Boz Scaggs

Born William Royce Scaggs in 1944 in Ohio, Boz Scaggs picked up his nickname in school when a classmate started calling him Bosley, soon shortened to Boz. Also while in school, Scaggs met Steve Miller, who asked Scaggs to be the vocalist of his band The Marksmen. After attending the University of Wisconsin together, the pair parted ways, with Scaggs pursuing his musical career in London. Not finding success, he met up with Miller again in 1967 in San Francisco and collaborated with him on The Steve Miller Band’s first two albums. Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner took notice of him, after which Scaggs scored a solo contract with Atlantic Records, which released his eponymous album in 1969. Scaggs’s biggest hit was the 1976 album Silk Degrees, which went five-times platinum and included the hit singles “Lowdown,” “Lido Shuffle,” and “What Can I Say.” His 1980 album Middle Man was also a top seller, with its hit singles “Breakdown Dead Ahead” and “Jojo.” Though Scaggs took a hiatus from music through most of the 80s, he has released more than twenty albums. Now a winemaker in Napa County and co-owner of the San Francisco club Slim’s, Scaggs tours every summer.