Steve Harris is the
bass player, main songwriter and founder of heavy metal legends
Iron Maiden.
Steve Harris was born on March 12, 1956 in London. As a kid, he was very much into rock music and football. His first guitar was a copy Fender Telecaster. Even though he studied to be an architectural draftsman, and he could have played as a professional football player for his favorite team, West Ham United, but instead he chose for a career in the music business.
He played in a band called Influence in 1972, which turned into Gypsy's Kiss in 1973. Classic Iron Maiden songs like Burning Ambition and Drifter were songs he used to play with Gypsy's Kiss, and later turned them into the songs they became with Iron Maiden.
In 1974, Steve was in a band called Smiler with vocalist Dennis Wilcock and drummer Doug Sampson, who would later also play in Iron Maiden.
Then in 1975, Steve decided to form a new band, which would be named after a medieval torture device: Iron Maiden. The band went through various line-up changes, and managed to score a real record deal in 1979, which led to the release of their debut album in 1980, for which he (co-)wrote 8 out of 9 songs. He's been in the band ever since, and has no intentions to leave. Even if he did, Iron Maiden wouldn't be Iron Maiden without Steve. To this date, he released 13 studio albums, 4 live albums and numerous singles with the band, and wrote classic Iron Maiden songs like Running Free, The Trooper, Hallowed Be Thy Name, Rime Of The Ancient Mariner, and more recently Blood Brothers. When playing live, he can be seen singing along with most songs, while usually playing his bass in a way that it looks like he's shooting with it at the crowd.
He has not lost his love for football (and especially West Ham United). His bass guitar has the West Ham United logo on it, he plays football matches with the Iron Maiden team (which consists of several other band members, roadies and friends), and even wears football shirts on stage (which have an Iron Maiden logo on them. They're available at shows or can be ordered from the fanclub).
Steve's nickname is 'Arry. This is a shorter form of his last name, Harris. 'Arry has been married more then once, and has several kids.