HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEVE
Stephen Percy "Steve" Harris (born 12 March 1956) is an English musician and songwriter, known as the bassist, occasional keyboardist, backing vocalist, primary songwriter and founder of the British heavy metal bandIron Maiden. He is the only member of Iron Maiden to have remained in the band since their inception in 1975 and, along with guitarist Dave Murray, to have appeared on all of their albums.
Harris has a recognisable and popular style of bass playing, particularly the "gallop" which can be found on several Iron Maiden recordings, such as the singles "Run to the Hills" and "The Trooper". In addition to his role as the band's bass player, writer and backing vocalist, he has undertaken many other roles for the group, such as producing and co-producing their albums, directing and editing their live videos and performing studio keyboards and synthesizers. He has been cited as one of the greatest heavy metal bassists.
On 24 September 2012, Harris released his debut solo album, British Lion.
Harris was born and grew up in Leytonstone, where he grew up aspiring to be a professional footballer. Scouted by Wally St Pier, Harris was asked to train for West Ham United. After gaining an interest in rock music in his early teens, he realised that he no longer desired to play football professionally.
Initially Harris wanted to play drums, but did not have enough space for a drum kit in his house and so decided on the bass instead. Entirely self-taught, his first bass was a copy of a Fender Precision model which cost him £40 in 1971.
Just 10 months after he bought his first bass, Harris joined a band, initially known as Influence and later Gypsy's Kiss, featuring Bob Verscoyle (lead vocals), Dave Smith (guitar) and drummer Paul Sears. After a short number of gigs at the Cart and Horses pub in Maryland Point, Stratford and the Bridgehouse in Canning Town, the band split up and Harris auditioned for a band called Smiler in February 1974. In this outfit, Harris began writing his own songs and worked with future Iron Maiden members Dennis Wilcock and Doug Sampson, but left the band after they refused to play his material, claiming it was too complicated.
Upon leaving Smiler, Harris went on to create Iron Maiden on Christmas Day 1975, with the band's name being inspired by the film The Man in the Iron Mask. Before Iron Maiden signed their contract with EMI in 1979, Harris worked as an architecturaldraughtsman in the East End of London until he was made redundant, at which point he undertook a job as a street sweeper.
Since their inception, Harris has been the band's principal composer and lyricist.His song writing typically showcases his trademark galloping bass patterns, which features heavily in songs such as "The Trooper" and "Run to the Hills", and his progressive rock-influenced time changes. Recently, Harris' songs have become more progressive,[18][19] and guitarist Adrian Smith has commented that Harris now prefers contributing "lyrics and melodies and arranging" to other member's songs over writing alone.Harris frequently writes lyrics about mythology, history or topics inspired from books and films, reflecting his interests and progressive rock influences.
Solo project
In September 2012, Harris released his first solo album, British Lion. Originating with a band, named British Lion, which he managed and wrote with in the early 1990s, Harris kept in touch with its vocalist, Richard Taylor, and guitarist, Graham Leslie, and the album, consisting of 1970s influenced hard rock songs, was written and recorded over a number of years around Iron Maiden's tour schedule.[24] Speaking to Kerrang! in September 2012, Harris stated that he considers the record to be "more of a side-project" than a solo album, as he is more "comfortable in a band environment."
In an interview with Classic Rock in August, Harris stated that he will be releasing more solo albums and hopes to tour with the band in the future. Harris has taken the outfit on two separate European club tours in 2013 and 2014.
Equipment
Harris mainly plays a specially-painted Fender Precision Bass, featured on every Iron Maiden album, which has gone through a total of four colour changes since he began using it. Originally white, it was then changed to black prior to the band's first album,followed by blue sparkle and finally white with claret and blue pinstriping with the West Ham United F.C. crest. Harris has had his bass modified to include a mirrored scratchplate, Badass bridges and Seymour Duncan custom SPB1 pickups and uses his own signature set of RotoSound flatwound strings. In 2009, Fender issued a signature Steve Harris Precision bass, featuring a blue-sparkle finish, mirrored scratchplate, Seymour Duncan SPB1 pickups and a Badass II bridge.
In 2005, Metal Hammer reported that he uses eight 4x12" Marshall cabinets with Trace Elliot amplifiers. He also uses four Sony WRT 27 wireless transmitters, allowing him to be as mobile as possible on stage. A diagram of Harris' 2000 bass rig is documented on GuitarGeek.com.
