Steven Tyler, originally Steven Victor Tallarico, was born in Yonkers, New York.
Tyler was raised Catholic and his mother was a teacher at a Catholic school.[1]
Tyler certainly doesn't seem to be Catholic (except for some major guilt regarding an ex-girlfriend and an abortion)[2] Really, Tyler seems to be more on the side of New Age-y, post-modern spirituality–but with a little Greek mythology thrown into the mix. First of all, Tyler considers himself a realist,[3] so just keep that in mind when reading what follows.
Tyler, understandably so, says he found God in music.[4] He's a musician, and a good one. He said:
I think I put together the beauty of Mother Nature and music and somewhere in that I felt the presence of God.[5]
He also said that his first spiritual experience was with what might be described as "wood sprites." He said:
I saw this place in the woods where the sun was coming through and I'm walking around with my slingshot at nine years old… It was so quiet in there I thought I heard something called the children of the woods. It was my first spiritual moment… and I've always been writing songs to try to get back to that moment.[6]
Beyond that, Tyler admits to practicing the sex rituals of famous British occultist (made more famous by the Ozzy Osbourne song of the same name) Aleister Crowley. He said:
I've practiced Crowley Magick so I know it works. I'm not saying that every girl I slept with came at the same time or that I asked her to pray for the same thing I was praying for; namely that Aerosmith would become the greatest American band.[7]
It would also be a fair assumption to think that Tyler, at the very least, believes in a higher power, considering he has been in and out of rehab for decades, including extensive work with Alcoholics Anonymous.[8]
Rock politics
There's not much here from Tyler. He won't discuss his political views with the public–or he doesn't have any. You don't have to when your a multimillionaire rock star. He does exhibit signs of being somewhat socially conservative–beyond the abortion guilt. He's OK with censoring television, saying profanity and nudity is not classy.[9]
He's commented that Obama sings well, but never approved or disapproved of his politics[10] and he sang (or murdered depending on who you ask) the U.S. National Anthem at a football game,[11] but none of this points to any political affiliation, so we're just going to have to label Tyler non-political and slightly conservative.
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