John Steel

The drummer in the original and best lineup of the Animals, John Steel played and recorded with the group until 1966, and has joined them for various live and studio reunion projects. While not as flashy or colorful as other drummers of his generation like Keith Moon, Ginger Baker, and Ringo Starr, Steel gave the mid-'60s Animals a solid swing that owed much to his (and the group's) roots in jazz and blues as well as rock. While his role was more as an anchor than an originator of up-front parts, there were times on Animals records when he devised arresting patterns, as on the stop-start rhythms of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," the dramatic exclamatory beat that kicks off the verse of "It's My Life," or the propulsive beats of another hit, "I'm Crying." Although the Animals had only been in the global eye for about a couple of years before Steel's departure, his roots with the Animals stretched back over about a decade. He had first met Animals lead singer Eric Burdon back in 1956 when they, like many future first-generation British rockers, were in art school. They met at the Newcastle College of Art and Industrial Design after Steel asked if anyone in the class liked jazz. Actually, Steel played trumpet, not drums, in the first group in which he and Burdon played together. Over the next few years the pair played in various groups as their interests moved from jazz to R&B and rock. After the termination of one of them, the Kansas City Five, Steel took various jobs with local Newcastle bands. He came back into the Animals' orbit, though, when the Alan Price Rhythm and Blues Combo asked him to replace Barry Preston in August 1963. Within weeks after joining, he was recording with them on a limited-edition EP; by the end of 1963, the Alan Price Rhythm and Blues Combo...