[6] As the frontman for Type O Negative, Steele was known for his vampiric appearance,[7][8] 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) stature,[9] rich bass vocals,[10][11][12] and a dark, often self-deprecating sense of humor.

[5] Steele was born Peter Thomas Ratajczyk[4] on January 4, 1962, in Red Hook, Brooklyn, New York City,[4] to a Catholic family.

Steele worked for the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation until he began touring with Type O Negative in the summer of 1994.

In 1986, Steele wrote lyrics for several songs on hardcore punk band Agnostic Front's second album Cause for Alarm.

Steele formed the band in 1989 along with his childhood friends Josh Silver, Kenny Hickey and Sal Abruscato (later replaced by Johnny Kelly).

[27] Steele had a tattoo in mind of a minus sign contained within the number 0 that he originally intended to represent the Subzero band logo.

"[15] Steele caused some controversy when touring in Europe to support Slow, Deep and Hard, thanks to rumors about his social and political views, with some critics going so far as to brand him a Nazi sympathizer,[30][31] even though his bandmate, Josh Silver, is Jewish.

The album included a fictitious hostile audience and an evacuation of the venue after a bomb threat had supposedly been called in.

The song "Black No.1 (Little Miss Scare-All)" pays tribute to gothic subculture and is a satirical ode to a goth girl Steele had once dated.

[29] Steele attacked his detractors with the songs "We Hate Everyone" and "Kill All the White People", which dealt directly with the band's rumored racist ideology and served to erode any such accusations.

[31][33] Bloody Kisses eventually achieved Platinum status and established Type O Negative as one of gothic metal's most influential bands.

Steele penned the majority of the material on October Rust while on the road touring,[35] though he had conceived some of the basic musical ideas during his early teens.

[5][21] The setlists for live shows performed since the initial tour to support World Coming Down usually featured very few selections from the album.

[39] "The Dream is Dead" refers to Steele finding it difficult to celebrate Valentine's Day as the date coincides with the anniversary of his father's death.

[39] "I Like Goils" makes light of the attention Steele received from gay men, specifically after his photo shoot for Playgirl magazine.

[41] Steele alleged that Type O Negative's split from Roadrunner Records, aside from a poor offer, had to do with an unauthorized release of a best-of compilation.

[19] There were unconfirmed rumors at one point of Steele's death after the band website posted an image of a tombstone bearing his name and the dates 1962–2005.

In 2006, Steele reactivated Carnivore with a new lineup that included longtime Type O Negative collaborator Paul Bento.

He revealed on MTV's Headbangers Ball that the new alliance with SPV Records was probably his favorite thing about Dead Again from a production standpoint.

[26] The title track touches on drug abuse and Steele's sense of having killed part of himself after suffering a relapse.

[53] "Halloween in Heaven" is a song about dead rockstars that Steele was inspired to write by the death of his close friend Dimebag Darrell.

[52] Steele's final live performance was on Halloween night at Harpos Concert Theatre in Detroit, Michigan, the last show of Type O Negative's 2009 tour.

"[26] In his autobiography Iron Man, Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi described his shock at Steele's death, adding, "Peter was a big, tall, and very, very nice guy.

[15][45] In the booklet for the 2009 "Top Shelf" edition re-release of Bloody Kisses, Steele confirmed that the album's dirge-like 11-minute title track had in fact been written about the death of a family cat called Venus he had owned for 17 years.

Rumors of his death, terminal illness, and other speculations increased until the mystery was dispelled in an interview on the 2006 DVD Symphony for the Devil.

In the interview Steele briefly mentions his incarceration in Rikers Island and "the psych ward at Kings County Hospital".

[52][56] Steele then attended rehab for cocaine dependence and alcoholism,[56] and later served a 30-day prison term for assaulting a "love rival.

In an interview given before his death, Steele noted that, as a result of his long lasting dependence on alcohol and cocaine, he had developed problems with some of his organs.

[13] The remaining members of Type O Negative decided to dissolve the band rather than replace Steele, with Johnny Kelly stating "Even if there is somebody who could take his place it wouldn't matter.