William Royce "Boz" Scaggs (born June 8, 1944) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He has continued to record and tour throughout the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s, with his most recent albums being 2018's Out of the Blues and 2025's Detour.

Scaggs is credited for helping the formation of Toto. For his 1976 album, Silk Degrees, he hand-picked musicians after taking suggestions from several people. These musicians were David Paich, David Hungate and Jeff Porcaro. The three were already friends and had frequently performed together on other albums, such as Steely Dan's Pretzel Logic. By going on tour with Scaggs, it solidified the prospect of starting a band. Columbia picked up on this talent by offering the new group a contract "without audition". Steve Porcaro described this as "a record deal thrown in our laps". Paich stated, "I'm not sure if Toto would have happened as soon, or quite the same way, without Silk Degrees". Their friendship has continued throughout the decades, shown by the varying collaborations and concerts performed together. Paich teamed up once more for Scaggs' 2001 album, Dig, contributing to 6 out of the 11 songs.

Early life, family and education

Scaggs was born in Canton, Ohio,

At St. Mark's, he met Steve Miller, who helped him to learn the guitar at age 12. A classmate wanted to give Scaggs a "weird" nickname. This started out as "Bosley", then "Boswell" and "Bosworth". The name was later shortened to Boz.

Career

Early years

In 1959, he became the vocalist for Steve Miller's band, the Marksmen. After graduation in 1962, the pair later attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison together, playing in blues bands like the Ardells and the Fabulous Knight Trains. He left the band due to different music tastes and tension between himself and Miller at the time. Scaggs secured a solo contract with Atlantic Records in 1968, releasing his second album, Boz Scaggs, a year later. It was produced by Jann Wenner (co-founder of the magazine Rolling Stone) and features the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section and session guitarist Duane Allman. However, Columbia denied the song's use as there was another disco movie using "Lowdown" (Looking for Mr. Goodbar).

A sellout world tour followed. Scaggs was performing at Avery Fisher Hall (now the David Geffen Hall) in New York's Lincoln Center during the infamous July 13th New York City blackout in 1977. He was around 15 minutes into the concert when the power went out. Scaggs told the audience to save their ticket stubs as he would do a repeat concert on the Friday night, a few days after. Scaggs performed with Fleetwood Mac for a few concerts between 1976 and 1977.

His follow-up album in 1977 Down Two Then Left did not sell as well as Silk Degrees and neither of its singles reached the Top 40.

Scaggs' next album, Other Roads, did not appear until 1988

In 1992, Scaggs performed at Toto's tribute concert for Jeff Porcaro, along with Don Henley, Donald Fagen, Eddie Van Halen, George Harrison, and Michael McDonald.

His next solo release was the album Some Change in 1994. He issued Come On Home, an album of rhythm and blues, In May 2003, Scaggs released But Beautiful, a collection of jazz standards that debuted at number one on the jazz chart. In 2008 he released Speak Low, which he described in the liner notes as "a sort of progressive, experimental effort ... along the lines of some of the ideas that Gil Evans explored." During 2004, he released a DVD and a live 16-track CD Greatest Hits Live that was recorded August 2003 at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco. Dig was re-released in 2006, with the exception of the song "Get on the Natch".

After a break in recording, he undertook a series of shows across the US in 2008. Two years later he joined Donald Fagen and Michael McDonald for concerts entitled the Dukes of September Rhythm Revue.

His next album Memphis was released in March 2013. It was recorded in that Southern American city at the Royal Studios. The album included some of his favorite compositions from other artists. A tour of the United States, Canada and Japan followed the release. Before the year ended, he added live dates across North America and Australia for 2014. In 2015, he released A Fool to Care, a compilation of mostly covers, including "Whispering Pines" with Lucinda Williams, and one original blues composition, "Hell to Pay", performed with Bonnie Raitt. The album rose to number 1 on the Billboard Blues Album chart and number 54 on the Billboard 200. In 2018, he released Out of the Blues, reaching number 1 on the Billboard Top Blues Albums chart.

In February 2024, he made his first post-pandemic visit to Japan, touring for seven shows in five locations throughout the country. From the stage of his Tokyo show, he announced that he would donate the guitars he used for his Japan tour to a charity auction to support the recovery from the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake which had struck on New Year's Day that year.

Personal life

Scaggs married Donna Carmella Storniola, his first wife, in 1973. They had two sons, Austin and Oscar. Scaggs and Carmella divorced in 1980 and three and a half years later, Scaggs won joint custody of his sons. Carmella died in February 2017.

In 1992, Scaggs married Dominique Gioia. In 1996, they moved to Napa Valley and planted 2.2 acres of Grenache, Mourvedre, Syrah, and Counoise grapes. In 2000 they made their first wine, and in 2006 Scaggs Vineyard was certified organic. In 2016, Scaggs sold his plot to Newfound Wines.

In October 2017, the couple's house burned down in the Northern California wildfires. He and his wife were on tour at the time. He lost everything: the vineyard, cars, and sentimental objects such as decades worth of legal pads and cocktail napkins with lyrics on them.

Awards and nominations

{| class="wikitable"

|+Grammy Awards

!Year

!Type

!Category

!For

|-

| rowspan="5" |1977

| rowspan="4" |Nominee

|Album of the Year

|Silk Degrees

|-

|Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male

|"Lowdown"

|-

|Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male

| rowspan="2" |Silk Degrees

|-

|Best Recording Package

|-

|Winner

|Best Rhythm & Blues Song

|"Lowdown"

|-

|1981

|Nominee

|Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or a Television Special

|"Look What You've Done to Me"

|-

|1998

|Nominee

|Best Contemporary Blues Album

|Come On Home

|-

|2019

|Nominee

|Best Contemporary Blues Album

|Out of the Blues

|}

In 2019, Scaggs was awarded the Texas Medal of Arts.

Discography

With the Steve Miller Band

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

|-

! Year

! Album

! US

|-

|1968

|align=left|Children of the Future

|134

|-

|1968

|align=left|Sailor

|24

|}

Solo albums

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

|-

! rowspan="2"| Year

! rowspan="2"| Title

! colspan="4"| Peak chart positions

! rowspan="2"| Certifications

|-

! style="width:45px;"|US<br />

! style="width:45px;"|US<br />R&B<br />

! style="width:45px;"|AUS<br />

! style="width:45px;"|UK<br />

|-

|1976

|align=left|Silk Degrees

|2

|6

|1

|20

|

  • RIAA: 5× Platinum
  • BPI: Silver

|-

|1977

|align=left|Down Two Then Left

|11

|—

|4

|55

|

  • RIAA: Platinum

|17

|—

|—

|—

|

|-

|2015

|align=left|A Fool to Care

|54

|—

|—

|—

|

|-

|2018

|align=left|Out of the Blues

|82

|—

|—

|—

|

|-

|2025

|align=left|Detour

|—

|—

|—

|—

|

|-

| colspan="9" style="text-align:center; font-size:9pt;"| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.

|}

<nowiki>*</nowiki> While the 1969 self-titled Atlantic album failed to chart upon initial release, it peaked at No. 171 when reissued in 1974. Three years later the album was reissued once again, this time as remixed by Tom Perry at Sound City in Los Angeles in October 1977. This version only bubbled under the Billboard 200, reaching No. 209, but the remix has been used for most subsequent reissues. In 2015 a 2CD was released combining both the 1969 original version and the 1977 remixed version. Rolling Stone ranked the original release at number 496 on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

Compilation albums

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

|-

! rowspan="2"| Year

! rowspan="2"| Album

! colspan="2"| Peak chart positions

! rowspan="2"| Certifications

|-

! style="width:45px;"|US<br />

! style="width:45px;"|US AC<br />

! style="width:45px;"|CAN<br />

! style="width:45px;"|CAN AC<br />

! style="width:45px;"|UK<br />

! style="width:45px;"|IRE<br />

! style="width:45px;"|AUS<br />

! style="width:45px;"|NZ<br />

|-

|rowspan="2"|1971

|align=left|"We Were Always Sweethearts"

|61

|—

|40

|—

|—

|—

|—

|—

|

| rowspan="2" |Moments

|-

|align=left|"Near You"

|96

|—

|—

|—

|—

|—

|—

|—

|

|-

|1972

|align=left|"Dinah Flo"

|86

|—

|—

|—

|—

|—

|—

|—

|

|My Time

|-

|rowspan="3"|1976

|align=left|"It's Over"

|38

|—

|79

|—

|—

|—

|63

|—

|

| rowspan="4" |Silk Degrees

|-

|align=left|"Lowdown"

|3

|11

|2

|7

|28

|—

|54

|35

|

  • RIAA: 2× Platinum

|-

|align=left|"What Can I Say"

|42

|35

|55

|21

|10

|—

|rowspan="2"|2

|—

|

|-

|rowspan="2"|1977

|align=left|"Lido Shuffle"

|11

|—

|5

|—

|13

|—

|18

|

  • RIAA: Platinum

|-

|}

See also

  • In Memory of Elizabeth Reed
  • List of celebrities who own wineries and vineyards
  • Notable alumni of St. Mark's School of Texas

References

48. Boz Scag Presents Charity Auction for 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake Disaster Recovery, March 29, 2024-April 14, 2024

  • Official website