The Steve Miller Band was formed in San Francisco, California, in 1966, led by Steve Miller. During the mid-60s, the band’s music was based on blues rock. The band’s early recordings were influenced by psychedelia, but were primarily blues rock. The band’s early albums fused blues rock with psychedelic rock, and included heavy jamming and improvisation.
In early ‘70s, the Steve Miller Band had dominated radio with pure pop. In the mid-to-late 1970s, the band’s sound became more pop-oriented, and they became one of the top-selling pop/rock acts of the time. The most popular pop-oriented songs of the band, among few others, are Space Cowboy, Living in the USA, The Joker, Swingtown, and Fly Like an Eagle. In the early 1980s, the band briefly worked on new wave. One of the hit songs of this genre by the band is Abracadabra. In later years, the band eventually returned to their blues-rock roots.
Born on October 5, 1943, Steven Haworth Miller is a monumental figure in the American music scene. He is the founder and the only remaining original member of the Steve Miller Band. Miller is a songwriter, lead singer, harmonicist, keyboardist, and a guitarist.
With a career spanning for more than half a century, Steve Miller tops the music industry with tens of millions of records sold and has been streamed billions of times. Even today, his songs are as popular as at the time when they were released.
Steve Miller was named into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist in 2016 and into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2022.
In 1965, Steve Miller and keyboardist Barry Goldberg founded the Goldberg-Miller Blues Band in Chicago. The other band members were bassist Roy Ruby, rhythm guitarist Craymore Stevens, and drummer Maurice McKinley. In the same year, the band had entered into a contract with Epic Records and recorded a single, The Mother Song, which they had performed on Hullabaloo.
In 1967, Miller had left the Goldberg-Miller Blues Band and had moved to San Francisco. Here he had formed the Steve Miller Blues Band. At that time, Miller had entered into a contract with Capitol/EMI Records.
In the same year, Miller changed his brand’s name to the Steve Miller Band. This lineup consisted of Miller, James Cooke on guitar, Lonnie Turner on bass, Tim Davis on drums, and Jim Peterman on Hammond B3 organ.
In the same year, the band had backed Chuck Berry at a gig at the Fillmore Auditorium, which was released as the live album, Live at Fillmore Auditorium. During this time, the group performed at the Magic Mountain Festival on June 10/11 and on the following week at the Monterey Pop Festival on June 16/17/18. Guitarist Boz Scaggs had joined the band just after the concerts.
In 1968, the band recorded their debut album. Children of the Future was released on March in London at Olympic studios, with Glyn Johns being the engineer/producer of this album. The album did not hit its place among the Top 100 album charts.
The second album of the band was released on October titled, Sailor. This album had hit the Billboard chart at No. 24. The single from the album, Living in the USA, was widely successful.
Brave New World (No. 22) was out in 1969. The album featured hit songs like Space Cowboy and My Dark Hour. Paul McCartney had played drums, bass, and sang backing vocals on the later song. Albums like Your Saving Grace (No. 38, 1969) and Number 5 (No. 23, 1970) had followed the success stories.
In 1971, Capitol Records released Rock Love. The album featured unreleased live performances and studio materials as well. In 1972, Recall the Beginning… A Journey from Eden was released. Both the albums, Rock Love and later release, Recall the Beginning… A Journey from Eden (1972), were not released on CD until 2022. The double album compilation of the band titled Anthology was also released in the same year that includes 16 songs from five of the band’s first seven albums.
In 1973, the stylistic approach to music and the lineup of the band radically changed with the release of the band’s most acclaimed album, The Joker (No. 2). In this album, the band experimented with straightforward rock, while leaving the psychedelic blues behind.
On January 11, 1974, by the time The Jocker had already reaching over five million sales, the title track of the album, The Joker, became a No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100. The album was certified as a 5× platinum and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA. In 2023, the band celebrated the 50th anniversary of its release.
Three years later in 1977, the band returned with the album, Fly Like an Eagle, which charted at No. 3. The second No. 1 success of the band, Rock’n Me, Take the Money and Run (No. 11), and Fly Like an Eagle (No. 2) were the hit songs from the album. In the same year, the album Book of Dreams was released. The album Book of Dreams (No. 2, 1977) also included three successful singles: Jet Airliner (No. 8), Jungle Love (No. 23), and Swingtown (No. 17). Jungle Love was later played over the opening credits of the 8th season of the sitcom, Everybody Loves Raymond.
In 1978, The Steve Miller Band’s Greatest Hits 1974–78 was released. The album sold over 15 million copies, marking it as one of the 25 best-selling albums of all time. Many more successful singles were there at that time as well, including Take the Money And Run.
In 1982, the album Abracadabra was released. The title track of the album gave Steve Miller his third No. 1 success.
On June 15, 2010, Bingo! was released. This was again an album of rhythm and blues (R&B). Ten months later, on April 18, 2011, the album Let Your Hair Down was released. During this time, just before the Spring 2011 tour, blues guitarist Jacob Petersen officially joined the band. The band’s longtime guitarist Kenny Lee Lewis had switched instruments to become the band’s full-time bassist after Petersen had joined the band. In 2014, the Steve Miller Band toured with San Francisco based rock band Journey.
Steve Miller has released the Welcome to the Vault box set in 2019 and, in 2021, Breaking Ground Live! August 3, 1977, was released.
Top Songs
According to release date, the Steve Miller Band’s top songs chronological are The Mother Song (1965), Living in the USA (1968), Space Cowboy (1969), My Dark Hou.r (1969), Your Saving Grace (1969), Number 5 (1970), The Joker (1973), Take the Money and Run (1977), Fly Like an Eagle (1977), Rock’n Me (1977), All Right Now (1977), Jet Airliner (1977), Jungle Love (1977), Swingtown (1977), Abracadabra (1982), Let Your Hair Down (2011) and many more.
Discography
The Steve Miller Band has released 18 studio albums, six live albums, seven (official) compilation albums, and at least 29 singles.
Their studio albums are: Children of the Future (1968), Sailor (1968), Brave New World (1969), Your Saving Grace (1969), Number 5 (1970), Rock Love (1971), Recall the Beginning…A Journey from Eden (1972), The Joker (1973), Fly Like an Eagle (1976), Book of Dreams (1977), Circle of Love (1981), Abracadabra (1982), Italian X Rays (1984), Living in the 20th Century (1986), Born 2 B Blue (1988), Wide River (1993), Bingo! (2010), and Let Your Hair Down (2011).
Band Members
Current Members
Steve Miller is the only surviving founder band member of the Steve Miller Band. He has been with the band from 1966 to the present. He is the lead vocalist, guitarist, harmonicist, and keyboardist of the band.
The other current members are Kenny Lee Lewis. He played the bass guitar from 1983 to 1987, then from 2011to present. He played the guitar for the band from 1982 to 1983, then from 1987 to 1988, and then from 1994 to 2011). He gave the backing vocals from 1982 to 1988, and then from 1994 to the present.
The band’s current member, Joseph Wooten played the keyboards, and gave backing vocals from 1993 to the present.
Jacob Petersen, another current member of the band, played the guitar, and gave backing vocals from 2011to present.
Ron Wikso, another current member of the band, is playing the drums for the band from 2021 to present.
Former Members
| Name of Band Member | Instrument Played/ Vocal | Years Active with the Band |
| Lonnie Turner | Bass, Guitar, Backing Vocals | 1966–1970, 1975–1978, died 2013 |
| Boz Scaggs | Guitar, Lead and Backing Vocals | 1967–1968 |
| Jim Peterman | Keyboards, Backing Vocals | 1966–1968 |
| Tim Davis | Drums, Backing Vocals | 1966–1970, died 1988 |
| James “Curley” Cooke | Guitar | 1967, died 2011 |
| Ben Sidran | Keyboards | 1968, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1987–1991 |
| Nicky Hopkins | Keyboards | 1969, 1970, died 1994 |
| Bobby Winkelman | Bass, Guitar, Vocals | 1969–1970 |
| Ross Valory | Bass, Backing Vocals | 1970–1971 |
| Jack King | Drums | 1970–1972 |
| Gary Mallaber | Drums, Keyboards, Backing Vocals | 1972, 1975–1987 |
| Roger Allen Clark | Drums | 1972, died 2018 |
| Dick Thompson | Keyboards | 1972–1974 |
| Gerald Johnson | Bass, Backing Vocals | 1972–1974, 1981–1983 |
| John King | Drums | 1972–1974, died 2010 |
| Les Dudek | Guitar | 1975 |
| Doug Clifford | Drums | 1975 |
| David Denny | Guitar, Backing Vocals | 1975–1978 |
| Norton Buffalo | Harmonica, Guitar, Backing Vocals | 1975–1978, 1982–1987, 1989–2009, died 2009 |
| Greg Douglass | Slide Guitar, Backing Vocals | 1976–1978 |
| Byron Allred | Keyboards | 1976–1987, 1990, died 2021 |
| John Massaro | Guitar, Backing Vocals | 1982–1983 |
| Billy Peterson | Bass, Backing Vocals | 1987–2011 |
| Bob Mallach | Saxophone | 1987–1996 |
| Paul Peterson | Guitar | 1988, 1991–1992 |
| Ricky Peterson | Keyboards | 1988, 1991 |
| Keith Allen | Guitar, Backing Vocals | 1989–1990 |
| Sonny Charles | Backing Vocals | 2008–2011 |
| Gordy Knudtson | Drums | 1987–2021 |
On September 20, 1988, at the age of 44, Tim Davis, one of the founding members of the band, died from complications due to diabetes. On October 30, 2009, Norton Buffalo, a long-time band member, also died from lung cancer. on October 26, 2010, John King, the drummer during “The Joker” era, had died after a short bout with kidney cancer. On May 16, 2011, James Cooke, another member of the band, died from cancer. On April 28, 2013, the original bassist of the band, Lonnie Turner, died from lung cancer. During his time, the band received several successes with songs like Jet Airliner, Swingtown, Take the Money And Run, Jungle Love and many more.
Awards
The Steve Miller Band’s album Greatest Hits 1974-78 is one of the 25 best-selling albums of all time and has received RIAA Diamond Award for selling more than 15 million copies. The band has multiple Platinum Singles, including The Joker and Abracadabra. Their song Fly Like an Eagle was certified Gold Record in 1977.
The Steve Miller Band has won two Grammy Awards for Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group for Abracadabra in 1982, and Best Rock Instrumental Performance for Fly Like an Eagle in 1977. In 2008, the band won ASCAP Golden Note Award.
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted Steve Miller in 2016. He was also elected for induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2022.
The band has a star for “Recording” on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on 1750 Vine Street.
The music of the Steve Miller Band is most successful in North America with three number one singles in the United States, and two number one albums in Canada. The band’s releases have been sold tens of millions of records and their music have been streamed billions of times.