Steve Byrd, English guitarist, Died at 61

  Music

Stephen John Byrd was born in 1955 n in Sheffield, England and died on October 2, 2016.

He was a British guitarist and session musician.

Byrd has worked with artists including Kim Wilde, Ian Gillan, ZZebra and many others.

He is a self-taught guitarist.

He joined the band Zzebra for their second album Panic, after his old friend Tommy Eyre had recommended him for the job.

Along with Zzebra, Byrd played the Reading Festival in 1975 and recorded another album, Take It Or Leave It

During 1978 he replaced Paul Simon in Ian North’s band Neo, a new wave band formed in 1977.

Then, Neo recorded an album in Ian Gillan’s studio, and after Gillan had heard them he hired Byrd and bassist John McCoy for his own band, which was also called Gillan.

Then, the band recorded their first album Gillan in September 1978.

The song was not released in the UK but sold well as an import.

During 1982, Byrd auditioned for pop singer Kim Wilde and became a long-term member of Kim’s backing band.

Himself and Kim, he co-wrote “Another Step”, “Hey Mister Heartache” and many other songs as well as played on some of her albums.

Byrd toured with Kim Wilde until the mid-1990s

During the 1990s, he was also a member of 4 Bills And A Ben, a band with flexible line-up formed by Johnny Warman which also included Jeff Rich and John Edwards (musician)John Edwards from Status Quo.

During 2001, Steve Byrd played in ‘The Mods’ at the Steve Marriott tribute in 2001

His many other acts Byrd toured with were The Buggles, Martha and the Muffins, Billy Ocean, Ruby Turner, Samantha Fox, A Flock of Seagulls, Pet Shop Boys, Erasure, Bonnie Tyler, Alec Mansion, Shakin’ Stevens, Heartbeat UK and Kim Appleby.

Byrd was the MD of the Byrdsongs record label.

He died of a heart attack in Munich.

Steve Byrd passed away at 61 years old.