Steve George

Steve George (nickname: Slug), born on May 20th, 1955 in Illinois was committed to piano at a very early age. He took a lot of private piano lessons. After his family moved from Illinois to Phoenix, Arizona Steve became more interested in playing saxophone. Toward the end of high school he started working in club bands playing keyboards again. He owes a lot to his high school music teacher Charles Boyer who taught him lots of theory, orchestration and arrangements. Steve admits he loves listening to classical music, fusion and jazz. He used to listen to Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Jan Hammer, Chick Corea and The Mahavishnu Orchestra. Once he was in high school he persuaded his parents to buy him his first synthesizer, a Mini Moog.

By the time he was 19, back in 1974, he was playing in Los Angeles with a group called "Andy Hardy", named after his favorite movie character. His childhood friend Richard Page joined the band to replace the only black member who left to bcome a Jehova's witness. Quite soon he left the band again to study in San Diego.

A year later Richard Page called Steve to get together again, with John Lang, so they rejoined in L.A. to record a demo of original music. At first there were no record companies interested, but they caught the attention of Epic Records A&R-man Bobby Colomby (ex-drummer of Blood, Sweat and Tears) who offered them to sign a record deal. Pages was born. After making three albums over the course of four years Steve and Richard Page decided to take a different tack. Pages had trouble developping an easily identifiable sound. They broke up in 1981.

However, through the years Steve and Richard Page became highly respected songwriters and backing vocalists. They worked for a wide range of artists such as Molly Hatchet, Donna Summer, Quincy Jones, Amy Grant, Mötley Crüe, Barry Manilow, Twisted Sister, Kenny Loggins, REO Speedwagon, Chicago, Sheena Easton, James Ingram, Al Jarreau, Rick Springfield, Carole Bayer Sager, Dionne Warwick, Patti LaBelle, Jeffrey Osborne and even sung Village People's tunes together with Tom Kelly and Chicago's Bill Champlin.

Shortly after Pages broke up, they agreed to go on tour with Andy Gibb (Bee Gees) as backing vocalists and keyboard players. During the tour they decided to form a band that would record together, perform together and write together. In 1982 they founded Mr. Mister with guitarist Steve Farris (ex- Eddie Money) and drummer Pat Mastelotto (ex- Shandi). They recorded 3 albums. The second one, "Welcome to the real world", was there commercial breakthrough and spawned two #1-hits. After the disappointing third album Steve Farris left the band. Mr. Mister finished a fourth album by the end of 1989, but due to problems with their label the album has never been released. The band broke up and the members decided to go their own way exploring new fields.

After the split of Mr. Mister Steve still worked together with Richard Page from time to time. They did session work for Bela Fleck & The Flecktones, Elvis Costello and Richard Marx. Most recently Steve assisted on Kenny Loggins' "Outside: From the Redwoods" (1993) and "The unimaginable life" (1997). He also contributed to Richard Page's first solo album "Shelter me " in 1996.

Apart from these facts there's no news concerning his latest activities. Steve is still living in Phoenix, Arizona.

Medio 1998 there is some interesting news: Steve George is busy writing and recording his first solo album, release due end of 1998.The idea had been on his mind for a long time, but after he stopped working as Kenny Loggins' music director (1991 - 1997) he finally had the time to pursue his dreams.

Personal Discography