Steve Waller

Stephen Charles Waller (30 June 1951 – 6 February 2000) was a British musician best known as the lead guitarist and a vocalist for Manfred Mann's Earth Band between 1979 and 1983. He featured on the albums Angel Station, Chance, I (Who Have Nothing), Somewhere in Afrika and Budapest Live and was the replacement for Earth Band guitarist Dave Flett, who left the band in 1978.Raised in Herne Hill, South London, England, Waller attended William Penn Secondary School in Dulwich. Both his parents were musicians, and played in skiffle bands. Waller was a self-taught guitarist, with B.B. King being a big inspiration, and described himself to others saying, "I am an entertainer first".From 1974 onwards, Waller was a mainstay of the renowned Sunday jam sessions at the Half Moon, Herne Hill, alongside his school friend Stevie Smith. He went on to join Manfred Mann's Earth Band after Manfred Mann was, "recommended to check out a popular South London circuit musician – a singer and guitarist" who played there. It is noted that, "Waller was indeed the right man for the job. One quick audition and it was all settled".Stevie Smith recalls that in the mid-1970s, the Sunday jam session featuring Waller at the Half Moon, Herne Hill, "was the place where the musos used to check out what was going on – we had the guys down from the Rory Gallagher Band, Thin Lizzy and the Jeff Beck Band."Waller played on the 1979 hit album 'Haven't Stopped Dancin' by British R&B and funk band Gonzalez, which peaked at number 26 in the Billboard Hot 100 chart in January 1979. He is also credited for guitar on the 1996 album Sentimentally Yours by Peter Skellern. Earlier in his career, Waller worked with Roger Ruskin Spear, and Kevin Coyne. In 1990, he had an acting role as a pianist feigning a heart attack in the British movie Paper Mask.After leaving Manfred Mann's Earth Band in 1983, Waller returned to the pub gig circuit with his new band, Steve Waller's Overload, and his alma mater the Half Moon, Hern