Steven Tyler
Steven Victor Tallarico (born March 26, 1948), known professionally as Steven Tyler, is an American singer, best known as the lead singer of the Boston-based rock band Aerosmith, in which he also plays the keyboards, harmonica and percussion. He has been called the "Demon of Screamin'" due to his high screams and his powerful wide vocal range.[3] He is also known for his on-stage acrobatics. During his performances, Tyler usually dresses in colorful, sometimes androgynous outfits and makeup with his trademark scarves hanging from his microphone stand.
Not to be confused with Steve Taylor or Steve Tyrer.
Steven Tyler
March 26, 1948
The Demon of Screamin'
- Singer
- songwriter
- musician
- television personality
1970–present
-
Teresa Barrick(m. 1988; div. 2006)
- Jon Foster (son-in-law)
- Vocals
- keyboards
- harmonica
In the 1970s, Tyler rose to prominence as the lead singer of Aerosmith, which released such hard rock albums as Toys in the Attic and Rocks, along with a string of hit singles, including "Dream On", "Sweet Emotion" and "Walk This Way". By the late 1970s and early 1980s, Tyler had a heavy drug and alcohol addiction and the band's popularity waned. In 1986, Tyler completed drug rehabilitation and Aerosmith rose to prominence again when Tyler and Joe Perry joined Run-DMC for a re-make of "Walk This Way", which became a Top 5 hit. Aerosmith subsequently launched a comeback with the multi-platinum albums Permanent Vacation, Pump, Get a Grip and Nine Lives, which produced a combined thirteen Top 40 singles and won the band numerous awards. During this time, the band embarked on their longest concert tours, promoted their singles with conceptual music videos, and made appearances in television, film and video games.
Since the late 1980s, Tyler has embarked on several solo endeavors, including guest appearances with musicians including Alice Cooper, Mötley Crüe, Santana, Pink and Keith Anderson, film and TV work, authoring a book, and solo music, including the Top 40 single "(It) Feels So Good" in 2011. Tension with his Aerosmith bandmates arose in 2009 and 2010 after he fell off the stage at a concert, and had a relapse with prescription drugs, receiving treatment in 2009.[4] He also signed on to American Idol without telling the other members of the band. Nonetheless, Tyler has continued to record music and perform with Aerosmith, after more than 50 years as a member of the group. In 2016, he released his debut solo album, We're All Somebody from Somewhere, a country rock album that included the single "Love Is Your Name". Tyler supported the album with the "Out on a Limb" tour. Tyler continues to perform both solo, with backing from the Loving Mary Band, and with Aerosmith.
Tyler is included in Rolling Stone's list of 100 Greatest Singers.[5] He was ranked third on Hit Parader's Top 100 Metal Vocalists of All Time. In 2001, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Aerosmith and in 2013, Tyler and his songwriting partner Joe Perry received the ASCAP Founders Award and were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.[6][7]
Early life and education
Steven Victor Tallarico was born on March 26, 1948, at the Stuyvesant Polyclinic in Manhattan, New York, and moved to the Bronx when he was three years old. The family relocated to 100 Pembrook Drive in Northeast Yonkers in 1957 when he was about nine years old.[8][9][10] Tallarico is the son of Susan Ray (née Blancha; June 2, 1925 – July 4, 2008), a secretary, and Victor A. Tallarico (May 14, 1916 – September 10, 2011),[11] a classical musician and pianist who taught music at Cardinal Spellman High School in the Bronx.[12]
Tyler's father was of Italian and German descent, while his mother was of Polish, English and African-American ancestry.[12][13] He has claimed on a number of occasions that his maternal grandfather was Ukrainian,[14][15] and changed his surname from "Czarnyszewicz" (from Polish: czarny, lit. 'black') to "Blancha" (possibly from French: blanche, lit. 'white').[12] Genealogist Megan Smolenyak established that Steven Tyler's grandfather was Polish, born Felix Czarnyszewicz in 1892 in Klichaw, in today's Belarus. In 1914 he emigrated to the US and changed his surname to Blancha. There he married Bessie Elliott, with whom he had four children, including Steven's mother Susan. Felix's brother was Florian Czarnyszewicz, a well-known Polish writer who emigrated to Argentina. Florian Czarnyszewicz is best known for his novel Nadberezeńcy which describes the fate of Poles living in the lands between the Berezina and Dnieper rivers between 1911 and 1920.[16][17]
His paternal grandfather, Giovanni Tallarico, was from Cotronei, Calabria, Italy.[18] Tyler learned on the genealogy show Who Do You Think You Are? that his maternal great-great-great-grandfather Robert Elliot was part African-American and part European-American.[19] Steven has one older sister named Lynda.
Tyler attended Roosevelt High School on Tuckahoe Road in Yonkers, New York which was about a mile from his house, but was expelled from the school just before graduation due to marijuana use. He later graduated from Quintano School for Young Professionals.[20]
At 17, Tyler spent time in Greenwich Village, New York, the highlight of which was seeing a Rolling Stones concert.[21] Tyler states that he and his friends "hung around for a while, buzzing like crazy just because we got to touch them."[21] He added, "Everybody told me that I looked just like Mick Jagger with my big lips and Keith Richards basically was the music I used to love more than anything."[21] A photo in the band's autobiography Walk This Way shows Tyler standing behind Mick Jagger outside a hotel.[21]
During this period, Tyler sang backing vocals on The Left Banke Too, the second album by baroque pop group the Left Banke.[22]
Dirico Motorcycles (Red Wing Motorcycles)
On September 15, 2007, at New Hampshire International Speedway, Tyler announced the launch of Dirico Motorcycles, which are designed by Tyler, engineered by Mark Dirico, and built by AC Custom Motorcycles in Manchester, New Hampshire. Tyler has been a long-time motorcycle fan and riding enthusiast,[94] Steven Tyler also participates in a variety of charity auctions involving motorcycles, including the Ride for Children charity.[95][96]
Politics
In the early months of 2013, an act was forwarded into the Hawaii legislature entitled the Steven Tyler Act (Hawaii Senate Bill 465). The act would give more privacy to public figures such as government officials and celebrities on vacation. Tyler and numerous other celebrities all lobbied for it. The legislation would give public figures the right to sue paparazzi for taking unwanted photographs. The bill's sponsor is Maui state legislator J. Kalani English. The bill was cleared through the Judiciary Committee on Friday, February 8, 2013.[97]
In August 2015, Aerosmith attended the first Republican Party presidential debate held in Cleveland, as the band was in town for a Pro Bowl concert appearance. Tyler was reportedly a guest of candidate Donald Trump, rather than sitting with the band. Tyler's agent told reporters that he was there to promote his copyright reform ideas.[98]
Personal life
Persona
Tyler has been known to have an androgynous persona both on and offstage such as flamboyant clothes and makeup. In his 2011 memoir Does the Noise in My Head Bother You?, Tyler wrote, "I've been misquoted as saying that I'm more female than male. Let me set the record straight -- it's more half and half, and I love the fact that my feelings are akin to puella eternis (Latin for "the eternal girl"). What better to be like than the stronger of the species?".[99] (Correct Latin would be "puella aeterna".)
Family and relationships
In 1973, Tyler obtained guardianship of 16-year-old Julia Holcomb so that she could live with him in Boston.[100] They dated and took drugs together for three years.[101] Holcomb was referred to by the pseudonym "Diana Hall" by the editor of the Aerosmith autobiography Walk This Way in an attempt to conceal her identity, but other sources have confirmed her identity.[102][103][104] Pressures leading to their split included their age difference (Tyler was 25 when they first met), a withdrawn marriage proposal, a house fire, and a planned pregnancy that resulted in an abortion when Tyler was worried that the smoke from the fire, as well as drugs, might lead to birth defects.[101][105] Look Away, a documentary about sexual abuse in the rock music industry, features Holcomb's story.[106]
Band member Ray Tabano wrote in Walk This Way that the abortion "really messed Steven up," because the fetus was male.[107] Tyler wrote, "It was a big crisis. It's a major thing when you're growing something with a woman, but they convinced us that it would never work out and would ruin our lives. You go to the doctor and they put the needle in her belly and they squeeze the stuff in and you watch. And it comes out dead. I was pretty devastated. In my mind, I'm going, Jesus, what have I done?"[107]
Holcomb, who later took the name "Julia Misley," filed suit in December 2022, alleging that Tyler sexually assaulted her and forced her to undergo the abortion, plying her with drugs and alcohol after promising to care for her in the guardianship agreement.[108][109][110] In February 2023, Tyler was officially named a defendant in the lawsuit, which also claimed he used his fame and status to "groom, manipulate, exploit, [and] sexually assault" Misley over the course of three years, beginning when she was 16 and he was in his mid-20s.[110] In a motion to dismiss the lawsuit that was filed in March 2023, Tyler claimed their relationship was consensual and that he had immunity because he was her legal guardian at the time.[111][112] The motion further stated that Tyler's actions with regards to the abortion decision were legitimate, justified, and in good faith.[111][112] Tyler's 2023 denial of sexual assault and claim of immunity has drawn scrutiny and has perplexed several attorneys who were experts in the field of sexual assault. On reviewing Tyler's answer to the suit launched against him that same year, the victim's lawyer claimed—and legal experts stated—that Tyler was "gaslighting" and "there is no such thing as immunity to a caregiver or guardian for sex abuse."[113][114][115][116]
After the release of the documentary Look Away, it was discussed on Instagram by Courtney Love, where she supported some of the claims made, commenting that Tyler also adopted another 13-year-old girl in a similar fashion.[117]
Tyler had a brief relationship with fashion model Bebe Buell, during which he fathered actress Liv Tyler, born in 1977.[118] Buell initially claimed that the father was Todd Rundgren to protect her daughter from Tyler's drug addiction. Through Liv's marriage to British musician Royston Langdon and relationship with entertainment manager David Gardner, Tyler has three grandchildren.[119]
In 1978, he married Cyrinda Foxe,[118] an ex-Warhol model and the former wife of New York Dolls' lead singer David Johansen, and fathered model Mia Tyler (born on December 22, 1978). He and Foxe divorced in 1987; in 1997, she published Dream On: Livin' on the Edge With Steven Tyler and Aerosmith, a memoir of her life with Tyler. Foxe died from a brain tumor in 2002.
On May 28, 1988, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Tyler married clothing designer Teresa Barrick.[118] With Barrick, he fathered a daughter, Chelsea, in 1989 and a son, Taj, in 1991. In February 2005, the couple announced that they were separating due to personal problems.[120]
The divorce was finalized in January 2006. Tyler began a relationship with Erin Brady in 2006. They got engaged in December 2011 but called it off in January 2013.[121]
Health
In 2006, immediately after a two-hour performance in Florida, Tyler got into an argument during which he yelled. He awoke the next morning to find that he had a hoarse voice. On March 22, 2006, the Washington Post reported that Tyler would undergo surgery for an "undisclosed medical condition".[122] A statement from Tyler's publicist read in part, "Despite Aerosmith's desire to keep the tour going as long as possible, [Tyler's] doctors advised him not to continue performing to give his voice time to recover." Aerosmith's remaining North American tour dates in 2006 on the Rockin' the Joint Tour were subsequently canceled.[123]
The cause was diagnosed as a ruptured blood vessel in his throat, which was successfully sealed off using a laser by Dr. Steven M. Zeitels, director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Laryngeal Surgery and Voice Rehabilitation.[124] In the words of Tyler: "He just took a laser and zapped the blood vessel."[125] After a few weeks of rest, Tyler and the rest of Aerosmith entered the studio on May 20, 2006, to begin work on their new album.[126]
Tyler's first public performance after the surgery was July 3–4, 2006, with Joe Perry at the Hatch Shell in Boston, with the Boston Pops Orchestra. The duo sang "Dream On", "Walk This Way" and "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" as part of the Boston Pops July 4 Fireworks Spectacular.[126] Tyler's throat surgery was featured in 2007 on an episode of the National Geographic Channel series, Incredible Human Machine.[125]
In a September 2006 interview with Access Hollywood, Tyler revealed that he had been suffering from hepatitis C for the past 11 years. He was diagnosed with the disease in 2003 and had undergone extensive treatment from 2003 to 2006, including 11 months of interferon therapy, which he said was "agony". The disease is usually spread through blood-to-blood contact, or by sharing used needles.[127]
Tyler has publicly acknowledged his struggles with drug and alcohol addiction.[128][129] In a 2019 interview, Tyler recalled: "'There was a moment in '88 where management and the band pulled an intervention on me. They thought, "Get the lead singer sober, and all our problems would be over"...I am grateful and owe a thanks to them for my sobriety'". Tyler added: "'I have had many times in my life where I just couldn't handle — whether it was a marriage or my addiction had reared its ugly head — and the rest of the guys in the band are not unlike that. But we have all seen each other through it, and we are here today'".[129]
Philanthropy
Tyler launched Janie's Fund – named after Aerosmith's 1989 track "Janie's Got a Gun" – in 2015 to providing protection and counseling for young female victims of abuse, and he has helped raise over $2.4 million for the organization since then.[144][145] Janie's House, established in 2017 in Atlanta, offers shelter for victims of abuse or neglect, with space for 30 live-in clients and 24-hour medical facilities available.[146]