Chris Wood

Christopher Gordon Blandford Wood (24 June 1944 – 12 July 1983) was a British rock musician, best known as a founding member of the rock band Traffic, along with Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi and Dave Mason.

Chris Wood was born in 1944, in Quinton, Birmingham. Wood had an interest in music and painting from an early childhood. He was self-taught on flute and saxophone, which he began playing at the age of 15.

He attended the Stourbridge College of Art, then the Birmingham School of Art (Painting Dept.) and subsequently was awarded a grant to attend the Royal Academy of Art starting in December 1965.

18-year-old Wood joined the Steve Hadley Quartet, a jazz/blues group in 1962. Wood began to play locally with other Birmingham musicians who would later find international fame in music: Christine Perfect (later Christine McVie), Carl Palmer, Stan Webb and Mike Kellie. In 1964, Wood played with Webb and Perfect in the band Shades of Blue. From 1965–1966, he played with Kellie in the jazz band Locomotive. During this time, Wood was attending college and would on occasion perform with the band. He prematurely left college, and decided to pursue a career in music.

His younger sister Stephanie Wood designed clothes for the Spencer Davis Group, based in Birmingham, and it was through her that Wood was first introduced to fellow Birmingham native Steve Winwood. A well-known Birmingham club, the Elbow Room, was an after-hours venue for local bands and musicians, and it was here that Wood used to meet up with Winwood and Jim Capaldi. In 1967, 18-year-old Winwood abandoned the Spencer Davis Group at the height of their popularity, and along with Wood, Capaldi and Dave Mason, formed the psychedelic rock group Traffic.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.