


Musically, Clapton and Winwood were happy with the way Baker's ambitious percussion melded with their new songs, which explored a more subtle blend of blues and R&B than Cream. One day, Ginger Baker stopped by while Clapton and Winwood were working out material, and he sat in on drums. After initial success, however, they had trouble negotiating egos as well as working out the balance of songwriting and instrumental work within the band, and in 1969, Traffic shut down.Ĭlapton and Winwood were friends and mutual admirers who had jammed together on several occasions, so when both found themselves at liberty following the breakup of their respective groups, they investigated the idea of forming a band together. Meanwhile, vocalist and keyboard player Steve Winwood had founded Traffic after leaving the Spencer Davis Group to explore an adventurous brand of rootsy but instrumentally adept psychedelia informed by jazz and blues. Cream were at the peak of their fame when the band broke up in 1969, in part because guitarist Eric Clapton was uncertain about the group's creative direction, but mainly because bassist Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger Baker found it all but impossible to see eye to eye. Despite a hit album and a financially successful international concert tour, Blind Faith managed to rise and fall in the space of less than a year, and ultimately proved to be a large but curious footnote in the careers of four giants of British rock: Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Ginger Baker, and Rick Grech.īlind Faith were born of discord within two noted British acts of the late '60s. Blind Faith also unwittingly established one of the most common features of supergroups - most featured enough performers with strong résumés and egos to match that internal conflicts were all but inevitable, and as a consequence, they usually fell apart rather quickly. Blind Faith were the band that introduced the world to the notion of a rock "supergroup," a combo featuring several musicians who had already achieved popularity and critical acclaim before joining forces to make music.
