Happy Birthday Steve Howe

Steve Howe was born in London on April 8, 1947. When he began playing guitar he had quite a few influences, chief among them Chet Atkins. When you consider that two of the others were Django Reinhardt and the duo of Les Paul & Mary Ford, it's hard to believe that he would become one of the most influential guitarists in progressive rock. In fact, his first band was a Chuck Berry-infused outfit called the Syndicats. He began playing with that group in 1964, and they released several singles before Howe left them. His next band was the In Crowd, which eventually became Tomorrow. Under the new name they released two singles in 1967 and a self-titled album the following year. When the group broke up in 1968, Howe joined a band called Bodast. Bodast built up quite a following and recorded an album. However, when their label went bankrupt, their still-unreleased album was scrapped and the band eventually became a casualty, breaking up shortly thereafter. The album would not see release until 1981. After Bodast, Howe began trying to find his next band. Auditions with such groups as the Nice and Jethro Tull were unfruitful. As fate would have it, his next band would come looking for him. By 1970, Howe had caught the ear of several members of Yes.