Steve Harris

1 - Stephen Percy Harris Born March 12 1956 In Leytonstone London England Is The Bassist And Primary Composer Of The Heavy Metal Band Iron Maiden. He Founded The Band As A Teenager In 1975. Along With Dave Murray They Are The Only Members Of The Band That Have Appeared On All Of The Band's Albums. He Used To Work As An Architectural Draftsman In The East End Of London But Gave Up His Job Upon Forming Iron Maiden. During The Mid 1970s He Was A Youth Team Footballer For West Ham United. He Is A Talented Football Player And His Bandmates Say That If He Did Not Play Bass He Would Definitely Have Had A Career In Professional Football. Career A Self-Taught Bass Player Harris's First Bass Was A Copy Of A Fender Precision Bass That Cost Him About £40 When He Was 17 Years Old. He Went On To Use A Signature Lado "Unicorn" Model And A Late 1950s Fender Precision With RotoSound Strings. He Now Uses His Own Signature RotoSound Flatwound Bass Strings. This Is Surprising Because Flatwound Strings Do Not Sound Clanky And Bright. In Fact Harris' Signature Clanky Bass Tone Comes From The Metallic Noise Of The Strings Hitting The Frets. Harris Has Been Influenced By Other Bass Players Such As Chris Squire Of Yes John Deacon Of Queen Mike Rutherford Of Genesis Geddy Lee Of Rush Andy Fraser Of Free And John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers Martin Turner Of Wishbone Ash Geezer Butler Of Black Sabbath And John Entwistle Of The Who. One Of His All-Time Favourite Bass Players Was Pete Way From UFO Who Was Said To Influence Harris' Playing Style Greatly. Harris' First Band Was Named Influence Which Was Later Renamed To Gypsy's Kiss. He Later Joined Smiler Of Which All The Band Members Were Several Years Older Than He Was. He Ended Up Leaving As The Members Of The Band Made It Clear That They Did Not Care For A Bassist Who Leapt Around The Stage And Wrote Songs. After Smiler Harris Went On To Create Iron Maiden. Steve Harris Got The Name From Seeing An Iron Maiden A Type Of Torture Instrument In The Movie The Man In The Iron Mask. Steve Harris Is Maiden's Principal Composer And Lyricist. Harris's Songwriting Has Been Noted For A Galloping Bass Pattern And Long Songs With Epic Lyrics That Feature Many Tempo Changes. Influenced By 1970's Progressive Rock Bands Like King Crimson And Genesis Harris Frequently Writes Lyrics About Mythology History Or Topics Inspired From Books And Movies. Harris Has Commented On The Difference Between 1970s Progressive Music Called "progressive" And Contemporary Progressive-Style Music Known As "prog" A Distinction Which Is Becoming Recognised. Steve Harris Is Often Considered Among The Best And Most Influential Heavy Metal Bassists. He Frequently Writes Bass Lines With A 'gallop' A Pattern Consisting Of Three Rapid Notes – One Eighth And Two Sixteenths – Which He Plays With Two Fingers. Before Playing Harris Often Greases His Fingers To Make Such 'gallops' Easier To Play As Shown On The Bonus DVD For The A Matter Of Life And Death Album. Besides This He Is Very Adventurous On The Bass And And Plays Intricate Accompaniment In Many Of Maiden's Songs. He Also Uses Power Chords Which Are Relatively Unheard Of On Bass On Several Songs. Harris Has Also Stated That He Never Uses A Pick And That He Never Warms Up Before A Show. He Plays A Specially-Painted Bass Guitar Which Has Featured On Every Iron Maiden Album Recorded. It Is Currently Sporting The West Ham United F.C. Logo. The Guitar Has Gone Through Three Colour Changes Since Construction. Originally Being White It Was Then Changed To Black Then Blue And Is Currently Cream With The Rim Done In West Ham's Light-Blue And The Club's Logo On The Body. The Pickguard Is Metallic. He Is Also Known To Use A West Ham United Football Scarf To Cover His Strap Other Musical Talents In Addition To Bass Playing And Writing Music/lyrics For Iron Maiden Steve Harris Has Taken On Numerous Other Roles To Support The Running Of The Band Such As * Music Production/mixing * Music Video Directing/editing * Live Music Video Directing/editing * Keyboards * Backing Vocals * String/bass Synthesisers Steve Harris Has Been Iron Maiden's Principal Keyboardist Other Than At Live Shows And On A Few Songs Where The Work Has Been Done By Michael Kenney Who Doubles As His Bass Technician Since Keyboards Were First Used By The Band On The Album Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son. Though Since That Album Keyboards Have Played Less Of A Role In Iron Maiden Usually The Complexity And Speed Of The Playing Has Increased As Harris Has Improved. Initially He Was Not Even Credited For It In The Band Credits Just The Album Ones. For The Album Somewhere In Time Harris Made His First Experimentation With Synthesised Sounds Playing The Bass Synth Later On The Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son Album Referred To As 'string Synth' . He Has Also Done So On Subsequent Albums Although It Has Not Featured As Much As It Did On Somewhere In Time Because Of The Band's Less Synthesised Sounds And Also The Use Of Keyboards. While He Plays Keyboards During The Recording Of Iron Maiden Albums Steve Harris Has Apparently Shown A Lack Of Ability At Drumming. At Times He Has Been Known To Demonstrate To Nicko McBrain What He Wants Nicko To Play And As Nicko Put It Sounded 'as Good As Your Gran'. In The Early Days Documentary He Revealed That He Originally Wanted To Be A Drummer But As He Lived With His Grandmother He Didn't Have Enough Room For A Drum-Set. Steve Harris Is Also Known For Playing An Increasing Role In Mixing Iron Maiden's Albums As Well As Producing Them And Has Done The Work Himself Since Fear Of The Dark. Harris Also Directs And Edits Many Of The Band's Music Videos Particularly Live Ones. He Also Owns A Farm With Music Recording Facilities. Harris' Land Has Been Used To Write Maiden's Albums On Numerous Occasions. Harris Has Also Been Involved In Backing Vocals For Iron Maiden Songs Since The Band's Inception. Since His Fellow Backing Vocalist Adrian Smith Left Iron Maiden In 1990 Replacement Janick Gers Does Not Sing He Has Not Been Credited For This After Smith's Return Backing Vocals Have Remained Uncredited Since A Single Backing Vocalist Lacked As Much And Harris' Fame Purely As A Bass Player Had Been Consolidated By This Point. However He Has Continued To Provide Backing Vocals When Playing Live Performances Of Older Iron Maiden Songs With The Band. He Is Also Well Known For Conspicuously "singing Along" Off Microphone Mouthing Words In Live Performances. Trivia * Harris Designed Iron Maiden's First Logo Which Used The Current Maiden Font Seen In All Of Their Album-Releases.
* Given That Harris Had Been The Centre Of Attention In Maiden's Early Gigs The Addition Of Bruce Dickinson To The Band's Line-Up Originally Caused Small Scuffles Between The Two As They Both Wanted To Be At The Centre Of The Stage. Bruce Mentioned In The Early Days Documentary That Harris Occasionally Elbowed Him Away And He Returned The Favour By Causing Harris To Trip On His Extra-Long Microphone Stand.
* The Darker Tone Of The Album The X Factor Has Often Been Attributed Due To Problems In Harris's Personal Life While Making The Album. He Had Recently Divorced And His Father Had Also Died. * His Oldest Daughter Lauren Harris Is Also A Singer And She Released Her Debut Album Calm Before The Storm On May 2008. She Supported Iron Maiden On Their A Matter Of Life And Death Tour And Somewhere Back In Time Tour.
* In 1996 Harris Had A Signature Bass Sold By Fender. It Was The Steve Harris Signature P Bass. It Has A Basswood Body Colored In Lake Placid Blue With A Maple Neck And Bassline Pickups. It Is No Longer Made And Very Hard To Find. Iron Maiden Discography * Iron Maiden 1980 * Killers 1981 * The Number Of The Beast 1982 * Piece Of Mind 1983 * Powerslave 1984 * Live After Death 1985 * Somewhere In Time 1986 * Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son 1988 * No Prayer For The Dying 1990 * Fear Of The Dark 1992 * A Real Live One 1993 * A Real Dead One 1993 * Live At Donington 1993 * The X Factor 1995 * Virtual XI 1998 * Brave New World 2000 * Rock In Rio 2002 * Dance Of Death 2003 * Death On The Road 2005 * A Matter Of Life And Death 2006 * The Final Frontier 2010 * The Book Of Souls 2015 * Senjutsu 2021 British Lion
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. 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 With An Additional Tour Taking Place In 2016. On 2 September 2016 Harris Announced That He Intends To Issue A Live Album Recorded At Shows From Across The Three Tours. Their Second Album Titled The Burning Was Released On 17 January 2020. 2 - Steve Harris Steve Was The Founder Member Guitarist And Songwriter And Creative Genius Behind AOR Rock Band Shy. In Over 25 Years Steve Has Written And Recorded 13 Albums Toured The World And Been Signed To Two Major Record Labels. Shy Released Their Self-Titled Comeback Album On October 7th 2011 Through Escape Music. Shy And Steve Harris Have Also Released Such Albums As 1983’s ‘Once Bitten…Twice Shy’ 1985’s ‘Brave The Storm’ 1987’s ‘Excess All Areas’ Which Peaked At #193 On The Billboard Charts 1989’s ‘Misspent Youth’ 1994’s ‘Welcome To The Madhouse’ 1999’s ‘Regeneration’ 1999’s ‘Let The Hammer Fall’ 2002’s ‘Unfinished Business’ And 2005’s ‘Sunset And Vine’. Steve Passed Away On 28 October 2011 After Battling A Brain Tumor. read less