Aerosmith signed to CBS Records for $125,000 after record company boss Clive Davis saw them play at Max’s Kansas City Club New York.
“Great melody over great riffs is, to me, the secret of it all.” ~ Steven Tyler
Steven Victor Tallarico (Steven Tyler) was born on March 26, 1948, in Manhattan, New York, and moved to the Bronx when he was three years old. Tyler formed his own band called the Strangeurs, renamed Chain Reaction in New Hampshire, in 1964. Tyler was the drummer and backup singer in Chain Reaction.
By the mid-60s, Joe Perry and Tom Hamilton had formed the Jam Band (“Joe Perry’s Jam Band”). They moved to Boston, Massachusetts, in September 1969, where they met Joey Kramer, a drummer from Yonkers, New York. Kramer knew Steven Tyler and had always hoped to play in a band with him.
In 1970, Chain Reaction and Jam Band played at the same gig. Tyler immediately loved Jam Band’s sound and wanted to merge the two bands. In October 1970, the bands met up again and hatched a plan. Tyler refused to play drums in the new band, and would only take part if he was the lead vocalist. The others agreed, and a new band was born.
“The Hookers” and “Spike Jones” were band names considered. Joey Kramer came up with the name Aerosmith. When he was in school, he would write the word Aerosmith all over his notebooks.
The name Aerosmith came to him after listening to Harry Nilsson’s album Aerial Ballet, which featured jacket art of a circus performer jumping out of a biplane.
And Aerosmith was born!
