Steve Winwood has crafted a stellar solo career since his Spencer Davis Group/Traffic/Blind Faith heyday. But when he sees a chance for a high-profile collaboration, he takes it.

In February, he joined Eric Clapton for three sold-out nights at New York's Madison Square Garden. Next month, just as Winwood turns 60, he begins a new alliance and joins Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers on one of summer's top tours. He'll perform a one-hour set and join Petty on stage during the Heartbreakers' headlining set.

During the course of a career that has lasted for over four decades (and counting), Steve Winwood has gone from the Spencer Davis Group's 15-year-old keyboard player to a member of Traffic and Blind Faith - and then a solo star in his own right, scoring platinum sales in the ‘80s with albums such as Arc of a Diver, Back in the High Life, and Roll With It. Fresh from three nights of packing Madison Square Garden with his old friend Eric Clapton - and on the eve of the release of his latest album, Nine Lives, and a summer tour with Tom Petty - Winwood took time out for a chat with Bullz-Eye's Jeff Giles.