Steve Harris (musician)
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Stephen Percy Harris (born March 12, 1957 in Leytonstone, London, England) is the bass player and primary songwriter in the heavy metal band Iron Maiden, which he founded in 1975. He used to work as an architectural draftsman in the East End of London.
Harris taught himself to play on his first bass — a Fender Telecaster copy that cost him roughly 40 quid — when he was 17 years old. He later switched to a late 1950s model Fender Precision bass with RotoSound strings.
Steve Harris was influenced by the likes of Chris Squire, Mike Rutherford, Geddy Lee, Andy Fraser, and John Entwistle.
He was first in a band named Influence which later renamed to Gypsy's Kiss. Later he joined the band Smiler, of which all the band member were several years older than himself. He ended up leaving Smiler to create Iron Maiden, as the members of Smiler made it clear that they did not care for a bassist who lept around the stage and wrote songs. Steve Harris got the name Iron Maiden from seeing an iron maiden (the torture instrument) in the movie The Man in the Iron Mask.
Steve Harris is often considered as the greatest heavy metal bassist ever. His trademark gallops and complex fills are observed throughout all of Iron Maiden's compositions.fr:Steve Harris lt:Steve Harris no:Steve Harris pl:Steve Harris pt:Steve Harris he:סטיב הריס