Back in the High Life is the fourth solo album by English singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Steve Winwood, released on 30 June 1986.

[1] The album proved to be Winwood's biggest success to that date, certified Gold in the UK and 3× Platinum in the US, and it reached the top twenty in most Western countries.

[6] Musically, the album was polished and sophisticated, representative of pop production in the 1980s, featuring Winwood's style of layered synthesisers and electronic drums that he had established with Arc of a Diver (1980).

The album showcased Winwood's lifelong fascination with the fusion of styles, bringing folk, gospel and Caribbean sounds into a rock, pop and R&B milieu.

He bought a second home in Nashville, where he organized his next project, Chronicles, a retrospective album of earlier songs, including some remixes engineered by Tom Lord-Alge, whom Winwood had befriended in the making of Back in the High Life.

"[10] Winwood was already acquainted with New York, having stayed at the Central Park South apartment of Chris Blackwell, the founder of Island Records.

Jennings carried the phrase "Back in the High Life" around as a song title idea written down in a notebook, but when he was at Winwood's house in late 1984 he wrote the rest of the lyric in a half hour, without any music.

"[17] A second return collaborator was eccentric English songwriter and former Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band frontman Vivian Stanshall, who had written the words for Winwood's "Dream Gerrard", appearing on Traffic's 1974 album When the Eagle Flies.

—Russ Titelman on being selected as co-producer[22] In July 1985,[9] Winwood settled into New York City for August recording sessions at Power Station, getting an apartment off Madison Avenue near Central Park Zoo.

When Corsaro had to leave to honour a commitment with Fleetwood Mac,[25] Titelman moved the project to Giant Sound for a couple of weeks in October.

The greater sonic clarity achieved this way was profound enough for Titelman and Winwood to decide that the whole album must be mixed to digital stereo.

[27] Once Winwood settled in at Unique, Titelman decided to bring in a real drummer to augment or replace the drum machine parts.

[34] JR had already worked with Titelman on Rufus and Chaka Khan dates, and he had many hit records under his belt, including the charity single "We Are the World" and Michael Jackson's multi-Platinum "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough".

[22][35] "Higher Love" was first tracked with a simple drum machine loop, which Titelman felt was "flat", not quite fitting with the synth layers, which had been created mainly by Kilgore.

"[28] Titelman tapped James Taylor to add background vocals to "Back in the High Life Again", after hearing the slowed-down Winwood and Bralower version.

[23] Another Titelman decision was to call Nile Rodgers to handle a guitar solo in "Wake Me Up on Judgment Day", for which Winwood wanted an interpretation different from his own.

[19] Back in the High Life was a top ten hit on the album charts in the United States, peaking at number 3, and has sold over five million copies.

Instead, he sings far out in front of the band, he stands next to Chaka Khan, and he dances with several women wearing tropical clothing as different scenes change from colour to black-and-white.

The tour played dates in Ohio, Illinois, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and Arkansas.

[45] Level 42 and Winwood's band moved up the Pacific Coast to Oregon and Washington, crossing into Canada for one night in British Columbia, and another in Alberta.

Rizzo felt that a few hot solos from the band, and a rousing final number that got the crowd standing for "Gimme Some Lovin'", were not enough to make the show worthwhile.

Writing in July 1986 for Rolling Stone, Timothy White hailed it as "the first undeniably superb record of an almost decade-long solo career" for Winwood.

[54] Stereo Review magazine's Mark Peel said the album "weds Winwood's sure sense of melody to gospel, r-&-b, African polyrhythm, and Philly soul grooves", adding, "it's Lite Soul, but Russ Titelman's production and the outstanding recording job bring out every instrument with a bite and clarity that are often spectacular.

"[55] In the Los Angeles Times, Kristine McKenna wrote that Back in the High Life mostly "sounds as beautiful as the exemplary message of hope it espouses", with themes of "faith, confusion, [and] a yearning for spiritual clarity" making it more than just "a decidedly tasteful record".

McKenna suggested that the songs are flawed by somewhat indulgent lengths, singling out the Walsh duet "Split Decision" for "meander[ing] about rather aimlessly".

He complimented "Higher Love" for its catchy melody and electronic production, but he criticised the album as a whole, saying, "The songs really have no content, though Winwood's gorgeous blue-eyed soul voice almost convinces you otherwise.

Around the same time, Winwood went to hear a Junior Walker concert at the Lone Star Cafe in New York City and met a Nashville woman named Eugenia Crafton; the two struck up a relationship.

[63] Winwood kept his new girlfriend and failing marriage private: When he started his album tour in August 1986, he instructed his staff to inform journalists that he would not answer any questions about his personal life.

The new Nashville vibe lent its sound to Winwood's fifth album, Roll With It, released in June 1988, which would eventually surpass Back in the High Life in sales.

In June 2019, seven years after Houston's death, Norwegian producer Kygo re-arranged and remixed her vocals to create a tropical house version.