Blackwell had been serving as Winwood's quasi-manager for a few years, but Winwood was intent on moving in a new direction with Weisner. Winwood was already acquainted with New York, having stayed at the Central Park South apartment of Chris Blackwell, the founder of Island Records. Winwood agreed to the London suggestion, but Weisner responded, "Well, forget London. Weisner pushed Winwood to record in London rather than at his home, where he was having relationship difficulties with his wife, Nicole. He hired Los Angeleno Ron Weisner as manager, known for his work with Madonna and Michael Jackson. The last two albums had been created by Winwood playing all the instruments himself at his technologically advanced Turkdean home studio "Netherturkdonic," but for his next project Winwood returned to working with other musicians for additional inspiration. His third album, Talking Back to the Night (1982), generated less of a response and was considered a let-down. Winwood's solo career had seen success in the UK with Steve Winwood in 1977 and Arc of a Diver in 1980, the latter being his first major solo US hit, reaching number 3 on the Billboard 200. 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. After touring North America to promote the album during August–November 1986, Winwood divorced in England and then married in New York City. The album was recorded and released during a time of significant change in Winwood's personal life. 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. Prominent backing vocals were provided by established stars, including Chaka Khan on "Higher Love", James Ingram on "Finer Things", and James Taylor on the title track. Winwood himself also performed on a large number of instruments, combining live-played instruments with synthesizers and programming. Unlike his two prior albums, on which he played every instrument himself, Winwood made extensive use of session musicians for this album, including Joe Walsh and Nile Rodgers on guitars and JR Robinson on drums. Musically, the album was polished and sophisticated, representative of pop production in the 1980s, featuring Winwood's style of layered synthesizers and electronic drums that he had established with Arc of a Diver (1980). The single "Split Decision", with ex- Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh, was a US hit. Other global hit singles from the album were " Freedom Overspill", " Back in the High Life Again" and " The Finer Things". It collected three Grammy Awards and generated five hit singles, starting with " Higher Love", which became Winwood's first Billboard Hot 100 number-one chart topper, coming 20 years after he first entered that chart with " Keep on Running" by the Spencer Davis Group. 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. Back in the High Life is the fourth solo album by English singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Steve Winwood, released on 30 June 1986.
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