Happy 70th birthday to Steven Tyler of Aerosmith!
Steven Victor Tallarico was born on March 26th, 1948 in New York, but he's known as a Boston guy since that's where Aerosmith formed in 1970. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famers have released 15 studio albums, numerous live albums and dozens of compilations during their career. To mark Tyler's seven decades, here are seven interesting facts about the man who loves to have scarves on his mic stand.
- He had vocal cord surgery in 2006 after sustaining a ruptured blood vessel. The surgery was later the subject of an episode of the National Geographic Channel series Incredible Human Machine.
- Tyler was a judge on American Idol for only two seasons, in 2011 and 2012, but the winners of those years have been two of the more successful contestants from the singing competition -- country star Scotty McCreery and singer-songwriter Phillip Phillips.
- It took two times for "Dream On," which Tyler wrote for Aerosmith's 1973 debut album, to become a hit song. When first released in 1973 it made it to number-59 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was reissued in late 1975 and ended up peaking at number-six in April 1976.
- For all of their success, Aerosmith have had just two number-one albums -- 1993's Get a Grip and 1997's Nine Lives.
- The band had one number-one single, "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" from the Armageddon soundtrack, which was written by Diane Warren. The syrupy ballad split many fans. And that was reflected in two honors it received -- it got an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song and a Golden Raspberry Award nomination for Worst Original Song.
- Tyler spends much of the year in Hawaii, where in 2013 the Steven Tyler Act was introduced into the state legislature. The bill would give public figures the right to sue paparazzi for taking unwanted photographs. While it cleared the Senate's judiciary committee, the bill was never brought for a full vote by the Senate.