Steve Boone

Steve the second son of Emmett and Mary Boone was born at Camp Lejeune, NC on September 23, 1943. Steve’s dad was in the Marine Corps at the time and for the first two years of his life he lived at the Cherry Point Marine Air Station near Camp Lejeune while his dad was overseas. Prior to the war Emmett Boone was employed in the hotel business working with his father in Westhampton Beach, NY at the Howell House on Main Street and in the Pocono Mountains at The Inn at Buck Hill Falls. He also was an administrator for President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the Warm Springs GA, summer White House and health spa just prior to entering the Marine Corps.

After the war Steve lived in Buck Hill Falls, Pennsylvania until 1954 when he moved with his family to St. Augustine, Florida, the nation’s oldest city. The next 5 years were pure magic for Steve. A lifelong interest in sailing began when Steve joined the Optimist Pram fleet sponsored by the Rotary Club of St. Augustine. Learning how to sail and compete eventually led to Steve becoming a club champion and he says now that he considers that the most positive activity he was involved in growing up there. He also attended St. Joseph’s Academy in St. Augustine and still sees many of the good friends he made there at annual reunions the class holds twice a year. Music also became a big factor in Steve’s life during his years in Florida. It was at the time when Elvis and Buddy Holley were first making their way onto the radio and Steve became a huge fan of both of them as well as watching his older brother Skip take up guitar and join one of the first rock bands to play in north Florida, The Blue Suedes.

Moving with his family to eastern Long Island in 1958, he lived first in East Hampton and then in 1960 he moved to Westhampton Beach where he graduated from WHB High School in 1961. As a teenager in Long Island, Steve Boone learned guitar from his brother Skip while recovering from a car accident. He joined Skip's hot local band with future Lovin' Spoonful drummer Joe Butler. After high school graduation and a summer motorcycling around Europe, Steve met John Sebastian and Zal Yanovsky in Greenwich Village in late 1964.

By the next summer, The Lovin' Spoonful were on the road with Steve on bass and Joe on drums and vocals. The group racked up an astonishing SEVEN Top-lO singles with Steve co-writing two of the band's best loved hits - "You Didn't Have To Be So Nice" and the number one smash hit "Summer In The City."

After the Spoonful stopped touring in 1968, Steve went to work producing an album for Mercury Records by the breakthrough band “ The Oxpetals”. Combining their interest in Edgar’s Cayce’s ARE and good ole southern rock, the band was in the vanguard of a renewed interest in health and social awareness among young people and their music reflected that. Soon after finishing the album Steve bought a 56 ft sailboat “Cygnus” and moved onto it in the Virgin Islands. Spending 4 years cruising the Caribbean and writing songs was just what Steve needed to get back to the music business and in 1973 he sold his boat and moved to Baltimore, MD and started Blue Seas Studios. His first project was recording Little Feat’s “Feats Don’t Fail Me Now” album followed by many more well known artists who recorded there.

Steve moved back to Florida in 1987. He is an award-winning BMI songwriter and writes and records in his home MIDI studio in between touring, and recording new material with the Spoonful. In 1993 he produced the "Irish Times" band's album, "Live At McGuire's Hill 16" as well as the pop rock band “Forq” and their album “ForqChops” in 1998.

In the early 90’s he teamed up with Joe Butler, Jerry Yester and Jim Yester to restart the Lovin’ Spoonful’s concert touring, and when Jim left to pursue other opportunities he was replaced by Jerry’s daughter Lena. Then in 2000 Steve and the Lovin’ Spoonful were honored by their peers and contemporaries and inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2001 Steve and Lena were married.

In his free time, Steve is a river tour guide and volunteers as a U.S. Swimming meet official. He also manages to find time to get out on his sailboat “Nai’a Mana” and just enjoy the outdoor life.