"He's the Professor of Rock & Roll," says singer songwriter John Cafferty. "We all grew up playing 'Gimme Some Lovin' and 'I'm a Man'." Cafferty, of course, refers to Spencer Davis, founder of the Spencer davis Group.

     In fact, it was the early 1960's and Spencer Davis was literally a professor -- a professor of English in his native Britain. He left the classroom to form his first group, the Rhythm and Blues Quartet. It featured Spencer on guitar and vocals, Steve Winwood on guitar/organ/vocals, Muff Winwood on bass, and Pete York on drums. Davis, Muff Winwood and Pete York already had a background in playing skiffle, jazz and blues. Spencer Davis's background was in jazz and the blues of artists like Muddy Waters and Leadbelly. Steve, Muff's younger brother, was only 15 when the band played its first gigs at the Golden Eagle pub, Birmingham's only Rhythm & Blues club, The band was subsequently offered a residency there. Also known as The Shoop, the Golden Eagle was at the top of Hill Street in the centre of Birmingham. Soon to follow were regular Tuesday night gigs at the Marquee in London. The Rhythm and Blues Quartet became the Spencer Davis Group.

Following a deal with Fontana Records, John Lee Hooker's "Dimples" was chosen as their first single. Their first major chart hit was "Keep on Running" which made Number One in the UK as did the second hit "Somebody Help Me." It became clear that Steve Winwood, was an exceptional talent; "Keep on Running" showcased his vocals excellently.

The Spencer Davis Group quickly broke on the U.S. Charts. Their single, " Gimme Some Lovin'" rose into the Top Ten and became a garage band standard. "I'm a Man" cracked the Top 15 -- and has recently re-emerged (with Spencer's famous guitar riff) as the Nissan national advertising theme.

The second album showed that the group was following a pattern of releasing commercial songs as singles while limiting the Rhythm & Blues songs to albums. The Kinks had a similar approach. Autumn '66 was a further step forward with exceptional vocal performances by Steve Winwood including "When a Man Loves a Woman", "Dust My Blues" and "Nobody Know You When You're Down and Out".

Steve Winwood left the Spencer Davis Group in 1967 to form Traffic. Muff Winwood left to join Island Records as head of A & R. Despite the losses The Spencer Davis Group released two subsequest hits, "Mr. Second Class" and "Time Seller".

After a number of additional personnel changes the band finally split. Spencer Davis moved to California where he worked in A & R for a number of record companies. His skill at finding and developing artists, such as Steve Winwood, was legendary. The line-up of Davis/York/Hardin and Fenwick reformed in 1973 with Charlie McCracken on bass and made two more albums. "Catch Me On The Rebop" scored a chart success.

Today Spencer Davis tours with a reformed line-up of the Spencer Davis Group, including original drummer Peter York. Spencer obviously also records and performs with  r o c k f o r e v e r . c o m  and The Voices of Classic Rock.