He is the founder and only remaining original member of the Steve Miller Band, which he founded in 1966, and is the principal songwriter, lead singer, harmonicist, keyboardist, and one of the guitarists.

[3] Born in Milwaukee, Miller received his first exposure to music from his mother Bertha, whom he described as a remarkable jazz-influenced singer, and his father George, a physician known as "Sonny" who, in addition to his profession as a pathologist, was a jazz enthusiast and an accomplished amateur recording engineer.

Guitar virtuoso Les Paul and his musical partner Mary Ford were regular visitors at the Miller house.

[4] Les Paul heard Steve, who was six, on a wire recording made by his father, "banging away" on a guitar given to him by his uncle, K. Dale Atterbury.

Many distinguished musicians came to their house to record and Steve absorbed much from "greats" such as T-Bone Walker, Charles Mingus, and Tal Farlow.

[8] After attending the University of Copenhagen in Denmark for a semester in his senior year to study comparative literature,[2] Miller dropped out six credit hours shy of a literature degree, opting to pursue a music career with his mother's encouragement and his father's misgivings: [Interviewer:] When you look back over the span of your career, what are the lasting moments, the sweetest highs?

During his time there, he worked with harmonica player Paul Butterfield and jammed with blues greats Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, and Buddy Guy, all of whom encouraged the young guitarist to pursue music.

[8] In 1965, Miller and keyboardist Barry Goldberg formed the Goldberg-Miller Blues Band and began playing on the Chicago club scene.

In 1968, they released an album, Children of the Future,[8] the first in a series of discs rooted solidly in the psychedelic blues style that then dominated the San Francisco scene.

Miller established his persona of the "Gangster of Love" (from Sailor)[8] and the "Space Cowboy" (from Brave New World), which were reused in later works.

The album received significant radio airplay, which helped the title track reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Miller would often headline shows with other classic rock acts, and played a variety of his music, including a selection of his blues work dating from the late 1960s.

He knew that songs earn individual publishing royalties no matter what their length and separated the 57-second electronic introduction from the song "Sacrifice" on Book of Dreams, named it "Electro Lux Imbroglio", and published it separately earning thousands of extra dollars as a result.

[citation needed] On the heels of this massive success, Miller took a long hiatus from recording and touring, emerging in 1981 with Circle of Love.

The ceremony caused controversy because of Miller's disparaging remarks about the experience being "unpleasant" saying that the Hall of Fame was misogynistic, and ignoring the "need to respect the artists they say they're honoring, which they don't."

His speech that night only hinted at his anger, congenially thanking the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame "for all of your hard work on behalf of all musicians," but adding, "and I encourage you to keep expanding your vision, to be more inclusive of women and to be more transparent in your dealings with the public, and most importantly, to do much more to provide music in our schools."

Miller himself said part of his angry behavior that evening was because the Hall vetoed his proposal to be inducted by Elton John, as he "knows me and probably knows my music better than most people", and its controlling aspects such as the licensing contracts.

[15] The Black Keys, who were asked to induct Miller and accepted, having been long-time fans, later stated that they regretted the experience.