Stephen Percy Harris (born 12 March 1956) is an English musician and songwriter, best known as the bassist for heavy metal band Iron Maiden, which he founded in 1975.[1] He is the only member who has been in the band for its entire history, while he and guitarist Dave Murray are the only members who have appeared on all of the band's studio albums.
Harris developed an influential style of bass playing, particularly the "gallop" which can be found on many Iron Maiden recordings, such as the singles "Run to the Hills" and "The Trooper".[2] He was the band's primary songwriter in its early history, but in later years he has been more likely to collaborate with his other members of the band. Harris has also assumed other roles in Iron Maiden, contributing keyboards and backing vocals, co-producing albums, and directing live videos.
Harris is widely regarded as one of the best heavy metal bassists of all time.[3] He has also led the hard rock side project British Lion.
Early life
Harris was born on 12 March 1956 in the back room of his grandmother's house in Leytonstone, then part of Essex, where he grew up aspiring to be a professional footballer.[4] Scouted by Wally St Pier, Harris was asked to train for West Ham United during his early teen years.[5] After becoming interest in rock music in subsequent years, he realised that he no longer desired to play football professionally and envisioned a career in music instead. In particular, he was greatly influenced by the Beatles.[5] Harris attended Leyton Senior High School for Boys (now Leyton Sixth Form College) where he studied architecture.[1]
Initially Harris wanted to play drums,[6] but did not have enough space for a drum kit in his house; he decided on learning bass instead.[7] Entirely self-taught,[8] his first bass was a copy of a Fender Precision model which cost him £40 in 1971.[6]
Just ten months after he bought his first bass, Harris joined a band, initially known as Influence and later Gypsy's Kiss.[9] After playing a small number of gigs, that band split.[10] Harris joined a band called Smiler in February 1974.[11] In this band, Harris began writing his own songs and worked with future Iron Maiden members Dennis Wilcock and Doug Sampson,[12] but left the band claimed his songs were too complicated and refused to play them.[13] Harris claims to have played 30 to 40 shows with Smiler before he departed in 1975.[14]
During the early years of Iron Maiden, Harris was the band's principal composer and lyricist.[19] His songwriting typically showcases his trademark galloping bass patterns, which features heavily in songs such as "The Trooper" and "Run to the Hills",[20][2] and his progressive rock-influenced time changes.[7][21] Later, Harris' songs became more progressive,[22][23] and guitarist Adrian Smith has commented that Harris now prefers contributing "lyrics and melodies and arranging" to other member's songs over writing alone.[24] Harris frequently writes lyrics about mythology, history. or topics inspired by books and films, reflecting his interests and progressive rock influences.[17][25][26]
In later years, Harris began to add backing vocals and keyboards to his duties in Iron Maiden, with his work on synthesizers becoming prominent for the first time on the 1986 album Somewhere in Time.[27][28] He has played keyboards in the studio regularly since the 1998 album Virtual XI,[29] though his bass technician Michael Kenney usually plays the keyboards during live concerts.[30][31]
British Lion
In the early 1990s, Harris began to manage and collaborate with the hard rock band British Lion. This eventually resulted in the album British Lion, released in 2012.[32]The album, consisting of 1970s-influenced hard rock songs, was written and recorded over a number of years around Iron Maiden's tour schedule.[33] Speaking to Kerrang!, Harris stated that he considers the record to be "more of a side-project" than a solo album, as he is more "comfortable in a band environment."[33] The album reached the charts in more than ten countries, with Kerrang! deeming it "a brilliant album", and describing it as "the sound of an incredibly talented songwriter stepping outside of what he'd normally do and indulging himself in something a bit different with a group of excellent musicians."[34]
In an interview with Classic Rock , Harris stated that he planned to release more albums under the British Lion name and to tour with the band.[35] The band completed two European club tours in 2013 and 2014,[36][37][38] Their second album, titled The Burning, was released in 2020.[39]
Artistry
Technique
Harris had been named among the best and most influential heavy metal bassists of all time.[19][40][41][3] He has a "galloping" playing style:[42] usually an eighth note followed by two sixteenth notes at fast tempo, or eighth note triplets, which he plays with two fingers, rather than using a plectrum.[19][43] Before playing, Harris often chalks his fingers to make such fast patterns easier to play, as shown on the bonus DVD for the A Matter of Life and Death album.[44] Harris's playing is often unusually prominent in the mix on Iron Maiden's recordings; he generally uses a tone with a treble-heavy EQ and compression to accentuate the attack on the strings. Iron Maiden guitarist Janick Gers has commented that "Steve taught himself in a way that nobody can really copy it. People say it's like a lead guitar, but it's not. It gives the band a basis and it moves around quite a lot, but it's the tone that he has. Steve has a way of hearing things and a tone that isn't normally associated with a bass, it's more like a rhythm guitar."[17]
Since Iron Maiden's beginning to the present day, Harris plays a specially-painted Fender Precision Bass, featured on every Iron Maiden album; the instrument has gone through a total of four colour changes since he began using it. Originally white, it was then changed to black prior to the band's first album,[51] followed by blue sparkle and finally white with claret and blue pinstriping with the West Ham United F.C. crest.[52][44][53][54] Harris has had his bass modified to include a mirrored scratchplate, Badassbridges and Seymour Duncan custom Steve Harris Signature SPB-4 pickups and uses his own signature set of RotoSound flatwound strings.[54] In 2009, Fender issued a signature Steve Harris Precision bass,[55] featuring an alder body, a blue-sparkle finish, mirrored scratchplate, Seymour Duncan SPB-1 pick-ups and a Badass II bridge.[56] In 2015, Fender released a revised model of the signature bass, which now features a maple body, a white finish with blue pinstripes and the West Ham crest, a Fender High Mass bridge and a Seymour Duncan SPB-4 Steve Harris signature pick-up,[57] with the pick-up also being sold separately.[58]
In 2005, Metal Hammer reported that he uses eight 4x12" Marshall cabinets with Trace Elliot amplifiers.[54] He also uses four Sony WRT 27 wireless transmitters, allowing him to be as mobile as possible on stage.[54] His signal chain[clarification needed] in 2000 also included a Trace Elliot preamp and a DBX compressor.[59]
Production
Harris has played an increasing role in mixing the Iron Maiden's albums and co-produced most of their output since the 1990s,[60] usually in conjunction with Kevin Shirley.[61] During the 1990s, the band often recorded at a studio he owned at the time, located in a barn on his property named Barnyard Studios[61][62] That home studio has not been used for Iron Maiden albums since singer Bruce Dickinson rejoined the band in 2000, with Dickinson determining that is was too small.[63]
Harris also directs and edits many of the band's live videos, beginning with Maiden England in 1989.[64] Although not intending to, Harris edited the Rock in Rio DVD as he was unsatisfied with the results produced by the band's hired production crew.[65] In undertaking the project, Harris had to teach himself how to use digital editing software with equipment he had installed in Barnyard Studios,[66] and went on to edit Iron Maiden's next DVD, Death on the Road.[67] On top of this, he has contributed to the production of thirteen of the band's music videos, with "Infinite Dreams", "Holy Smoke", "Tailgunner", and "Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter" being directed and edited by Harris alone.[68]
Harris met psychotherapist Lorraine Jury in 1977, they later married and had four children.[69] Harris's daughter, Lauren,[70] is a singer and classically trained actor who supported Iron Maiden with her solo band in 2006 and 2008.[71] In 2008, she released a solo album entitled Calm Before the Storm,[72] after which she formed the band Six Hour Sundown.[73] She later joined Kingdom of I,[74] Harris's son George plays guitar for the Raven Age,[75] who opened for Iron Maiden on three international tours.[76][77] His daughter Kerry works as a Production Assistant for Iron Maiden,[78] and his younger daughter Faye is a fashion writer for HuffPost.[79][80] In 2024, Faye married Tyrone Wood, the son of Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood.[81]
Harris and Jury divorced in 1993.[69][82] Harris later said this was "probably the toughest time I've ever faced," and the changes in his personal life are credited with inspiring the mood of the following Iron Maiden album, 1995's The X Factor.[82] Harris has since fathered two more children with his current partner Emma.[83]
Starting in the 1980s, Harris owned a Grade II listed building in Sheering, Essex, on the grounds of which he built his own recording and editing studio.[62] In November 2012, the nine-acre property was put on sale.[84] The property was sold in March 2022, having been on the market for a number of years, for £3,950,000. Harris now lives primarily in the Bahamas.[85]
A keen footballer,[4] Harris played for amateur clubs as a child and was later scouted by Wally St Pier and asked to train for West Ham United,[5] of whom he has been a fan since he was 9 years old.[86] Although he had aspired to play professionally up to that point, Harris would eventually realise that "it wasn't really what [he] wanted to do."[5] Nevertheless, Harris still plays football regularly with his own team the Maidonians,[87] and still supports West Ham, staying in contact with the club and displaying their crest on his most-used Precision Bass.[52] Harris also plays tennis, and is a photographer.
In 2016 Harris and Iron Maiden were given the titles of Honorary Visitors of the Country Award in El Salvador.[97]
In 2019 Harris along with the rest of Iron Maiden received the Relief Salon De Los Pasos Perdidos – State prize for individual Iron Maiden musicians for their contribution to the development of the country's culture and music. For the first time ever awarded to a foreign artist.[98]
↑Shirley, Kevin. "Final Frontier recording diary". ironmaiden.com. Retrieved 27 September 2011. Michael Kenney set up the keys and Steve poked away at them, hunting for the melodies running around his head like a chicken pecking the ground.
↑"Ten of the best bassists… Ever!". Classic Rock. January 2000. #5: Steve Harris – Iron Maidens ever present backbone, as well as its musical guiding light (Er… sorry, Bruce)
↑Bacon, Tony; Bradman, E.E. (September 2004). "Harris Is Interested in Writing Good Songs". Bass Player. Retrieved 21 September 2011. I've always found it easier to play with my fingers; I never learned to play with a pick. I never thought about it as a "technique" – it was just the way I learned to play.
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