Jeffrey Steele

Country artist Jeffrey Steele, a native of California, had already married and was busy raising four children by the time he reached forty, yet his songwriting path had flourished long before that milestone. Over more than two decades he compiled an enviable track record that resembled the Midas touch, with nearly sixty compositions placed on recordings by major acts including Faith Hill, Trisha Yearwood, Randy Travis, John Michael Montgomery, Leann Rimes, Diamond Rio, Aaron Tippin, and Collin Raye within a single three-year stretch. BMI Country Awards recognized his work on Boy Howdy’s “She’d Give Anything” and “They Don’t Make Them Like That,” as well as Kevin Sharp’s “If You Love Somebody.” Two additional collaborations with Al Anderson—“Big Deal,” recorded by Rimes, and “Unbelievable,” cut by Diamond Rio—likewise earned BMI honors.

Despite this sustained success, Steele chose to pursue performing. The immediate rapport he felt onstage supplied something songwriting alone could not. That impulse had surfaced earlier when he joined California group Boy Howdy in 1990 as bassist and lead vocalist, remaining for six years. In 1991 the California Country Music Association named him Best Bassist and Best Male Vocalist for his contributions. After the band dissolved he relocated to Nashville. Although an initial solo project went unreleased, he resumed writing and, in 2001, issued his Monument Records debut Somethin’ in the Water, which featured its title track as a single. Steele wrote or co-wrote every song and also served as producer; Al Anderson and Bob DiPiero, the latter known for Shenandoah’s “The Church on Cumberland Road,” supplied additional material.

Steele’s affinity for music surfaced at age eight during a church function when his performance of Three Dog Night’s “Joy to the World” drew a standing ovation, prompting seven encores. Within a few years he began composing and, by seventeen, was appearing with local ensembles. His mother’s affinity for big-band singing and his father’s country leanings and songwriting ambitions shaped his early environment, as did his siblings’ extensive record collections. During his teens he played keyboards along Sunset Strip; subsequent engagements alternated between Jimi Hendrix-inspired rock and the country approach associated with Willie Nelson. In his twenties, while performing in a house band, he encountered Hank Thompson, Red Simpson, and other musicians tied to the Bakersfield sound.