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"As someone who left home and school at age 15, I'll take anything I can get," Winwood said of the Berklee honors from his home studio in Gloucestershire. "I did go to music college for a little while. Music education in Europe at that time, in the late '50s, early '60s, was quite different than it is in the United States today. Anything other than serious music was considered quite frivolous."

"Handel and Bach was the musical heritage of Europe," he continued. "But at the time I was going to school, the American musical heritage was becoming Chuck Berry. One day I was brought to principal's office and asked what I liked. I said Stravinsky, but also said Chuck Berry, Fats Domino and Ray Charles. I was told to forget about that or leave."

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.