Steve Miller (musician)

Steven Haworth Miller (born October 5, 1943) is an American musician.

The Millers were the best man and the matron of honor at the December 1949 Paul/Ford wedding.

Paul became Steve's godfather.

Les Paul Heard Steve, who was six, on a wire recording made by Dr. Miller, "banging away" on a guitar given to him by his uncle, Dr. K. Dale Atterbury.

Paul encouraged Miller to continue with his interest in the guitar... and "perhaps he will be something one day."

In 1950, the family relocated to Dallas.

Many distinguished musicians came to their house to record and Steve absorbed much from "greats" such as T-Bone Walker, Charles Mingus, and Tal Farlow.

Walker taught Steve how to play his guitar behind his back and also with his teeth in 1952.

In 1955, Steven began attending St. Mark's School in Dallas, a non-denominational preparatory day school for boys where he formed his first band, The Marksmen.

He taught his older brother Buddy to play the bass guitar and also instructed his classmate, future musical star Boz Scaggs, on guitar chords so that he could join the band.

In 1962, Miller returned to Wisconsin, and entered the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he formed The Ardells.

Scaggs joined the Ardells the next year, and Ben Sidran became the band's keyboardist in the following year.

After attending the University of Copenhagen in Denmark for a semester in his senior year to study comparative literature, Miller dropped out six credit hours shy of a literature degree, opting to pursue a music career with his mother's encouragement and his father's misgivings:

[Interviewer:] When you look back over the span of your career, what are the lasting moments, the sweetest highs?

[Miller:] I would have to say my father's relationship with Les Paul and T-Bone Walker when I was young.

Growing up in Dallas, being part of that phenomenal music scene.

I found a way to do what I really wanted to do, which is so important for a kid.

Near the end of college, my parents said, 'Steve, what are you going to do?' I said, 'I want to go to Chicago and play the blues.' My father looked at me like I was insane.

But my mom said, 'You should do it now.' So I went to Chicago.

And that was a special time.

I played with Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf.

I got to work with adults and realized music was what I wanted to do, what I loved.

Upon his return to the United States, Miller moved to Chicago where he immersed himself in the city's blues scene.

During his time there, he worked with harmonica player Paul Butterfield and jammed with blues greats Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, and Buddy Guy, all of whom encouraged the young guitarist to pursue music.

In 1965, Miller and keyboardist Barry Goldberg formed the Goldberg-Miller Blues Band and began playing on the Chicago club scene.

They signed with Epic Records and released a single, "The Mother Song".

They began a residency at a New York City blues club.

When Miller returned from New York, he was disappointed by the Chicago blues scene, so he moved to Texas in hopes of finishing his education at the University of Texas at Austin.

He was disenchanted with academic politics at the university and took a Volkswagen Bus his father had given him heading to San Francisco.

After arriving he used his last $5 to see the Butterfield Blues Band and Jefferson Airplane at the Fillmore Auditorium.

He fell in love with the vibrant San Francisco music scene and decided to stay.

He is the founder and only remaining original member of the Steve Miller Band, which he founded in 1966, and is the principal songwriter, lead singer, harmonicist, keyboardist, and one of the guitarists.

In 1966, he formed the Steve Miller Band (at first called The Steve Miller Blues Band), with Miller doing the vocals.

He began his career in blues and blues rock and evolved to a more pop-oriented arena rock genre during the mid-1970s through the early 1980s, releasing popular singles and albums.

After leaving St. Mark's—"I got kicked out", he recalled with a laugh in a 2004 interview —he then attended a school in the Lakewood area of Dallas, Woodrow Wilson High School, from which he graduated in 1961.

He was inducted into Woodrow's Hall of Fame in 2009.

Another member is Dusty Hill of ZZ Top.

Miller was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016.

Born in Milwaukee, Miller received his first exposure to music from his mother, Bertha, whom he described as a remarkable jazz-influenced singer, and his father, George, a physician known as "Sonny" who, in addition to his profession as a pathologist, was a jazz enthusiast and an accomplished amateur recording engineer.

Guitar virtuoso Les Paul and his musical partner Mary Ford were regular visitors at the Miller house.