Steven Victor Tallarico, better known by his stage name Steven Tyler, was born on March 26, 1948, in Boston, Massachusetts. He is an American musician best known for being the lead vocalist of the rock band Aerosmith, in which he also plays the harmonica, piano, and percussion. He is referred to as the “Demon of Screamin'” because of the high pitch and range of his screams. He is renowned for his stage acrobatics as well. Tyler typically dons colorful (and occasionally androgynous) attire during his performances, along with his signature scarves that hang from his microphone stand.
Tyler gained notoriety in the 1970s as the main singer of the hard rock band Aerosmith, which featured albums like Toys in the Attic and Rocks as well as a number of popular singles like “Dream On,” “Sweet Emotion,” and “Walk This Way.” Tyler developed a serious drug and alcohol addiction by the late 1970s and early 1980s, and the band’s fame declined. Tyler finished his drug rehab in 1986, and Aerosmith gained popularity once more when Joe Perry and Tyler joined Run-DMC for a cover of “Walk This Way,” which went on to become a Top 5 smash. The multi-platinum albums Permanent Vacation, Pump, Get a Grip, and Nine Lives that followed saw Aerosmith make a comeback and yield a total of thirteen Top 40 singles and countless awards.
The band began their longest concert tours at this time, promoted their singles with imaginative music videos, and made guest appearances on television, in movies, and in computer games.
Since the late 1980s, Tyler has pursued a number of solo projects, including film and television work, writing a book, and solo music, including the Top 40 single “(It) Feels So Good” in 2011. Tyler has also collaborated with artists like Alice Cooper, Mötley Crüe, Santana, Pink, and Keith Anderson. After Steven fell off the stage at a concert, experienced a relapse with prescription drugs, sought treatment in 2009 , and secretly signed up for American Idol, tension with his Aerosmith bandmates boiled over in 2009 and 2010.
Nevertheless, Tyler has remained a part of Aerosmith for more than 48 years and has continued to record music and play live. We’re All Somebody from Somewhere, Tyler’s maiden solo album from 2016, was a country rock album that featured the single “Love Is Your Name.” Tyler’s “Out on a Limb” Tour served as album promotion. Tyler continues to perform with Aerosmith as well as solo and with support from the Loving Mary Band. One of Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Singers is Steven Tyler. On Hit Parader’s list of the Top 100 Metal Vocalists of All Time, he came in third place. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001 alongside Aerosmith, and in 2013 he shared the ASCAP Founders Award and Songwriters Hall of Fame with Joe Perry.
Early Life
At the age of three, Steven Victor Tallarico relocated to the Bronx after being born on March 26, 1948, at the Stuyvesant Polyclinic in Manhattan, New York. At the age of about nine, the family moved to 100 Pembrook Drive in Northeast Yonkers. Tallarico was born in The Bronx, 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), a classical pianist and music educator.
While Tyler’s mother was of Ukrainian, English, and African-American origin, his father was of Italian and German descent. He changed his last name from “Czarnyszewicz” (from Polish: czarny, lit. “black”) to “Blancha” (perhaps from French: blanche, lit. “white”) and has mentioned numerous times that his maternal grandfather was a Ukrainian. In fact, we now know that Steven Tyler’s grandpa was Polish and was born in 1892 in Klichaw, which is now in modern-day Belarus, due to the work of genealogist Megan Smolenyak. He moved to the USA in 1914 and adopted the surname Blancha.
Career
At the age of three, Steven Tyler relocated to the Bronx after being born on March 26, 1948, at the Stuyvesant Polyclinic in Manhattan, New York. At the age of about nine, the family moved to 100 Pembrook Drive in Northeast Yonkers. Tallarico was born in The Bronx, 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), a classical pianist and music educator. He wed Bessie Elliott there, and the two had four kids together, including Susan, Steven’s mother. Florian Czarnyszewicz, a well-known Polish author who immigrated to Argentina, was Feliks’ brother. The novel Nadberezecy by Florian Czarnyszewicz, which chronicles the plight of Poles residing in the region between the Berezina and Dnieper rivers between 1911 and 1920, is his best-known work.
A band was decided to be formed by Tyler, Perry, and Hamilton around 1970. Tyler maintained that he would be the band’s leader and lead singer because he had played drums in many of his previous bands while still in school. Tyler enlisted Joey Kramer, a former classmate from New York, to play the drums. Tyler asked Ray Tabano, a friend from his youth, to play rhythm guitar. The band came to Boston in the fall of 1970 and shared a small flat at 1325 Commonwealth Avenue in Allston, motivated by a shared desire to begin their careers as full-time musicians and potential recording artists.
see a story on Michael Jackson
