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. 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.
When I played drums rather than trumpet I never felt really confident enough, because the people I was influenced by and admired were jazz drummers There was no way I was going to be that good so I never considered myself good enough to aspire to that kind of thing. But somehow I just accidentally fell into Rock 'n' Roll and R&B.
“ ” John Steel, Interview, 2011.Read more about this topic: John Steel (drummer)
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