Steve Morse

Steve Morse has enjoyed a healthy following particularly among guitar players, he has scored highly in readers' polls held annually by musicians' magazines. Although initially inspired by <a href="spotify:artist:3WrFJ7ztbogyGnTHbHJFl2">the Beatles</a> as a teen, Morse began to expand his listening to include <a href="spotify:artist:2lxX1ivRYp26soIavdG9bX">the Yardbirds</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:776Uo845nYHJpNaStv1Ds4">Jimi Hendrix</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:36QJpDe2go2KgaRleHCDTp">Led Zeppelin</a>. Although he played a little piano and some clarinet, he became fascinated with guitar after seeing a concert by classical guitarist Juan Mercadal, who later gave the teenaged Morse some lessons. Deeply influenced by a campus performance by <a href="spotify:artist:4v0R1feRiuCDch7aAheVhY">John McLaughlin</a>'s <a href="spotify:artist:3Ao7NH7lRyQAeKQg2mlTcO">Mahavishnu Orchestra</a> while he was attending the University of Miami, Morse decided to focus on instrumental rock music; in 1974 he put together his first band, <a href="spotify:artist:33MM9GE3xkoG9IL9IePpdu">the Dixie Dregs</a> (later simply <a href="spotify:artist:36liNkiMl34UvrU1MIMta4">the Dregs</a>), which would go on to become one of the defining groups in the fusion genre. After Morse had fronted <a href="spotify:artist:36liNkiMl34UvrU1MIMta4">the Dregs</a> on some 14 albums, <a href="spotify:artist:4RvfPm4uzNgEzeAxBOAQZK">the Steve Morse Band</a> began their recording career in 1984. Soon after, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Elektra+Records%22">Elektra Records</a> snatched Morse up and he cut two albums for the label, The Introduction in 1984 and Stand Up in 1985, before joining <a href="spotify:artist:2hl0xAkS2AIRAu23TVMBG1">Kansas</a> and appearing on two of the arena prog band's albums for the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22MCA%22">MCA</a> label, Power (1986) and In the Spirit of Things (1988).

Morse then signed to <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22MCA%22">MCA</a> as a solo artist, and in the late '80s and early '90s his albums for the label included High Tension Wires (1989), Southern Steel (1991), and Coast to Coast (1992). After leaving <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22MCA%22">MCA</a> in 1992, Morse recorded two excellent albums for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Windham+Hill%22">Windham Hill</a>/<a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22BMG+Records%22">BMG Records</a>, Structural Damage (1995) and StressFest (1996), and in 1994 he joined <a href="spotify:artist:568ZhdwyaiCyOGJRtNYhWf">Deep Purple</a> as a replacement for <a href="spotify:artist:3jhRxlzBA9m3NTxNNQ8GtK">Ritchie Blackmore</a>, appearing on a number of the hard-rocking metallers' live albums as well as four studio-recorded long-players over the course of nearly a decade: Purpendicular (1996), Abandon (1998), Bananas (2003), and Rapture of the Deep (2005). Meanwhile, in 2003 Morse joined the supergroup <a href="spotify:artist:1UmlBflME0rNtkD1uOo1Bw">Living Loud</a>, also featuring vocalist <a href="spotify:artist:1k5aZWIOUbUfKcnMxtEivJ">Jimmy Barnes</a> (<a href="spotify:artist:1eClJfHLoDI4rZe5HxzBFv">INXS</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1VcbchGlIfo3Gylxc3F076">Cold Chisel</a>) and <a href="spotify:artist:6ZLTlhejhndI4Rh53vYhrY">Ozzy Osbourne</a> bassist <a href="spotify:artist:67vieFbFOOhGMEz0OLznOO">Bob Daisley</a> and drummer Lee Kerslake; the band released its eponymous debut full-length in 2003 and, following the addition of <a href="spotify:artist:568ZhdwyaiCyOGJRtNYhWf">Deep Purple</a> keyboardist <a href="spotify:artist:58A1BPgenrcSWrJYIOnnbH">Don Airey</a> to the lineup, the CD Live in Sydney 2004 (2005) and companion DVD Debut Live Concert: Sydney Fox Studios, 2004 (2006). <a href="spotify:artist:4RvfPm4uzNgEzeAxBOAQZK">The Steve Morse Band</a>'s Out Standing in Their Field arrived in 2009, and the following year saw the release of Angelfire, a collaboration between Morse and singer/songwriter <a href="spotify:artist:1CKXmVlS2U8Zq0M4INnIB7">Sarah Spencer</a>. ~ Richard Skelly, Rovi