Charles Frederick "Kip" Winger (born June 21, 1961) is an American singer and bassist who is active as a member of the rock band Winger and as a solo artist. He initially gained notability as a member of

Alice Cooper Vincent Damon Furnier (born February 4, 1948), known by his stage name Alice Cooper, is an American rock singer and songwriter whose career spans sixty years. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusion ...

's band, contributing bass to his '' Constrictor'' (1986) and '' Raise Your Fist and Yell'' (1987) albums.

Biography

Early days

Winger was born in

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

to parents who were both musicians. At age 16, Winger began studying

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

after hearing the works of composers such as

Debussy Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...

Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism in music, Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composer ...

, and

Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ( – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of ...

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

class. At that time he sent a demo tape to

Alan Parsons Alan Parsons (born 20 December 1948) is an English audio engineer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. Parsons was the sound engineer on albums including the Beatles' ''Abbey Road'' (1969) and '' Let It Be'' (1970), Pink Floyd's ''The ...

, from whom he received a personal reply. As a teenager, Winger played in a band named Blackwood Creek with his brothers Nate and Paul plus friend Peter Fletcher (formerly in

Pigmy Love Circus Pigmy Love Circus is a Los Angeles rock band that has existed since the mid-1980s era of the Hollywood underground rock scene. Pigmy Love Circus originally consisted of Shepherd Stevenson on bass, Mike Savage on vocals, Anthony Martinez (of B ...

). Blackwood Creek disbanded in 1980. Kip, his brothers, and Fletcher also played the Denver area bar scene as the band Colorado. Winger's first release was a

Rainbow Music Hall The Rainbow Music Hall was a 1,485-capacity music venue located in Denver, Colorado. The venue opened in 1979 by concert promoter Barry Fey and closed in 1989. Many famous artists performed at the Rainbow Music Hall, including: On May 9, 1979, ...

live recording of the song "Wizard of the Key" on the ''KAZY Thunder on the Mountain'' compilation in 1980 under the band name Winger which was the Colorado band line-up using a different name. In 1982, he studied with Sam Guarnaccia in Denver then moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and waited tables while studying composition with Edgar Grana.

Success

Kip Winger's first commercial break came in 1984, when he co-wrote the song "Bang Bang" for Kix's third album, ''

Midnite Dynamite ''Midnite Dynamite'' is the third studio album by American hard rock band Kix, released in 1985 by Atlantic Records. It features 7 out of 10 songs co-written by bassist Donnie Purnell with hit songwriter Bob Halligan Jr. (Kiss, Judas Priest, ...

''. During that time he was working closely with the record producer

Beau Hill Beau Hill is an American record producer who is best known for his work with Ratt, Alice Cooper, Kix, Winger, Streets, Warrant, Fiona, and Europe. He also played instruments and sang backing vocals for some of the artists that he produced, as ...

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, re ...

bass and vocals on various records. While

Reb Beach Richard Earl "Reb" Beach Jr. (born August 31, 1963) is an American rock guitarist. He is a member of the bands Winger and Whitesnake. Career After graduating from Fox Chapel Area High School and attending Berklee College of Music in the ea ...

was working on Fiona Flanagan's '' Beyond the Pale'' record at

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

, Winger and Beach were introduced to each other and later began recording demos. In 1985, Winger joined

's band. After making two albums and touring with Cooper, much of the time alongside keyboardist/guitarist Paul Taylor, Winger left in March 1987 to focus on his own band. Winger returned to New York to work on songs with Reb Beach, and they were soon joined by Paul Taylor and drummer

Rod Morgenstein Rod Morgenstein (born April 19, 1953) is an American drummer with rock bands Winger and Dixie Dregs. He also played with Fiona, Platypus, the Steve Morse Band, and Jelly Jam. He has also done session work with Jordan Rudess including h ...

. They initially performed under the name Sahara, but eventually changed their name to Winger, at Alice Cooper's suggestion. Winger released three albums ('' Winger'' (1988), '' In the Heart of the Young'' (1990), and ''

Pull Pull may refer to: Sports *In baseball, a pull hitter is a batter who usually hits the ball to the side of the field from which he bats * Pull shot, a batting stroke in cricket * A phase of a swim stroke * A throw-off in the sport of ultimate ...

'' (1993)) before moving on to solo careers.

Solo career

Kip Winger then moved to

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

to work on his solo career, and study with Richard Hermann at the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; ) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1889 by the New Mexico Territorial Legislature, it is the state's second oldest university, a flagship university in th ...

. Winger worked and recorded three solo records in

Santa Fe, New Mexico Santa Fe ( ; , literal translation, lit. "Holy Faith") is the capital city, capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Santa Fe County. With over 89,000 residents, Santa Fe is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, fourt ...

: '' This Conversation Seems Like a Dream'', '' Down Incognito'' and '' Songs from the Ocean Floor''. In 2002 he moved to

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

and began working on a fourth solo record, '' From the Moon to the Sun'' (2008), which he co-produced with Cenk Eroglu.

Reunited Winger

In September 2006, it was announced that Winger would be reformed, with the ''Pull'' era line-up, to record the band's fourth studio album, '' IV'', and going on tour to support it. During the tour, Winger recorded '' Winger Live'' which was released on CD and DVD in 2007. It was confirmed that an anthology of rare tracks and early recordings, '' Demo Anthology'' (2007) would be released, as well as an autographed

limited-edition The terms special edition, limited edition, and variants such as deluxe edition, collector's edition or expanded edition are used as a marketing incentive for various kinds of products, originally published products related to the arts, such as b ...

album, ''Seventeen: The Demos'', with only 300 copies being made. In 2009, Winger recorded their fifth studio album, ''Karma'', which was hailed as their best record. The band toured the U.S., Europe, and South America.

Classical music

After the release of '' From the Moon to the Sun'', Winger studied with Michael Kurek and composed a thirty-minute symphonic piece, "Ghosts", written for strings, piano, and harp for a ballet commission. The work had its premiere with the

Tucson Symphony Orchestra The Tucson Symphony Orchestra, or TSO, is the primary professional orchestra of Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1928, when the season consisted of just two concerts, the TSO is the oldest continuously running performing arts organization in the Sout ...

on November 14–15, 2009. Choreographer

Christopher Wheeldon Christopher Peter Wheeldon (born 22 March 1973) is an English international choreographer of contemporary ballet. Early life Born in Yeovil, Somerset, to an engineer and a physical therapist, Wheeldon began training to be a ballet dancer at th ...

created the ballet "Ghosts", which premiered at the

San Francisco Ballet San Francisco Ballet is the oldest ballet company in the United States, founded in 1933 as the San Francisco Opera Ballet under the leadership of ballet master Adolph Bolm. The company is currently based in the War Memorial Opera House, San Fra ...

on February 9, 2010, with set design by Laura Jellinek, lighting design by M.L. Geiger, and costume design by Mark Zappone. Winger was nominated for an

Isadora Duncan Angela Isadora Duncan (May 26, 1877, or May 27, 1878 – September 14, 1927) was an American-born dancer and choreographer, who was a pioneer of modern contemporary dance and performed to great acclaim throughout Europe and the United States. Bor ...

Award for Excellence in Music. The ballet was a hit and was brought back for a second season in 2010. Next, Winger composed a four-part work entitled ''C.F. Kip Winger: Conversations with Nijinsky'', intended to celebrate the life of ballet dancer and choreographer

Vaslav Nijinsky Vaslav or Vatslav Nijinsky (12 March 1889/18908 April 1950) was a Russian ballet dancer and choreographer of Polish ancestry. He is regarded as the greatest male dancer of the early 20th century. Nijinsky was celebrated for his virtuosity and f ...

. The album was recorded by the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra and went to the top of the Traditional Classical Chart on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' music charts. ''C.F. Kip Winger: Conversations with Nijinsky'' was nominated in the Best Classical Contemporary Composition category at the

59th Annual Grammy Awards The 59th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held on February 12, 2017. The CBS network broadcast the show live from the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The ceremony recognized the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year ...

Get Jack'', A Musical Thriller''

Kip Winger's theater debut as a composer was the musical thriller
Get Jack
', with book/lyrics by Damien Gray (''Atomic the Musical'', '' Animagique'', ''Sing On Tour''). The story revolves around the five female victims of

Jack the Ripper Jack the Ripper was an unidentified serial killer who was active in and around the impoverished Whitechapel district of London, England, in 1888. In both criminal case files and the contemporaneous journalistic accounts, the killer was also ...

: Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Mary Jane Kelly—known as the "canonical five"—who rise from the dead to track down Jack and take revenge. ''Get Jack'''s director was Kelly Devine and Andy Peterson was the musical director; it was presented in concert in October 2019 in New York. Winger and Gray released the rock/orchestral ''Get Jack'' concept album in July 2019, which entered ''

''s Cast Albums chart at #7.

Miscellaneous

Winger's composition "Blue Suede Shoes" from the album ''IV'' honored the service and sacrifice of United States armed forces and their families. In appreciation, General Harold Cross presented Winger with an honorary plaque and historic United States of America flag. The presentation occurred in a surprise ceremony during the taping of ''Legends & Lyrics''.on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

. On ''

Beavis and Butt-Head ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' is an American Adult animation, adult animated Animated sitcom, sitcom created by Mike Judge. The series follows Beavis and Butt-Head, both voiced by Judge, a pair of teenage slackers characterized by their apathy, Stupi ...

''one of the recurring characters, Stewart Stevenson, wears a Winger T-shirt in contrast to the

AC/DC AC/DC are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1973. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock and Heavy metal music, heavy metal, although the band calls it simply "rock and roll". They are cited as a formativ ...

and

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. It was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

shirts worn by

Beavis Beavis () is a fictional character who serves as one of two protagonists from the MTV/Paramount+ animated series ''Beavis and Butt-Head''. He is voiced by the show's creator, Mike Judge. In the movie ''Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe'', Bea ...

and

Butt-Head The following is a list of characters appearing on the MTV cartoon series ''Beavis and Butt-Head'', each with a description. Some of these characters appear in only one or two episodes. The episodes in which they are known to appear are listed i ...

. He has participated and performed as head counselor in the ''Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy Camp'' with musicians including

Roger Daltrey Sir Roger Harry Daltrey (born 1 March 1944) is an English singer, musician and actor. He is the co-founder and lead vocalist of the Rock music, rock band the Who, known for his powerful voice and charismatic stage presence. His stage persona ear ...

Steven Tyler Steven Victor Tallarico (born March 26, 1948), known professionally as Steven Tyler, is an American singer and songwriter. Tyler is best known as the lead singer of the Boston-based rock band Aerosmith, in which he also plays the keyboards, h ...

Todd Rundgren Todd Harry Rundgren (born June 22, 1948) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the bands Nazz and Utopia. He is known for his sophistica ...

Jack Blades Jack Martin Blades (born April 24, 1954) is an American rock musician. He has worked in the bands Rubicon (American band), Rubicon, Night Ranger (as bassist and one of the lead vocalists), and Damn Yankees (band), Damn Yankees (as one of the f ...

Kelly Keagy Kelly Dean Keagy (born September 15, 1952) is an American drummer and vocalist, best known for his work with the hard rock band Night Ranger. Keagy sang lead vocals on several of their hits, such as "Sister Christian", "Sing Me Away", and " Se ...

Bruce Kulick Bruce Howard Kulick (; born December 12, 1953) is an American guitarist best known as a former guitarist of the band Kiss (band), Kiss (19841996). He was also a member of Union (band), Union with John Corabi from 19972002, Blackjack (American ba ...

, Bill Leverty,

Steve Lukather Steven Lee "Luke" Lukather (born October 21, 1957) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer, best known as the sole continuous founding member of the rock band Toto. His reputation as a skilled guitarist led to ...

Duff McKagan Michael Andrew "Duff" McKagan (born February 5, 1964) is an American musician. He was the bassist of hard rock band Guns N' Roses for twelve years, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. McKagan rejoined the b ...

, Mark Slaughter,

Carmine Appice Carmine Appice ( ; born December 15, 1946) is an American rock drummer. He is best known for his associations with Vanilla Fudge; Cactus; the power trio Beck, Bogert & Appice; Rod Stewart; King Kobra; and Blue Murder. He is the older brother ...

, Jeff Beck, Brian Wilson and

Rudy Sarzo Rodolfo Maximiliano Sarzo Lavieille Grande Ruiz Payret y Chaumont (born November 18, 1950) is a Cuban-American musician. He remains best known as the bassist for Quiet Riot, Ozzy Osbourne, and Whitesnake, and has also played with several well k ...

. Winger was featured in an episode of the American TV show ''

Pawn Stars ''Pawn Stars'' is an American reality television series shown on History and produced by Leftfield Pictures. The series is filmed in Las Vegas, Nevada, where it chronicles the daily activities at the World Famous Gold & Silver Pawn Shop, a 24 ...

'' in May 2013 as helping the host, Rick Harrison, through Rock Fantasy Camp. In the early 1990s,

Jackson Guitars Jackson is a brand of guitars sold by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. Jackson was originally an independent manufacturer of electric guitars and electric bass guitars named after its founder, the American luthier Grover Jackson. Th ...

made a Kip Winger Signature Bass.

Discography

Studio albums

*'' This Conversation Seems Like a Dream'' (1997) *'' Down Incognito'' (1999) *'' Songs from the Ocean Floor'' (2001) *'' From the Moon to the Sun'' (2008) *''Ghosts – Suite No. 1'' (2010) *''Conversations with Nijinsky'' (2016)

Soundtrack albums

*''Get Jack'' with Damien Gray (2019)

Box sets

*''Solo Box Set Collection'' (2018)

with Winger

*'' Winger'' (1988) *'' In the Heart of the Young'' (1990) *''

'' (1993) *'' IV'' (2006) *''

Karma Karma (, from , ; ) is an ancient Indian concept that refers to an action, work, or deed, and its effect or consequences. In Indian religions, the term more specifically refers to a principle of cause and effect, often descriptively called ...

'' (2009) *''

Better Days Comin' ''Better Days Comin'' is the sixth studio album by American rock band Winger. It was released on April 23, 2014, debuting at #21 on the Top Current Rock Albums Chart and #85 on the ''Billboard'' 200. Track listing Personnel ;Winger * Kip W ...

'' (2014) *'' Seven'' (2023)

with Alice Cooper

*'' Constrictor'' (1986) *'' Raise Your Fist and Yell'' (1987) * '' Trash'' (1989) * '' Welcome 2 My Nightmare'' (2011)

with Fiona

*'' Heart Like a Gun'' (1989)

with The Mob

*''The Mob'' (2005)

with Blackwood Creek

*''Blackwood Creek'' (2009)

Other contributions

* Kix – ''

'' (1985) *

Fiona Fiona is a feminine given name of Gaelic origins. It means white or fair, while the Irish name ''Fíona'' means 'of wine', being the genitive of 'wine'. It was coined by Scottish writer James Macpherson. Initially, the name was confined to ...

– '' Beyond the Pale'' (1986) *

– '' Trash'' (1989) * Kane Roberts – ''Kane Roberts'' (1987) *

Twisted Sister Twisted Sister was an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in 1972 in Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey, and later based on Long Island, New York (state), New York. Their best-known songs include "We're Not Gonna Take It (Twisted Sister song ...

– '' Love Is for Suckers'' (1987) *

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...

– '' Down in the Groove'' (1988) * Various artists – ''Hearts of Fire'' soundtrack (1987) * Blue Yonder – '' Blue Yonder'' (1987) * Orange Swirl – ''Orange Swirl'' (1998) * Seven Days – ''Ride'' (1998) * Rob Eberhard Young – ''Speak'' (1999) * Under Suspicion – ''Under Suspicion'' (2001) *

Jordan Rudess Jordan Rudess (born Jordan Charles Rudes; November 4, 1956) is an American keyboardist, composer, and software developer, best known as a member of the progressive metal band Dream Theater and the supergroup Liquid Tension Experiment. Early lif ...

– '' Rhythm of Time'' (2004) * Twenty Flight Rockers – ''The New York Sessions 1988'' (2004) * XCarnation – ''Grounded'' (2005) * Jordan Rudess – '' The Road Home'' (2007) * Northern Light Orchestra – ''Orchestra Arrangements'' (2009) * Alice Cooper – '' Welcome 2 My Nightmare'' (2011)

Tributes

* "

Space Truckin' "Space Truckin'" is a song by English hard rock band Deep Purple. It is the seventh and final track on the '' Machine Head'' album and its lyrics talk of space travel. Guitarist Ritchie Blackmore claims in '' Classic Albums: Deep Purple – The ...

" – ''Smoke on the Water – A Tribute to Deep Purple'' (1994) * " I'm in Love with My Car" – '' Stone Cold Queen: A Tribute'' (2001) * "I Want You" – '' Spin the Bottle: An All-Star Tribute to Kiss'' (2004) * " A Love Like Yours (Don't Come Knocking Everyday)" – ''What's Love? a Tribute to Tina Turner'' (2004) * "

Limelight Limelight (also known as Drummond light or calcium light)James R. Smith (2004). ''San Francisco's Lost Landmarks'', Quill Driver Books. is a non-electric type of stage lighting that was once used in theatres and music halls. An intense illum ...

" & "

The Spirit of Radio "The Spirit of Radio" is a song by Canadian rock band Rush, released from their 1980 album ''Permanent Waves''. The song's name was inspired by Brampton, Ontario based radio station CFNY-FM's slogan. It was significant in the growing popularity ...

" – ''Subdivisions: A Tribute to Rush'' (2005) * " Send Her My Love" – ''An '80s Metal Tribute to Journey'' (2006) * " Drive My Car" – ''Butchering the Beatles: A Headbashing Tribute'' (2006) * " Holding Back the Years" (by Simply Red) – ''Hair Metal Greatest Power Ballad Covers'' (2009)

Videos/DVDs

– '' The Nightmare Returns'' (1986) * Winger – ''The Videos, Vol. 1'' (1989) * Winger – ''In the Heart of the Young, Vol. 1'' (1990) * Winger – ''In the Heart of the Young, Vol. 2'' (1991) * Winger – ''Live in Tokyo'' (1991) * Winger – ''The Making of Pull'' (1993) * Various artists – ''VH1 Metal Mania Stripped Across America Tour Live'' (2006) * Winger – ''The Making of Winger IV'' (2007) * '' Winger Live'' (2007) * Winger DVD – ''Then & Now: The Making of Pull & Winger IV'' (2009)

Notes

References

Reviews and interviews

RockReport Review
May 2008

Retrieved on 2009-01-01
Kip Winger Interview
October 2008
Kip Winger-Interview
November 2007
Ghosts and Simpler Times by Mike Ward San Francisco Bay Times
February 2010
No Pride in Prejudice By Janos Gereben – Classical Voice
February 2010
rock star reinvents himself with the help of Blair professor Michael Kurek by Jim Patterson – Vanderbilt View
June 2010
Winger's True Passion: Music For Ballet by Amy Sciarretto
October 2010

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Winger, Kip 1961 births Living people American heavy metal bass guitarists American male bass guitarists Glam metal musicians Alice Cooper (band) members Winger (band) members Musicians from Denver Songwriters from Colorado Progressive rock musicians Progressive metal musicians Guitarists from Colorado 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male singers 20th-century American singers 21st-century American guitarists 21st-century American male musicians Frontiers Records artists Domo Records artists The Mob (American band) members