It's appropriate that Boz Scaggs' new album is Out of the Blues since the blues is what first sparked his five-decade musical career.

Born William Royce Scaggs in Canton, Ohio on June 8, 1944, he grew up in Oklahoma and Texas, where he spent his teenage years immersed in the blues, R&B and early rock 'n' roll. While attending school in Dallas, he played in local combos.

Scaggs continued to mine a personalized mix of rock, blues, and R&B influences, along with a signature style of ballads on such influential 70's albums as Moments, Boz Scaggs & Band, My Time, Slow Dancer, and 1976's Silk Degrees. The latter release became a massive commercial breakthrough, reaching Number Two and remaining on the album charts for 115 weeks.

It spawned three Top 40 hit singles: It's Over, Lido Shuffle and the Grammy-winning Lowdown. Silk Degrees was followed by the albums Down Two Then Left and Middle Man, and such hit singles as Breakdown Dead Ahead, Jo Jo and Look What You've Done to Me. He returned to the studio after an 8-year hiatus and released, Other Roads, Some Change, Dig, and the Grammy-nominated Come on Home.

Despite his 70's successes, Scaggs spent much of the 80's out of the music-biz spotlight, traveling, opening a family business, fathering young children and founding the San Francisco nightclub Slims. He returned to the studio after an 8-year hiatus. "Music has been a constant companion and I'm feeling more free with it than ever," Scaggs commented.