliot Scheiner.
"Miss Sun" is a 1980 hit for Boz Scaggs first recorded in 1977 by David Paich along with David Hungate, Steve Lukather, and Jeff Porcaro.
References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Boz Scaggs.
All except noted: Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrateded.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p.265,266. ISBN0-646-11917-6.
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