With hits such as “Walk This Way” and “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing”, Aerosmith achieved worldwide success and filled the biggest stadiums in the world.
Inspired by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones
In the early 1970s, Tyler formed the group Aerosmith with his friend guitarist Joe Perry. They were inspired by the “two-guy” model, such as Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones and Keith Richards, and the Beatles’ John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
Tyler has said that they weren’t very ambitious at first.
However, 1973 saw the release of Aerosmith’s debut album with their first classic hit, “Dream On”. The album didn’t reach the top of the charts, but it wasn’t far off either.
“Toys in The Attic” was released two years later, the album with the hit “Walk This Way” catapulted the group to the heights of fame.
Drugs and rock and roll
Androgynous and provocative, he swung a microphone stand like a baton and wowed the audience with his tight jumpsuit.
His success went hand in hand with drug use. Tyler started smoking weed at the age of 16, while cocaine was later added to his daily list of vices. Tyler lived the life of a true rock star, spending millions on drugs during his lifetime, he once said in an interview.
But drugs eventually caused problems in the group – Tyler and Perry were dubbed the “Toxic Twins”. In an interview with German magazine Der Spiegel in 2017, Tyler said, “we tried everything.”
But music was his biggest drug. “I wouldn’t be here today,” he said, “I survived because Aerosmith has been my only addiction for a long time,” Tyler said.
The big crisis came in the early 1980s, when the members of the group fell out with each other, Joe Perry and guitarist Brad Whitford left the group, but in 1985 they rejoined it.
A year later, they teamed up with the American hip-hop group Run DMC to create a remake of Walk This Way, which was a megahit.
The group again began to fill stadiums and occupy the top of the charts. They won four Grammy Awards. In 2001, Aerosmith was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in 2005, Rolling Stone magazine ranked the band 57th on its list of the 100 Greatest Music Artists of All Time.
In 2012, they released Music from Another Dimension, which turned out to be their last album. Tyler later released the 2016 solo album We’re All Somebody from Somewhere.
But Tyler has a drug relapse and the concerts were canceled in July 2022. By the end of the year, more concerts were canceled due to Tyler’s ill health. No further concerts are planned.
Joey Kramer, Joe Perry, Brad Whitford, Steven Tyler and Tom Hamilton of Aerosmith at the 1990 Monsters of Rock Festival in Donington Park on August 18, 1990. (Photo: imago/Future Image)
Allegations of violence
The scandal has plagued Tyler’s personal life. The chaos began with his relationship with a minor, Julia Holcombe, when he was 27 and she was 16.
He adopted Holcomb so she could accompany him on tours. Tyler forced her to have an abortion when she was five months pregnant. He wrote openly about the relationship in his memoir “Does the Noise in My Head Bother You?”, which was published in 2012.
Half a century later, Holcomb filed a sexual assault lawsuit against Tyler. A California court has temporarily suspended the statute of limitations for sexual abuse of minors. The case is still ongoing.
Liv Tyler – The Secret Child
Actress Liv Tyler arrives at the premiere of her new movie ‘Super’ with her father, musician Steven Tyler, in Hollywood, California on March 21, 2011. (Photo: REUTERS/SCANPIX)
Tyler’s turbulent personal life also includes his brief affair with singer and Playboy model Bebe Buell in the mid-1970s. They had a daughter – actress Liv Tyler.
For a long time, Tyler hid the fact that he was Liv’s father. She believed her father was rock musician Todd Rundgren. He assumed paternity because Tyler was unable to raise a child due to his drug addiction. The two made a deal that Liv would be told who her real father was on her 18th birthday.
However, she learned the truth when she was 11 years old. After that, a father-daughter relationship developed that attracted a lot of media attention. Liv appeared in Aerosmith’s 1994 music video for “Crazy”. This was her breakthrough, and in 1998 she starred in the blockbuster Armageddon, in which Aerosmith sang the official soundtrack song “I Don’t Want To Miss Thing”.
Since then, Tyler has been married twice and has two more daughters and a son.
Other facts about Tyler
In 2006, Tyler was treated for hepatitis C. Since then, he has promoted public awareness of the dangers of liver disease.
He also supports the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, an international organization dedicated to preserving biodiversity. In 2014, Tyler campaigned for better conditions for keeping pigs and cattle.
In 2008, music magazine “Rolling Stone” ranked Tyler 99th among the 100 greatest singers of all time.
The fact that he is getting older apparently does not bother him. When he turned 70, he told Der Spiegel that it wasn’t so bad while he was younger than Mick Jagger, who was several years older.
