One of Seattle’s most musical lawyers recently released his second CD.
The first one by Steve Winters and his rock group, Morris Can Fly, sold more than 2,000 copies and had a single that was played on college radio and in some smaller markets.
Winters has been drawn to music since childhood. “I wrote my first song at 9,” he says. It was called “Pepper and Salt Don’t Mix,” about unrequited love. He also plays bass, guitar, drums, harmonica and piano. Plus, he sings.
But his life hasn’t been all about music. In his teens, Winters lived on an Israeli kibbutz for four months. “I squished grapes and picked up chicken poop,” he says wryly.
Time on a kibbutz—his own idea—isn’t the only unusual entry on the pre-law life résumé of Winters, an intellectual property lawyer at Seattle’s Lane Powell. From 1983 to 1988, he worked in the Los Angeles office of Bozell Worldwide, an international marketing and advertising agency. Starting in the mail room —“pretty humbling,” he says—Winters became director of research and strategic planning.
He left Bozell because he needed a change and because the first Morris Can Fly—a name that emerged from one of its bass player’s dreams—had inked a record deal. It released a single, Walk on Water. But playing in the band didn’t generate much income, and Morris Can Fly disbanded. Winters took various jobs in the entertainment industry to make ends meet. Tired of struggling financially, in 1989 he enrolled in law school at the University of Southern California.
Winters’ law practice involves complex intellectual property transactions involving the science, media and technology industries. His clients have included the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and Nordstrom.
Despite a busy practice, Winters, the single dad of an adopted 9-year-old boy from Guatemala, finds time for his current band, also named Morris Can Fly. In February, the band played at an American Heart Association fundraiser. Every year, it plays at Lawyerpalooza, a fundraiser for arts programs at local schools.
Winters’ law career pays the bills and satisfies him intellectually. “Music,” he says, “enables me to remain sane in an insane world.”
The CDs, Morris Can Fly I and II, can be purchased at cdbaby.com/morriscanfly2 or at amazon.com (search “Morris Can Fly.”) Click here to hear a sample song! L&P
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