Higher Love by Steve Winwood reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 in August 1986, won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year, and confirmed that one of British rock’s most gifted multi-instrumentalists had found the commercial peak his decades of work deserved.
Written with lyricist Will Jennings, the song blends soul, pop, and rock into a production that sounds simultaneously polished and emotionally direct.
Affiliate Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This helps support the site at no extra cost to you.
| Song | Higher Love |
| Artist | Steve Winwood |
| Album | Back in the High Life (1986) |
| Written by | Steve Winwood, Will Jennings |
| Produced by | Russ Titelman, Steve Winwood |
| Released | 1986 |
| Genre | Pop Rock, Blue-Eyed Soul |
| Record Label | Island Records |
| Chart Peak | #1 US Billboard Hot 100 |
Table of Contents
Background and Meaning
Steve Winwood was born in Handsworth, Birmingham, England, and first came to prominence as the teenage vocalist and organist of The Spencer Davis Group in the mid-1960s before co-founding Traffic and later Blind Faith.
By the 1980s he had established a solo career, and Back in the High Life was the album that finally delivered the mainstream breakthrough his considerable talent had always suggested was within reach.
Higher Love was written as a spiritual meditation, with Jennings’s lyrics framing romantic and transcendent love as the same fundamental longing, a theme delivered without religious specificity that allowed the song to connect across a wide range of listeners.
The recording brought in Chaka Khan to sing background vocals, adding a gospel-informed intensity that elevated the track from polished pop into something with genuine soul weight.
Producers Russ Titelman and Winwood shaped the arrangement to showcase Winwood’s keyboard playing and vocal range while keeping the sound accessible enough to reach the widest possible radio audience.
Musical Composition of Higher Love
The track opens with a synthesizer-driven introduction before Winwood’s vocal enters, establishing both the song’s anthemic scale and the intimacy of his delivery in the first few seconds.
Winwood plays most of the instruments himself, a characteristic approach that gives his recordings a cohesion that projects produced by committee often lack.
Chaka Khan’s background contributions lift the chorus into something approaching gospel fervor, providing the emotional intensity that transforms Higher Love from a well-crafted pop track into a genuine statement.
The rhythmic foundation is sophisticated without being distracting, building on programmed drums and live keyboard work to create a groove that functions equally well on dance floors and radio.
The production’s combination of technical precision and emotional warmth reflects Winwood’s decades of experience across multiple genres, all of it channeled into a single song with exceptional efficiency.
Chart Success and Impact
The single reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 in August 1986, Winwood’s first American chart-topper as a solo artist and one of the most rewarding commercial arrivals of his career.
It won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year at the 1987 ceremony, and Winwood also received the Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male, a double recognition that placed him among the decade’s most acclaimed recording artists.
The parent album Back in the High Life reached number three on the US Billboard 200 and was certified triple platinum, the commercial breakthrough that re-established Winwood as a major force in mainstream rock and pop.
Higher Love received extensive radio and MTV airplay, reaching listeners who had not followed Winwood’s earlier work with Spencer Davis Group, Traffic, or Blind Faith.
The song’s success opened a new chapter in Winwood’s career and confirmed that the quality of craftsmanship he had demonstrated across two decades of rock history translated directly into popular appeal when given the right production context.
Lasting Legacy of Higher Love
The track has maintained a strong presence on classic rock and adult contemporary radio for four decades, valued for a combination of musical sophistication and emotional directness that few pop records achieve simultaneously.
In 2019, Norwegian DJ Kygo released a posthumous remix featuring Whitney Houston‘s previously unreleased vocal recording of the song, which reached number one in multiple countries and introduced Higher Love to a generation of listeners too young to have heard the original on first release.
That second wave of success confirmed the song’s structural strength, demonstrating that its appeal transcended any particular production era or stylistic moment.
Winwood’s Grammy wins for this record are among the most widely acknowledged recognitions of sustained musical quality the 1980s produced, reflecting a career built on genuine craft rather than commercial calculation.
Decades after its first release, Higher Love by Steve Winwood stands as one of the most complete pop rock recordings of the 1980s, a song that earns its anthemic status through musical and emotional weight rather than mere scale.
Watch the Official Video
Frequently Asked Questions
FAQ
- Who wrote Higher Love?
Steve Winwood and lyricist Will Jennings wrote it together, with Jennings providing the spiritual and romantic themes that gave the song its universal emotional resonance.
- Did Higher Love reach number one?
Yes. It reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 in August 1986, Winwood’s first American chart-topper as a solo artist.
- What Grammys did it win?
It won Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male at the 1987 ceremony, double recognition that placed it among the decade’s most acclaimed recordings.
- Who sang background vocals on Higher Love?
Chaka Khan sang the background vocals, adding a gospel-informed intensity that elevated the track from polished pop into something with genuine soul weight.
- What is the 2019 Whitney Houston version?
Norwegian DJ Kygo released a posthumous remix featuring a previously unreleased vocal recording by Whitney Houston that reached number one in multiple countries, confirming the song’s enduring structural strength.
You Might Also Like
Spiritually grounded, musically sophisticated, and performed with a warmth that decades of experience make sound effortless, Higher Love by Steve Winwood is one of the most fully realized pop rock singles the 1980s produced.