Steven Tyler: The Biography (28 page)

The twelve-song collection included the Ruby Fisher and Kenyon Hopkins number ‘Shame, Shame, Shame’, Fred McDowell’s ‘Back Back Train’ and ‘You Gotta Move’, the Sonny Boy Williamson song ‘Eyesight to the Blind’, Willie Dixon’s ‘I’m Ready’ and ‘Never Loved a Girl’, which was a reworked version of Ronny Shannon’s song, ‘I Never Loved a Man’. The only original song was a slow ballad called ‘The Grind’, written by Steven, Joe and Marti Frederiksen, which had been in the works for some time.

Honkin’ on Bobo
was recorded in three studios (including Perry’s home studio, The Boneyard) and was co-produced with Jack Douglas. Not having worked with Douglas since the late seventies, they found it a surreal experience to look over and see Jack at the helm. Perry once described it like having ‘wicked flashbacks - twenty years had passed but not a moment had passed’. It had proved invigorating, though, particularly as they had laid down the tracks as live sessions in a bid to bring an intrinsically charged energy to the songs. For Steven, recording this way showcased just what his band’s best strength was. Released at the end of March,
Honkin’ on Bobo
peaked at number five in the US album chart and made the UK’s Top 30. The album only went gold, and no cut released from it made it on to the Billboard singles chart, but this blues collection added to a rising Aerosmith album sales tally worldwide that was cementing the band’s standing as one of America’s greatest rock bands.

In support of
Honkin’ on Bobo
, and backed by Cheap Trick, Aerosmith went back on the road. They aimed to play smaller arenas than in the past; to complement this, their stage set resembled an intimate blues club. Kicking off on 11 March at the United Spirit Arena in Lubbock, they gigged around Texas before moving to Little Rock, Arkansas. Concentrating on centres in the likes of Tupelo, Tallahassee, Atlanta and Dayton, in mid-April they played two shows in Canada before winding up in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Only one of the twenty-one gigs had to be cancelled, but the second leg did not escape derailment. Commencing in early May at the Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa, the tour rolled along for a few weeks until illness in the band knocked out shows in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia Beach. Managing to get through a performance in Star Lake, Pittsburgh, they had to postpone the next gig, scheduled for the P.N.C. Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, New Jersey; it was tagged on at the end of this leg, which got back on track on 22 June at the Jones Beach Theater in Wantagh, New York. Gigs in Mansfield, Hershey and Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, completed their North American jaunt. There was scant time for Steven to recharge his batteries before undertaking the final segment of the
Honkin’ on Bobo
tour, and if anything was likely to remind him of his age it was the news that he would become a grandfather before the end of the year.

On the back of the blockbuster
Lord of the Rings
trilogy, Liv was now not so much labelled as the daughter of Aerosmith’s once wild-living frontman, but more as a gifted actress with the film world at her feet. Liv herself declared: ‘I don’t live a very posh life. There are no drivers waiting or people doing everything for me. I pretty much live like a normal person. It’s not good to have a life without responsibilities.’ Soon after her wedding to British frontman Royston Langdon she had expressed a desire to have a family. In summer 2004 she revealed that she was pregnant. ‘Roy and I are both overjoyed and looking forward to the arrival of our child,’ she said. Steven so anticipated this baby’s arrival that he had an added spring in his step as Aerosmith took off for a two-week tour of Japan, which got under way at the Sapporo Dome. Between appearances in Osaka and Nagoya, a gig at the Green Arena in Hiroshima had to be cancelled due to Steven picking up an injury. Then, after a tumultuous night at the Tokyo Dome, Aerosmith brought an end to the tour by headlining at the Rock Odyssey Festival, which climaxed on 25 July at the Osaka Dome. Over two evenings, the festival had also featured performances from The Who and Paul Weller.

Back home near Boston, Steven had to rest up. His vocal cords were in a fragile condition and he had suffered badly with his throat behind the scenes on tour. In addition to coping with his own health problems, Tyler continued to do what he could to advise people dealing with addiction. He devoted time to a variety of causes, and not always in the full glare of the media. Steven was involved at this time with the Musicians Assistance Program, which offered help to artists struggling with substance abuse problems. He also lends a hand to those aiding addicts in the street who are battling the same demons. In November, Tyler went to the Women’s Hope facility in Boston, which deals with treating substance abuse. There, he helped to serve up a traditional turkey dinner for Thanksgiving Day and afterwards spent time listening to and talking with the residents about addiction. While Steven still does not set himself up as a crusader hell-bent on reforming addicts, he is passionate about giving hope to those who are at rock bottom and desperate to get clean. He is the first to admit to being a prime example of someone who could scarcely have sunk any lower but lived to claw his way back to sobriety. His emphasis to the women at this treatment centre was that it
can
be done. The star’s visit had been strictly under the radar, and the struggling addicts appreciated it.

In a broader sense, Steven was in the mood to take stock of the rollercoaster nature of his colourful life to date; having once lost everything, he spoke publicly about the perils of now having too much money. Having left the days of his drug and alcohol addictions long behind him he was, nevertheless, conscious of having to keep a rein on the compulsive element of his nature. One valuable aspect about being wealthy and having his wits was that he could target the best use of his money; right then this translated into purchasing extra acres around his existing property in order to increase his privacy. He keeps a small amount of poultry and other birds, and he enjoys taking long walks around his land accompanied by a couple of pet dogs. He stated: ‘Being in the limelight, I can’t go out for an hour. I can’t really go anywhere any more. So my home is my refuge.’

While on tour, when keeping up with the family news from back home, Steven had heard that Liv had been an expectant mother who glowed throughout the pregnancy, and he knew how much his daughter and her husband were looking forward to their first baby’s arrival. On 14 December 2004, in the early hours of the morning, at a hospital in Manhattan, New York, Liv gave birth to an eight-pound baby boy whom she and Royston named Milo William Langdon. According to
People
magazine, Liv delightedly told a friend: ‘My baby is so handsome. He also has full lips!’

Steven was over the moon to be a grandfather and was thrilled for Liv and Royston, but his delight in this new addition to the family was seriously counter-balanced by the deep, private pain that his marriage to Teresa was in trouble. He had managed remarkably well to mask in public that his domestic situation had been crumbling; as he would later reveal, his marriage was falling apart at an extremely bad time for him in another way. He and Teresa had been married for seventeen years, which in show business circles is an enviably long time, and their children, Chelsea and Taj, were sixteen and thirteen years old respectively.

Steven and Teresa, however, split up, and on 20 February 2005 Aerosmith’s publicist, Mitch Schneider, released a press statement on Steven’s behalf which said: ‘Before the tabloid media makes more of this than it is, I am announcing that my wife, Teresa, and I are currently separated. We are just a family trying to work through a difficult time. A little privacy and sensitivity - for Teresa, my children and myself - would be nice.’

News of this split was widely reported across the media and raised a few eyebrows, for despite Steven’s overtly salacious public persona, the Tylers’ marriage was thought to have been as solid as a rock. That said, Roger Friedman for
FOX
News appeared to feel that he had the inside track. He stated: ‘No reason was given for what seemed like surprising news, but I have known that all was not well in the Tyler household.’ Inevitably, speculation surfaced as to who was to blame for the split, but although some commentators expressed views, no one was privy to the truth, and Steven and Teresa preferred to keep a lid on their private business.

Teresa had played a massive part in helping Steven through one of the worst phases of his life and it must have been heart-breaking for them to be parting company. Steven found solace in spending time with his first grandchild, Milo, and his public life went on as before. With his ties to Boston, he had recorded a tape for a city tour called ‘Boston: City of Rebels and Dreamers’. He lent lead vocals to Carlos Santana’s hit single, ‘Just Feel Better’, and in April he appeared in a cameo role as himself in the feature film
Be Cool
, a comedy directed by F. Gary Gray starring John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Harvey Keitel and James Woods. In the film, Steven is seen performing a duet of ‘Cryin’ with a would-be vocalist played by Christina Milian.

On 3 June, Steven collected his second honorary doctorate - this time from the University of Massachusetts in Boston. It was in recognition not only of his music, but also for his support of philanthropic causes from literacy and homelessness, to rehabilitation for alcoholism and for his support for families of soldiers killed in Iraq. Over two thousand students attended the commencement day ceremony, held on the lawn at the university’s Dorchester campus. In graduation garb and dark glasses, Steven received his scroll from Jack M. Wilson, the president of the University of Massachusetts, and J. Keith Motley, the interim Chancellor.

That summer there were sporadic rumours that Steven was working on a solo album, but it was Joe Perry who released his fourth such effort, titled simply
Joe Perry
. It had been twenty-one years since
Once a Rocker, Always a Rocker
, and on this new album, which had been recorded at his home studio, Joe had handled everything himself (including the vocals) except the drum work, for which he had enlisted the services of his co-producer, Paul Caruso. At the 2006 Grammy Awards, Joe was nominated for Best Rock Instrumental Performance for the track ‘Mercy’. Joe Perry releasing solo work was not a sign that there was trouble in the band; indeed, Aerosmith was said to be lining up rehearsal sessions in preparation for an autumn tour.

Steven continued to have his reasons for lying low. He also needed to spend time with his son and three daughters. He wanted to do all he could to help Chelsea and Taj come to terms with their parents’ split. It warmed him to see Liv so happy and settled, but he was concerned for Mia, for her marriage to Papa Roach drummer Dave Buckner had foundered. Hitched so publicly, on stage during an Aerosmith gig in Las Vegas, two years on Mia and Dave had filed for divorce.

Mia’s professional profile was developing. She now revealed that her late mother, Cyrinda, had given her a few modelling tips, advising her always to remember to keep her chin up, to wear nude underwear and be sure to work her strong eyes to the best advantage. In 2005, Mia took part in the US reality television series,
Celebrity Fit Club
, when she shed eighteen pounds. It was not Mia’s first experience of subjecting herself to this sort of regime. In the early 1990s, she had attended a camp to help overweight children to slim, and it had been a trying ordeal for her. She lost thirty pounds in six weeks, but had felt so miserable throughout those weeks that when it was over she regained all the weight she had shed and more besides. Although her experience of the
Celebrity Fit Club
series was appreciably better, in general terms she felt that she could never recommend anyone to undertake such regimes.

With her father’s and her half-sister’s stardom it could be easy to feel overshadowed, but Mia does not. She is independent, with her own reservoir of self-confidence, and she can come away with telling quips about her rascally, unorthodox father, often remarking on the fact that there are two Steven Tylers - the private man, who is Dad, and the larger-than-life rock icon. Said Mia recently: ‘He is a family man. Then he puts on his tights and make-up and goes on stage. He’s totally cute, like a little boy in an old man’s skin. I can see him rocking out when he’s eighty, with scarves tied around his walker!’

As the leaves were turning brown around Boston, with Aerosmith rehearsing, news emerged that no studio album was forthcoming. Instead, in October, the band was releasing the live album,
Rockin’ the Joint
, comprising tracks culled from a performance during the
Just Push Play
tour three years earlier at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas.
Rockin’ the Joint
peaked at number twenty-four on Billboard, while Steven and his bandmates hit the live circuit yet again.

With the Brooklyn-born singer Lenny Kravitz as support act, Aerosmith opened the
Rockin’ the Joint
tour at the end of October 2005 with a gig at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. About a month into the tour, it was reported that after an Aerosmith gig in Pittsburgh, Steven and Joe Perry were to take a swift detour to New York to perform at a bar mitzvah party.

This private bash, to be held in The Rainbow Room, was thrown by the multi-millionaire David H. Brooks for his daughter, Elizabeth. Brooks apparently had Tyler and Perry ferried from Pittsburgh to New York by chartered jet. At this extravagant celebration, other star performers were reported to include drummer Don Henley and lead guitarist Joe Walsh of the Eagles, the rocker Tom Petty, 50 Cent and Fleetwood Mac singer Stevie Nicks. According to the press, David H. Brooks shelled out a total of $10 million to hire this stellar line-up of entertainment; one report broke down how much each performer was earning for the gig. But the multi-millionaire disputed this, telling the
New York Daily News:
‘All dollar figures are vastly exaggerated. This was a private event and we do not wish to comment on details of the party.’