John Steel (drummer)

For other persons named John Steele, see John Steele (disambiguation).

John Steel (born 4 February 1941) is an English musician well known for being the drummer for the band, the Animals. Having served as the band's drummer at its inception in 1963, he is the only original bandmember playing in the current incarnation of The Animals. His tenures with the band are 1963–1966, 1975–1976, 1983 and 1992 – present. Steel is the owner of the rights to the band's name, by virtue of a trademark registration.

Early life

John Steel was the youngest of four children. He attended Gateshead Grammar School. As a child, he and his siblings took piano lessons, though only Steel would go on to have a career in music. Growing up, Steel was exposed to records from Bing Crosby, Al Jolson, Fats Waller and Sid Phillips.

Steel's first instrument was the trumpet. In the first group where he and Burdon played together he was playing the trumpets instead of drums. His musical influences initially came from traditional jazz, but he later drew influence from modern jazz. When he transitioned to drums, Steel admired jazz drummers such as Elvin Jones and Art Blakey.

John Steel

John Steel may refer to:

See also

John Steel (singer)

John W. Steel (January 11, 1895 – June 25, 1971; sometimes called John Steele) was an American tenor. He was featured in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1919 and 1920 and Irving Berlin's Music Box Revues of 1922 and 1923.

Biography

Early life

Steel was born in Montclair, New Jersey, on January 11, 1895, and grew up in the New York City area. He served in the military during World War I, and studied music in Paris during leaves of absence from military duty.

Career

In 1918 Steel appeared on Broadway in the musical The Maid of the Mountains, which had been a hit in London, but closed in New York after just 37 performances. This was followed by his appearance in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1919, in which he was one of the show's most popular performers. In the 1919 Follies he introduced Irving Berlin's song "A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody," as well as singing "My Baby's Arms" and "Tulip Time." Producer Florenz Ziegfeld is said to have paid him $3,500 a week for this show. In later years, Irving Berlin said that he had composed "A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody" with Steel in mind.

John Steel (swimmer)

John Meredith Steel (born 27 October 1972 in Auckland) is a former freestyle swimmer from New Zealand, who competed at two consecutive Summer Olympics for his native country, starting in 1992 in Barcelona, Spain.

Steel won two silver medals (4 × 100 m Freestyle and 4 × 200 m Freestyle) at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, Canada. Four years earlier Steel captured the bronze medal with the Men's 4x200 Freestyle Relay Team at the 1990 Commonwealth Games in his hometown of Auckland. Steel now works for Air NZ as a flight attendant.

See also

References