Steve Miller Band

All Music Guide:

Steve Miller's career has encompassed two distinct stages: one of the top San Francisco blues-rockers during the late '60s and early '70s, and one of the top-selling pop/rock acts of the mid- to late '70s and early '80s with hits like "The Joker," "Fly Like an Eagle," "Rock'n Me," and "Abracadabra." Miller was turned on to music by his father, who worked as a pathologist but knew stars like Charles Mingus and Les Paul, whom he brought home as guests; Paul taught the young Miller some guitar chords and let him sit in on a session. Miller formed a blues band, the Marksmen Combo, at age 12 with friend Boz Scaggs; the two teamed up again at the University of Wisconsin in a group called the Ardells, later the Fabulous Night Trains. Miller moved to Chicago in 1964 to get involved in the local blues scene, teaming with Barry Goldberg for two years.

He then moved to San Francisco and formed the first incarnation of the Steve Miller Blues Band, featuring guitarist James "Curly" Cooke, bassist Lonnie Turner, and drummer Tim Davis. The band built a local following through a series of free concerts and backed Chuck Berry in 1967 at a Fillmore date later released as a live album. Scaggs moved to San Francisco later that year and replaced Cooke in time to play the Monterey Pop Festival; it was the first of many personnel changes. Capitol signed the group as the Steve Miller Band following the festival.

The band flew to London to record Children of the Future, which was praised by critics and received some airplay on FM radio. It established Miller's early style as a blues-rocker influenced but not overpowered by psychedelia. The follow-up, Sailor, has been hailed as perhaps Miller's best early effort; it reached number 24 on the Billboard album charts and consolidated Miller's fan base. A series of high-quality albums with similar chart placements followed; while Miller remained a popular artist, pop radio failed to pick up on any of his material at this time, even though tracks like "Space Cowboy" and "Brave New World" had become FM rock staples. Released in 1971, Rock Love broke Miller's streak with a weak band lineup and poor material, and Miller followed it with the spotty Recall the Beginning: A Journey from Eden. Things began to look even worse for Miller when he broke his neck in a car accident and subsequently developed hepatitis, which put him out of commission for most of 1972 and early 1973.

Miller spent his recuperation time reinventing himself as a blues-influenced pop/rocker, writing compact, melodic, catchy songs. This approach was introduced on his 1973 LP, The Joker, and was an instant success, with the album going platinum and the title track hitting number one on the pop charts. Now an established star, Miller elected to take three years off. He purchased a farm and built his own recording studio, at which he crafted the wildly successful albums Fly Like an Eagle and Book of Dreams at approximately the same time. Fly Like an Eagle was released in 1976 and eclipsed its predecessor in terms of quality and sales (over four million copies) in spite of the long downtime in between. It also gave Miller his second number one hit with "Rock'n Me," plus several other singles. Book of Dreams was almost as successful, selling over three million copies and producing several hits as well. All of the hits from Miller's first three pop-oriented albums were collected on Greatest Hits 1974-1978, which to date has sold over six million copies and remains a popular catalog item.

Miller again took some time off, not returning again until late 1981 with the disappointing Circle of Love. Just six months later, Miller rebounded with Abracadabra; the title track gave him his third number one single. The remaining albums released in the '80s -- Italian X Rays,1984; Living in the 20th Century, 1986; and Born 2B Blue, 1988 -- weren't consistent enough to be critically or commercially successful. The early '90s saw Miller return to form with Wide River (the title track becoming a Top 40 chart entry) and the release of a retrospective box set compiled by the artist himself. Miller continued to headline shows into the 2000s, sharing the bill with classic rock acts such as 2008 tourmate Joe Cocker. He also announced the impending release of a new studio album of R&B covers. In 2010, the band released Bingo!, the first release on Miller's own Space Cowboy Records.

Wikipedia:

The Steve Miller Band is an American rock band formed in 1967 in San Francisco, California. The band is managed by Steve Miller on guitar and lead vocals, and is known for a string of (mainly) mid-1970s hit singles that are staples of the classic rock radio format.

History

In 1965, Steve Miller and keyboardist Barry Goldberg founded the Goldberg-Miller Blues Band along with bassist Shawn Yoder, rhythm guitarist Craymore Stevens, and drummer Lance Haas after moving to Chicago to play the blues. The band was contracted to Epic Records after playing many Chicago clubs. They also appeared on Hullabaloo with the Four Tops and the Supremes, and gigged at a Manhattan club.

Miller left the group to go to San Francisco where the psychedelic scene was flourishing. He then formed the Steve Miller Blues Band which, when they contracted with Capitol Records in 1967, they shortened to the Steve Miller Band. The band, consisting of Miller, guitarist James Cooke, bassist Lonnie Turner, and drummer Tim Davis (who replaced the departing Lance Haas on drums), backed Chuck Berry at a gig at the Fillmore West that was released as the live album, Live at Fillmore Auditorium. Guitarist Boz Scaggs joined the band soon after and the group performed at the Monterey Pop Festival in June. In May 1968 while in England, they recorded their debut album Children Of The Future. The album did not have any successes and did not score among the Top 100 album chart, but standout tracks were the acoustic tune "Baby's Calling Me Home" and funky blues number "Steppin' Stone". Closing the album is a slow version of the blues standard "Key To The Highway".

The Steve Miller Band's second album Sailor appeared in October, and climbed the Billboard chart to #24. Successes included the singles "Livin' In The USA", "Lucky Man", and Boz Scaggs "Overdrive" and "Dime-A-Dance Romance".

Miller's audience expanded with each album: Brave New World (#22, 1969), which featured the successful song "Space Cowboy" and the track "My Dark Hour" that was co-written by and featured Paul McCartney (aka Paul Ramon) on bass; followed by Your Saving Grace (#38, 1969); and then Number 5 (#23, 1970).

In 1971, Miller suffered a broken neck after a car accident and Capitol Records released the album Rock Love. The album featured unreleased live performances (including an eleven minute jam on the title track) and studio material and is one of two of Steve Miller Band albums not to be released on CD, the other being Recall the Beginning...A Journey from Eden. It is on this album the song "Fandango" (Track 8) appeared. The first lyrics of the song read, "Kim, come and play the drum." This song was written as an invitation to drummer Kim Kopko of the band, The Black and Blues, to, as the next lyrics call, "come and join the fun." Although it was believed at the time that Miller was reaching out to a recently departed lady friend. In 1972, the double album compilation Anthology was released, featuring 16 songs from the band's first five albums.

The Joker (#2, 1973) showed audiences a new style of the band. The title track became a #1 single and was certified platinum for reaching over one million sales.

Three years later, the Steve Miller Band returned with the album Fly Like An Eagle, which charted at #3. Three singles were released from the album: "Take The Money and Run" (#11), "Fly Like an Eagle" (#2) and their second Number One success, "Rock 'N Me". Miller credits the guitar intro to "Rock 'N Me" as a tribute to the classic song by Free, "All Right Now".

Book Of Dreams (#2, 1977) also included three successes: "Jet Airliner" (#8), "Jungle Love" (#23) (later becoming the song played over the opening credits of the 8th season of Everybody Loves Raymond), and "Swingtown" (#17). 1982's Abracadabra album gave Steve Miller his third Number One success with the title track. Miller's hit pushed Chicago's "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" out of the #1 spot, similar to his "Rock N' Me" knocking Chicago's "If You Leave Me Now" out of the #1 spot in 1976.

Released in 1978, The Steve Miller Band's Greatest Hits 1974-1978 has sold over 13 million copies and Miller continues to perform successful sold-out concert performances.

Long time member Norton Buffalo died from lung cancer on October 30, 2009.

John King (drummer during "The Joker" era) died after a short bout with kidney cancer on October 26, 2010.

Bingo!, a new album of blues and R&B covers, was released on June 15, 2010. Let Your Hair Down, a companion release to Bingo!, was released 10 months later, on April 18, 2011.

Blues guitarist, Jacob Peterson officially joined the band prior to the Spring 2011 tour. Following Petersen joining the band, long time guitarist Kenny Lee Lewis became the band's full-time bassist.

James Cooke died from cancer on 16 May 2011.

On November 10, 2011 the band played inside the Boeing factory in Everett, Washington to celebrate the successful delivery milestones of the 747-8 program. They opened the set with "Jet Airliner".

Pegasus

A recurring image in Steve Miller Band album covers is the depiction of a pegasus or horse. It first appeared on the cover of Book of Dreams. A horse's head appears on the cover of their 1974-1978 greatest hits album. The pegasus appears again on the cover of their Circle of Love album. The pegasus would be given a retrofuturistic image on the cover of Living in the 20th Century. The Pegasus again appears on the cover of their 1991 greatest hits album. The silhouette of a horse's head appears on the cover of Wide River.

Awards