Winger flying solo — for better and worse

Lisa Ferguson

Friday, March 28, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

There's a odd mixture of enthusiasm and sorrow in Kip Winger's voice these days.

On the one hand, the former lead singer for his late-'80s metal band, Winger ("Headed for a Heartbreak," "Miles Away"), recently released his first solo compact disc, "This Conversation Seems Like a Dream."

Unlike his previous squealing-guitar-laden offerings, the groove-oriented debut clearly marks his transition from leather-clad MTV poster child to adult contemporary artist.

"Musically, I'm exactly where I should be," Winger said recently by phone from his Santa Fe, N.M., home, where the CD was recorded. "It's very intense and very introspective. It's just really reflective of my life over the last 10 years."

Friday night, for the first time in three years, Winger will perform live at Crown Billiards and Sports Bar while emceeing Las Vegas Music Scene magazine's first anniversary bash. The short acoustic set will feature a few of his new tunes.

The next several weeks, he'll promote the CD at several Borders Book and Music Stores around the country. In May, he'll embark on a European tour. (A schedule of U.S. dates is still in the works).

On the other hand, the 35-year-old is starting down this new musical avenue alone. His wife, Beatrice, died last November in an auto accident.

Besides supplying background vocals, Beatrice also designed the CD's black-and-white cover art.

"She was just really close to the project," Winger says.

In fact, he wrote "Here," the final song on the 11-song disc, for his wife as a Valentine's Day gift.

I wish a falling star could cause the world to disappear.

All I want is to be all alone with you here.

"Some of the songs are really a stretch for me," he says. "I've always aspired to (be like) guys like Peter Gabriel who really concentrate on the songwriting. I just wanted to get ... kind of experimental."

This record "was really my chance to start working on the kind of music that I feel will expand me as a musician and a writer."

It's a style Winger has been toying with since the early '80s, when he played bass behind rock legend Alice Cooper.

Although he didn't want to leave loyal Winger fans "in the dust. ... I didn't want to keep making the same record over and over again. It's creatively stifling for me to write every song around a heavy guitar riff."

Besides, "The (metal) genre just kind of went away when grunge (music) happened. Everybody was so freaked out about it, (but) it's the same thing that happened to Elvis when the Beatles came.

"I think over time that people will start to recognize my ideals. Right now, they still think I'm (singing) 'Seventeen,'" the band's signature song about a wild child.

"She's 26 now," he quips.

He did, however, call on the band's former drummer, Rod Morgenstein, to collaborate on "Conversation." "He's actually more suited to play this type of music, a little bit more free," he explains.

Now comes the hard part: Successfully redefining Winger's musical image.

"When you become really successful with a certain kind of music, people assume that's what you are and they want to hold you there. That's not what I'm all about," he says.

"I made such a leap for uncompromising creativity. I'm not gonna jump on a bandwagon or chase the trends. I'm just trying to be true to who I am. I've got a lot more up my sleeve than people think."