Life of Styer, Short Version
Autobiography
Here is the story of singer/songwriter Mike Styer, in his own words.
I was born on July 1st, 1952 in Marietta, Ohio. I moved with my grandparents and mother to Toronto, Ohio in November, 1957. My grandfather was a construction worker and found employment at the power plant in Stratton, Ohio. I had great childhood growing up nestled between the Ohio River to the east and sprawling woodlands to the west. I had plenty of friends and we had many adventures in a town that was the perfect place to be a boy.
In the spring of 1963 I moved west with my grandparents, my mother, and her new husband to Cheyenne, Wyoming. My stepfather, like my grandfather, was a construction worker and they both found work in the building of a missile base in the Cheyenne area. I hated to leave my home and the journey was beyond my wildest dreams.
My mother, stepfather and I moved south to Colorado Springs in November because of a better job opportunity at yet another missile base at Cheyenne Mountain. I loved the West, but it was a traumatic experience to be uprooted from my home at a young age. That same month President Kennedy was assassinated and it seemed everybody was devastated. The mood of the country changed in January of 1964 when the Beatles came to America and performed on The Ed Sullivan Show two Sundays in a row. I missed the first Sunday, but made sure I saw them when they played the following Sunday. It was a life-changing event for me, and two and a half years later I devoted myself to music.
I returned to Ohio with my grandparents that summer and turned twelve years old on the road that took us back across country to my beloved Toronto. I developed a love for pop and rock music in the winter of 1966. Like many teens, I started my record collection buying 45s at G C Murphey's in downtown Toronto. I had always loved to sing and at that point I began singing my heart out to the records I bought at the 5&10.
My cousin, Steve Casto, was three years younger than me and we had always been best friends. He too was enamored of the new music that was sweeping the country. I spent several weeks with him and his family that summer listening to his record collection that included an album by Herman's Hermits. I came home with my first album by a group called Paul Revere and the Raiders that featured their hit single, Kicks. That was when I became devoted to pop music. I grew my hair long and began wearing the hip, mod clothes of the sixties.
In August my grandfather bought me my first electric guitar at Sears and Roebuck. He told me he expected that guitar to collect dust in the closet but I really proved him wrong. He and my grandmother were music lovers and they were pleased with my new obsession.
Steve and I started our first group in the winter of 1967. We called the band The Soldiers of Fortune and I played my first gigs with Steve. After our first performance at his school, I knew this was what I wanted to do forever.
All through high school I played in rock bands, earning money from the performances as I progressed. I had been accepted at Kent State when I graduated Toronto High School in 1970. I did not continue any further education but got an education in rock n roll instead.
I started out listening to The Monkees, Beach Boys, The Beatles, Herman's Hermits, The Lovin' Spoonful and Rolling Stones (to name a few) but by the end of the decade I became a fan of Neil Young, Crosby, Stills & Nash (& Young), Creedance Clearwater Revival, The Byrds, The Bee Gees and other artists like Jackson Brown and finally a huge Beatles' fan. I was taken with country-rock by The Eagles, Gram Parsons and Poco. When I was 19, I decided I would be a songwriter and devoted myself to the craft. In 1981 my song Drift Away was released on Stray Cat Records with my band, the Leaks.
I continued on my musical journey as a full-time musician playing in bands and performing solo. My band, the Desperados, opened for The Belemy Brothers, Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers, B. J. Thomas, and Mel Tillis. In the eighties I journeyed to Nashville with my band Broken Arrow with demos of songs I had written along with songs I had written with my friend Rob Craven.
In 2008 I released my first album, River Town, with Broken Arrow. I wrote all ten songs and followed it up a year later with ten more Styer songs on the Broken Arrow album Melancholy Highway which featured my friends Karen Shell and Ray Morgan. In 2013 I recorded as Mike Styer and Broken Arrow and released Brothers of The Six String produced and engineered by Rick Witkowski of Crack the Sky and B. E. Taylor. Once again my friend Karen Shell graces the CD with her keyboard stylings. I included eight of my songs and included a song by my friend Rick Call and a song by Rob Craven with Ray Morgan.
My latest release is called 15,000 Days, an eleven song set of my original songs. The CD features Producer/engineer Rick Witkowski and my daughter, Shelby Styer. It is an acoustic-based album that also features Karen Shell on keyboard and pedal steel guitarist Merv Eddy. The album is a "best of" set that winds its way through my musical past.
I have written over 300 songs and hope to keep on writing. I plan to record again in the near future. That is another page to be turned. In the meantime, I intend to perform with my friends and to write some new songs.