Tyler, Steven 1948-

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TYLER, Steven 1948-

PERSONAL: Born Steven Victor Tallarico, March 26, 1948, in Yonkers, NY; son of Victor and Susan (Blancha) Tallarico; married Cyrinda Foxe (an actress), November 1, 1978 (divorced, November 13, 1987); married Teresa Barrick, May 28, 1988; children: (with Bebe Buell) Liv; (first marriage) Mia Abagale; (second marriage) Chelsea Anna, Taj Monroe.

ADDRESSES: Offıce—Monterey Peninsula Artists, 509 Hartnell St., Monterey, CA 93940.

CAREER: Singer, songwriter, and actor. Lead singer in band Aerosmith, 1970—. Appeared in films (as himself unless otherwise noted), including (as leader of Future Villain Band) Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Paramount, 1978; The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years, New Line Cinema, 1988; Wayne's World 2, 1993; Woodstock '94, 1995; Walk This Way, 1996; The Target Shoots First, 2000; (as Sammy) Last Call, 2001; The Making of Bret Michaels, 2002; and Be Cool, 2005. With Aerosmith, sang the song "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" for film Armageddon, Touchstone, 1998. Narrator of television series VH1 Legends, VH1, 1996. Appeared as himself in television specials, including MTV Video Music Awards 1990, Music Television (MTV), 1990; The 33rd Annual Grammy Awards, 1991; The History of Rock 'n' Roll, Vol. 5 (also known as The Sounds of Soul), syndicated, 1995; The History of Rock 'n' Roll, Vol. 8 (also known as The '70s: Have a Nice Decade), syndicated, 1995; MTV Video Music Awards 2000, MTV, 2000; (as presenter) The 43rd Annual Grammy Awards, Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), 2001; 28th Annual American Music Awards, 2001; Elvis Lives, 2002; Fifty Sexiest Video Moments, 2003; and 46th Annual Academy Awards, 2004. Appeared in episodes of television series, including (with Aerosmith) Unplugged (also known as MTV Unplugged), MTV, 1990; (as voice of himself) "Flaming Moe's,"The Simpsons (animated), Fox, 1991; "Xtreme Xmas," Lizzie McGuire, Disney, 2002; and Celebrities Uncensored, 2004. Appeared in videos, including Aerosmith Video Scrapbook, 1987; Aerosmith Permanent Vacation 3x5, 1988; Aerosmith: Live Texxas Jam '78, 1988; Aerosmith: Things That Go Pump in the Night, 1990; Aerosmith: The Making of Pump, 1990; and Aerosmith: Big Ones You Can Look At, 1994. Also appeared with Aerosmith in numerous music videos. Appeared in video games, including (as himself) Revolution-X, 1994; and (as voice of The Twins) Nine, 1996.

AWARDS, HONORS: (All with Aerosmith, unless otherwise noted) MTV Music Awards for best group video, and best stage performance in a video, Music Television (MTV) both 1988, both for "Dude (Looks like a Lady)"; MTV Music Awards for best metal/hard rock video, and viewer's choice award, both 1990, and Grammy Award, 1991, all for "Janie's Got a Gun"; inducted into Boston Garden Hall of Fame, 1991; MTV Music Award for best metal/hard rock video, 1991, for "The Other Side"; awards for outstanding rock band, and best rock video, Boston Music Awards, both 1992; MTV viewer's choice award, 1993, and Grammy Award for best performance by a duo or group, 1994, all for "Livin' on the Edge"; "Cryin'" voted all-time favorite video, best video, and best group video by MTV viewers, 1994; Grammy Award for best performance by a duo or group with vocals, 1996, for "Crazy"; named Band of the Decade, Boston Music Awards, 1996; Nordoff Robbins Silver Cleff Award, 1997; best rock album and best vocalist (Tyler) awards, Boston Music Awards, 1998; MTV Music Awards for best rock video, and best video from a film, both 1998, for "Pink" and "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing," respectively; Grammy Award for best rock performance, 1999, for "Pink"; Artist Achievement Award, Billboard magazine, 1999; inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 2001.

WRITINGS:

(With Aerosmith and Stephen Davis) Walk This Way:The Autobiography of Aerosmith, Avon Books (New York, NY), 1997.

SONGWRITER, WITH OTHERS; ALBUMS; WITH AEROSMITH:

Aerosmith, Columbia, 1973.

Get Your Wings, Columbia, 1974.

Toys in the Attic, Columbia, 1975.

Rocks, Columbia, 1976.

Pure Gold, 1976.

Draw the Line, Columbia, 1977.

Live! Bootleg, Columbia, 1978.

A Night in the Ruts, Columbia, 1979.

Aerosmith's Greatest Hits, Columbia, 1980.

Rock in a Hard Place, Columbia, 1982.

Done with Mirrors, Geffen, 1986.

Classics Live!, Columbia, 1986.

Classics Live! II, Columbia, 1987.

Permanent Vacation, Geffen, 1987.

Gems, Columbia, 1989.

Pump, Geffen, 1989.

Pandora's Box, Columbia, 1991.

Get a Grip, Geffen, 1993.

Big Ones, Geffen, 1994.

Box of Fire, Columbia, 1994.

Nine Lives, Columbia, 1997.

A Little South of Sanity, Geffen, 1998.

Just Push Play, Columbia, 2001.

Young Lust: The Aerosmith Anthology, Geffen, 2001.

Honkin' on Bobo, Columbia, 2004.

Tyler's songs have been featured in films, including Less than Zero, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1987; Say Anything. . ., Twentieth Century-Fox, 1989; Air America, TriStar, 1990; Last Action Hero, Columbia, 1993; Walk This Way, 1997; Armageddon, 1998; Charlie's Angels, Sony Pictures Entertainment, 2000; Not Another Teen Movie, 2001; Rugrats Go Wild, 2003; Starsky and Hutch, 2004; and others.

SIDELIGHTS: Boston-based hard rock band Aerosmith is that rarity in the music world, a band whose works, critics say, have improved as the group's members have gotten older. When lead singer and songwriter Steven Tyler, guitarist Joe Perry, bassist Tom Hamilton, drummer Joey Kramer, and guitarist Brad Whitford first came together in 1970 and released their debut album in 1972, they were widely regarded as Rolling Stones wanna-bes, but on their third album, 1975's Toys in the Attic, "Joe Perry's hard-rock chops fused with Steven Tyler's glam attitude" and "the band caught fire," David Hiltbrand wrote in People. By the late 1970s, the stress of constant touring and the band members' heavy drug use was beginning to wear on the band. Perry quit the group in 1980, and Whitford followed in 1981. The remaining three members kept touring with replacements, but Aerosmith was clearly not the same.

The original group reunited in 1984, and slowly the band members started beating their drug addictions. By 1987, all five musicians were sober and Aerosmith was releasing some of the best-received songs of their career, including "Dude (Looks like a Lady)" and "Angel," from 1987's Permanent Vacation, and "Janie's Got a Gun," their first Grammy Award-winner, from Pump. The band still had a hard edge, but "what makes Pump . . . of special interest is the surprisingly graceful way Aerosmith handles more refined songs, such as 'What It Takes' and 'Janie's Got a Gun,'" David Hiltbrand wrote in People. Aerosmith's hits from the 1980s "are about as good as roadhouse rock & roll gets," remarked Steve Simels in Entertainment Weekly.

As popular as Aerosmith was in the 1980s, it was not until 1993, twenty-three years into their career, that they had their first number-one album, Get a Grip. Five singles from that album—"Livin' on the Edge," "Cryin'," "Eat the Rich," "Fever," and "Amazing"—reached the top five on the Billboard charts. But then, in 1996, while the group was recording their next album, Nine Lives, disaster threatened to strike again. Drummer Kramer, suffering from severe depression, had to leave a few days into their recording session, and while the band tried to carry on without him for a time, things did not go well. Many weeks later, it took several days of professional mediation to bring the band back together, but shortly after that they fired their long-time manager, Tim Collins, and their producer, Glen Ballard. By the end, Aerosmith had produced what they thought was some of their best work since the 1970s.

"Aerosmith's history has been so dotted with potential disasters . . . that the very fact that the band is still operating at this point is something of a miracle in itself," Alan Niester wrote in the Globe & Mail in 2001, but "even more surprising is that not only is the band functioning, it is currently doing so at what is probably the highest level it ever has." What is their secret for not only staying together, but staying popular as they strut into their fourth decade of performing? As Tyler told Nina Malkin of Teen People, it's that "we are completely convinced that we can rock harder and better than anybody else."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Contemporary Musicians, Volume 37, Gale (Detroit, MI), 2002.

PERIODICALS

Amusement Business, May 10, 1999, Joyce Cohen, review of A Little South of Sanity tour, p. 6; August 9, 1999, Tim O'Brien, interview with Tyler and Joe Perry, p. 3.

Billboard, March 27, 1993, Melinda Newman, review of Get a Grip, pp. 1-2; December 11, 1993, "Aerosmith (Finally) Grips Top Rung of Albums Chart," p. 40; December 6, 1997, Craig Rosen, review of Nine Lives, p. 42; August 15, 1998, Melinda Newman, interview with Aerosmith, p. A3; March 6, 1999, Carla Hay, "A Veteran Act's View: Columbia's Aerosmith," p. 104; December 4, 1999, Melinda Newman, "Aerosmith's Achievement," p. 21.

Book, March-April, 2002, Megan Quitkin, interview with Tyler, pp. 56-57.

Daily Variety, January 16, 2002, Troy J. Augusto, review of Aerosmith concert, p. 18.

Entertainment Weekly, November 25, 1994, Steve Simels, review of Big Ones You Can Look At, p. 89; January 10, 1997, Chris Willman, review of Nine Lives, p. 33; March 21, 1997, Chris Willman, profile of Aerosmith, pp. 22-27.

Globe & Mail (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), July 4, 2001, Alan Niester, review of Aerosmith concert.

Harper's Bazaar, June, 2001, Gisele Bundchen and Patricia Bundchen, "The Family Album," pp. 140-145.

Newsweek, March 17, 1997, Jeff Giles, review of NineLives, p. 71; March 12, 2001, Jeff Giles, review of Just Push Play, p. 73.

People, December 2, 1985, David Hiltbrand, review of Done with Mirrors, p. 32; October 19, 1987, David Hiltbrand, review of Permanent Vacation, pp. 34-35; October 30, 1989, David Hiltbrand, review of Pump, pp. 20-21; May 24, 1993, David Hiltbrand, review of Get a Grip, p. 27; December 19, 1994, David Hiltbrand, review of Box of Fire, p. 26; March 31, 1997, Craig Tomashoff, review of Nine Lives, p. 27; January 12, 1998, review of Walk This Way: The Autobiography of Aerosmith, p. 31; February 22, 1988, Margot Dougherty, "Aerosmith, Rock's Erstwhile Avatars of Wretched Excess, Find Sobriety No Bar to Success," pp. 46-48.

Teen People, May 15, 2001, Nina Malkin, "The Band Plays On: After Thirty Years in the Business, the Hard-Rocking Guys of Aerosmith Are Ready to Show a New Generation Why They're Here to Play," p. 68.