Instantly recognizable with his soulful, distinctive voice, Boz Scaggs is one of the most indelible artists of the last 50 years, having achieved massive commercial success with numerous hit singles and a string of platinum albums. Now the Grammy Award-winner is returning to Fantasy Springs Resort Casino’s Special Events Center on Friday, September 25th at 8 p.m. Tickets starting at $49 go on sale this Friday, March 13th at the Fantasy Springs Box Office, via phone (800) 827-2946 and online at www.FantasySpringsResort.com.
Born in Canton, Ohio in 1944, Scaggs grew up in Oklahoma and Texas, where he spent his teenage years immersed in the blues, R&B and early rock ’n’ roll. After several years as a journeyman musician around Madison, Wisconsin and Austin, Texas, he ventured throughout Europe, the Middle East and Asia, eventually settling in Stockholm, where he recorded the album, Boz. Scaggs returned to the U.S. in 1967 and joined the Steve Miller Band, appearing on the albums Children of the Future and Sailor before launching his solo career with his 1968 self-titled LP, recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama for Atlantic Records.
The singer continued to mine an eclectic mix of rock, blues and R&B — along with a signature style of ballads — on such influential ’70s albums Moments, Boz Scaggs & Band, My Time, Slow Dancer and, his commercial breakthrough, Silk Degrees. The latter peaked at No. 2 and remained on the charts for an astounding 115 weeks, while containing the Top 40 hits “It’s Over,” “Lido Shuffle” and the Grammy winning “Lowdown.” Silk Degrees was followed by Down Two Then Left and Middle Man, and the hit singles “Breakdown Dead Ahead,” “Jo Jo” and “Look What You’ve Done to Me.”
Scaggs spent much of the ’80s out of the spotlight, traveling, starting a business, becoming a father and opening the San Francisco nightclub, Slim’s. He returned to the studio in 1988 and released Other Roads, Some Change, Dig, the Grammy-nominated Come on Home, the unplugged Fade Into Light, and the in-concert retrospective Greatest Hits Live, as well as a stint touring with Donald Fagen’s New York Rock & Soul Review. A pair of albums of jazz standards, But Beautiful and Speak Low, demonstrated Scaggs’ stylistic mastery, as did the Southern-flavored Memphis and the rhythm & bluesy A Fool to Care.
Scaggs’ most recent release, 2018’s Out of the Blues, features vintage classics by Bobby “Blue” Bland, Jimmy Reed, Magic Sam and Neil Young, plus with four original compositions by Jack “Applejack” Walroth. The collection peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Blues Albums chart.
“Music has been a constant companion and I’m feeling more free with it than ever,” Scaggs says. “I feel like I’ve found my voice through all these years, and I’ve gotten closer to where I want to be with my approach.”
Tickets for Boz Scaggs ($49, $59, and $69) go on sale this Friday, March 13th at the Fantasy Springs Box Office, via phone (800) 827-2946 and online at www.FantasySpringsResort.com
