Kip Winger
Born Charles Frederick Kip Winger in Denver, Colorado, on June 21, 1961, to parents who were jazz musicians. Music was a way of life since childhood.
He grew up playing in a band named Blackwood Creek with brothers Nate, Paul and friend Peter Fletcher (currently in Pigmy Love Circus). Blackwood Creek broke up in 1980.
At 16 he began studying classical music after being exposed to the likes of Debussy, Ravel, and Stravinsky in ballet class. Also at age 16, he sent a demo tape to Alan Parsons, to which he received a personal reply from Alan himself. Years later, when Kip was chosen to be the lead singer of the Alan Parsons Project, he presented Alan with that very letter from 30 years prior.
In 1982 he moved to New York City and waited tables while studying Composition with Edgar Grana.
His first big commercial break came in 1984 when he co-wrote a song for the group KIX’s third album Midnite Dynamite. During that time he was working closely with producer Beau Hill, recording bass and vocals on various records. While Reb Beach was working on Fiona Flannigan’s Beyond The Pale record at Atlantic studios, Kip and Reb were introduced to each other and later began recording demos. Later, in 1985, Winger joined Alice Cooper’s band. After making two albums with Alice, Kip left in March 1987 to focus on his own band.
Kip went back to New York to work on songs with Reb Beach. They were joined by drummer Rod Morgenstein and keyboard player Paul Taylor. They initially performed under the name Sahara, but eventually changed their name to Winger per Alice Coopers suggestion.
Winger released three of its seven albums (Winger in 1988, In the Heart of the Young in 1990, and Pull in 1993) before their first break up in 1994.
Kip then moved to New Mexico to work on his solo career and study with Richard Hermann at the University of New Mexico. Tragedy struck Kip in 1996 when his first wife Beatrice was killed in an automobile accident. He worked and recorded three solo records in Santa Fe, New Mexico: “This Conversation Seems Like a Dream”, “Songs From The Ocean Floor”, and “Made By Hand”
In 2002 He moved to Nashville and began working on his fourth solo record, “From The Moon To The Sun,” which he co-produced with Cenk Eroglu.
In September 2006, Kip reformed Winger, with the Pull-era line-up, to record the band’s fourth studio album, IV, and to go on tour2 to support it.
During their 2006 tour, Winger recorded “Winger Live”. Kip has since reformed his original band, Blackwood Creek, and is mixing for a new release in early 2009.
Kip Winger has recently completed a twenty minute symphonic piece, “Ghosts,” written for strings, piano, and harp for a ballet commission. He is currently studying with composer Michael Kurek.
