Strictly Rock

  • Home
  • Bands
  • Videos
  • Store
  • Events
  • Unsigned Bands
  • Blog
  • Contact

Steve Miller Band

May 15, 2014 by strictlyrock Leave a Comment

Click on the image to buy band items

Steve Miller was born in Milwaukee on October 5, 1943 to highly musically-inclined parents, his father being a jazz enthusiast, and his mother being a jazz singer. Influenced by the music around him, Miller received his first guitar at age four, and was taught his first cords by age five. This teacher was his godfather, and none other than Les Paul, the famed pioneer of the electric guitar. As Miller grew older, he formed a number of bands starting at the age of twelve and continued throughout his post-college years. His final project before forming the Steve Miller Band was a group known as The Goldberg-Miller Blues Band, who found mild success performing around Chicago—even recording a few songs and producing a single, “The Mother Song.”

Click on the image to buy band items

As the blues scene died down in Chicago, Steve left for San Francisco, where he formed the Steve Miller Blues Band, which was signed to Capitol Records in 1967. Shortly after, their name was shortened to the Steve Miller Band. Their original lineup included Steve on guitar and vocals, a second guitarist, James Cooke, Lonnie Turner on Bass, and Tim Davis on drums (a lineup which has changed fairly consistently over the years). In 1968, the Steve Miller Band released their first album, Children of the Future. Unfortunately, the album saw little success, but the band was not to be discouraged.

The following year the group released Brave New World which featured songs such as “Space Cowboy” and “My Dark Hour,” which featured (and was co-written by) the famous Paul McCartney. Brave new World charted at number 22, and their follow-up albums, Your Saving Grace and Number 5 also did fairly well, both charting higher than 40th. The band’s true break came several albums later with the release of The Joker in 1973, which included the title track that would become the group’s first #1 single, and helped the album soar to #2 on the charts.

Click on the image to buy this CD

Having finally broken through, the band continued to release both highly successful albums and songs. Fly Like an Eagle, released in 1976 and charting at #3, produced several hits, including “Take the Money and Run,” the title track, “Fly Like an Eagle” and “Rock ‘N Me” which soared to #2 on the charts. Notably, “Fly Like an Eagle” saw a second wave of popularity in 1997 when the remake by Seal reached #10 on the charts. Book of Dreams was released a year after Fly Like an Eagle, which sold better than its predecessor, reaching #2 on the charts. The album’s singles included “Jet Airliner,” “Jungle Love” and “Swingtown,” all of which charted high, however none of the songs did as well as “Rock ‘N Me.” 1982 saw the release of Abracadabra and a return to the highest form of success, with the album’s title track reaching #1.

Click on the image to buy this print

Apart from the release of a greatest hits album in 1978, aptly titled The Steve Miller Band’s Greatest Hits 1974 – 1978, album releases have been fairly quiet. 1993 saw the release of Wide River, which is their most recent album to date. While album-releases have been nonexistent for over fifteen years, the Steve Miller Band nevertheless remains successful, performing regular summer tours that remain highly popular. Currently the Steve Miller Band is working on a new album, Bingo! which will contain a number of Blues and R&B covers, and is set for release on June 15, 2010.

Filed Under: Rock Bands

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Cart

T-shirts

View all Products in this Category
View more T-Shirts

100 Greatest Rock & Roll Bands

  1. The Beatles
  2. The Rolling Stones
  3. Led Zeppelin
  4. Jimi Hendrix
  5. Elvis Presley
  6. The Who
  7. U2
  8. Pink Floyd
  9. The Doors
  10. The Police
  11. Elton John
  12. Metallica
  13. AC/DC
  14. Van Halen
  15. Nirvana
  16. Guns N' Roses
  17. Santana
  18. The Allman Brothers Band
  19. Bon Jovi
  20. David Bowie
  21. Grateful Dead
  22. Rush
  23. Yes
  24. Black Sabbath
  25. Bob Dylan
  26. James Brown
  27. The Beach Boys
  28. Eric Clapton
  29. Fleetwood Mac
  30. The Eagles
  31. Bob Marley
  32. Van Morrison
  33. Bruce Springsteen
  34. The Clash
  35. Queen
  36. Janis Joplin
  37. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
  38. R.E.M.
  39. The Kinks
  40. Steely Dan
  41. Steve Miller Band
  42. Jethro Tull
  43. Tool
  44. The Scorpions
  45. Coldplay
  46. Stone Temple Pilots
  47. Rod Stewart
  48. Marilyn Manson
  49. Creedence Clearwater Revival
  50. KISS
  51. The Pretenders
  52. Green Day
  53. Aerosmith
  54. Tina Turner
  55. Pearl Jam
  56. Ted Nugent
  57. Pantera
  58. Motörhead
  59. Judas Priest
  60. ZZ Top
  61. Megadeth
  62. Motley Crue
  63. Alice Cooper
  64. Def Leppard
  65. Iron Maiden
  66. Billy Idol
  67. Journey
  68. Anthrax
  69. Rage Against the Machine
  70. Blue Oyster Cult
  71. Alice in Chains
  72. Genesis
  73. Red Hot Chili Peppers
  74. Chuck Berry
  75. Buddy Holly
  76. Little Richard
  77. Elvis Costello
  78. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
  79. Sex Pistols
  80. Cream
  81. Frank Zappa
  82. Talking Heads
  83. Stevie Ray Vaughan
  84. Billy Joel
  85. The Band
  86. Ramones
  87. Lynyrd Skynyrd
  88. Jerry Lee Lewis
  89. Doobie Brothers
  90. Foo Fighters
  91. The Cure
  92. Soundgarden
  93. Iggy Pop
  94. Peter Gabriel
  95. The Byrds
  96. Traffic
  97. Deep Purple
  98. Blondie
  99. Velvet Underground
  100. Heart

Home | Bands | Videos | Store | Events | Unsigned Bands | Blog | Contact

Copyright © 2023 · strictlyrock.com

Copyright © 2023 · Website Maintenance Services