The little-known vocalist who taught Steven Tyler to sing

One of the most characteristic vocalists in rock as a whole, Steve Tyler He always gave credit to his influences. Many of them are very popular, such as Mick Jagger (Rolling Stones), Janis Joplin and Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin).

From them came the style of singing and behaving on stage, as someone unshakable, in charge of themselves and the situation. Furthermore, there are references to other genres, as Tylerborn Steven Victor Tallaricois the son of a classical pianist — no wonder, he studied music from an early age and mastered his father’s instrument.

There is, however, another singer who was very important in the musical formation of the band’s frontman. Aerosmith — to the point where he said that this idol taught him a lot. And the name in question may not be as well known among those less familiar with the history of rock, as he is not someone who sold millions of records, but he is still highly relevant.

Its about Keith Relfvocalist and guitarist of Yardbirds. The English band, which was active between 1963 and 1968, achieved relative popularity during that period. However, even unfairly to her work, she is best remembered for having “revealed” musicians such as guitarists Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Pagewho made history in other projects.

Behind this and other very talented musicians who passed through Yardbirdshe was Relfwhich, alongside Chris Dreja (guitar/bass) and Jim McCarty (drums), participated in all the group’s work. Apart from the members with rare artistic competence, the Yardbirds featured some of his songs, such as “Heart Full of Soul”, “For Your Love”, “Evil Hearted Soul”, “Shapes of Things” and “Over Under Sideways Down”in the top 10 of the British chart.

Steven Tyler and Keith Relf

In an article written for Rolling Stone in the year 2010, Steve Tyler paid tribute to Keith Relf. O Yardbirds He was ranked 89th on a list, published by the magazine, of the “100 greatest artists of all time”. Check out the frontman’s article Aerosmith Next.

“Listen ‘Somebody‘, a song I wrote for the band’s first album Aerosmith: everything comes from Yardbirds. They were the best for us of all the British bands of the sixties. You Yardbirds They were a bit mysterious. They had an eclecticism – the Gregorian chant of the vocals, the melodic diversity, the way they used guitar feedback. I loved this strangeness.

In the 60s, I was in a band called Chain Reaction. We know the Yardbirds because they touched Staples High School in Westport, Connecticutin 1966. We had a friend, Henry Smith, who was our manager for a while, and he studied there. He called me and said, ‘Steveyou Yardbirds they’re playing here and you can open it’. It was training with Jeff Beck It is Jimmy Page, who played bass on that tour. We waited all day for them to arrive. I took their amps, they took ours. We carried each other’s gear, because back then that’s what you did. Then the rumor started that I was a roadie for the Yardbirds.

They played ‘Shapes of Things’, ‘Beck’s Boogie’, among other songs. I was amazed. They played like no other band. They weren’t concerned about clothes, looks or hit singles. Their idea was ‘What do we do with these sounds?’. They did things with harmonics – minor thirds and fifths – that created this ethereal, monstrous sound.

You hear it in every song – the way they could take the blues and turn it into a pop song like ‘For Your Love’and then into something psychedelic like ‘Shapes of Things’, which has that weird central part. You can hear the click when Beck hits your fuzz box. Pagein the end, was the one who took these ideas to the end with the Led Zeppelin. The two shows I remember where I sat with my mouth open were the Yardbirds and the Led Zeppelin at the Boston Tea Party in 1969.

As a singer, what I learned from Yardbirds was that you don’t need to have a great voice. It’s all about attitude. He was a white boy who took it to the fullest. And he was a great harmonica player. You never heard Jagger manifest itself in a single note as Keith Relf could.

The shame is that I know how Yardbirds they were great. But I don’t think everyone knows that. The music of Yardbirds It’s a gold mine waiting to be discovered. O Aerosmith yes, because we grew up at that time. The riff of ‘Walk This Way’ It’s just us trying to explore the blues in the model Yardbirds. What the Yardbirds did is something you don’t hear in today’s special, cookie-cutter music. Everything is so canned now. That was when a band was a band. You had all these personalities and they were all really playing together. And I don’t hear that today. The days of those bands, those wild outings, are over.