Rick Steele, local blues musician and patriarch of Perth’s first family of music, has died aged 77

Local bluesman Rick Steele, patriarch of WA’s first family of music, has died at the age of 77.

The respected long-serving president of the Perth Blues Club, which he founded in 1992, and leader of The Hot Biscuit Band, died on March 10 — the day after his birthday — following a long battle with illness.

After forging a music career in his birth country of New Zealand, Steele permanently moved to Perth in 1981 with wife Liz to work as a teacher.

The WA Music Hall of Fame inductee performed thousands of gigs, even while he was busy helping his four children pursue their own musical dreams.

Second eldest son Luke Steele was frontman of alternative rockers The Sleepy Jackson and ARIA Award-winning electro-pop duo Empire of the Sun, which scored a massive international hit with 2008 single Walking on a Dream.

Steele opened for The Sleepy Jackson at the Bowery Ballroom in New York in 2006 and supported Empire of the Sun on a 2017 North American tour, travelling in Dolly Parton’s old tour bus.

Luke produced his father’s 2008 solo album Through My Eyes.

Katy Steele earned acclaim as the singer for pop group Little Birdy, while her twin brother Jake makes electronic music as Tobacco Rat.

Eldest son Jesse played in the first line-up of The Sleepy Jackson before working in the US as an environmental scientist.

Steele was inducted into the WA Music Hall of Fame in 2016, joining AC/DC legend Bon Scott, the Farriss brothers of INXS, comedian Tim Minchin and Baby Animals singer Suze DeMarchi.

The same year, a classroom at Mt Lawley Senior High School, where all four Steele siblings studied, was officially named the Steele Family Music Classroom.

Often spotted with Liz at Sleepy Jackson and Little Birdy shows, Steele continued to play around Perth — he chalked up close to 10,000 gigs.

The son of an Anglican minister, one of Richard Warwick Steele’s earliest performances was a rendition of Elvis Presley’s Blue Suede Shoes at primary school in Auckland.

He bought his first guitar with money earned mowing lawns after his devout mother refused to purchase one out of fear he would turn out like Presley.

There was no quelling Steele’s love of music — by the early 60s, he was singing rock’n’roll covers at local venues.

While studying at Auckland Teachers’ College, Steele performed with various bands, including The Vision, which landed a recording contract and appeared on New Zealand television.

After fellow schoolteacher and New Zealand Test cricketer Bob Cunis told him about the beauty of Perth’s city and beaches over a beer, Rick and Liz moved to Perth on April 1, 1971.

Three years later they bought the family home in Yokine.

He taught at Eden Hill Primary School while playing gigs at The Bushranger, The Grosvenor, the Concert Hall Tavern and other local venues.

Around this time, his love of blues began to flourish, and he bought his first harmonica.

After being offered a record deal with a new label based in Auckland, Steele returned to New Zealand in 1976.

He toured solo and scored minor hits with covers of Bob Dylan, Kenny Rogers and Kris Kristofferson songs as well as his own material, including Hangover Blues, Trains Can Fly and Take It or Leave It.

He caused controversy with the single The Ballad of Arthur Allan Thomas, a song about police corruption in the framing of an innocent man for the high-profile unsolved 1970 murders of Harvey and Jeanette Crewe.

The New Zealand government accused Steele of treason and defamation, ordering all copies of the record be destroyed.

During this time, he formed the Hot Biscuit Band and supported top Australasian acts Little River Band, Split Enz and Dragon.

In 1980, he scored a hit album with Country Giants: Rick Steele Sings 20 Great Country Hits.

Money earned from the release paid for the family, now with two young sons, to relocate back to Perth on April Fool’s Day 1981 — exactly 10 years after the first foray to WA.

After earning $50 for a solo gig at a Chinese restaurant, Steele formed a new Hot Biscuit Band, co-starring local legends, guitarist Dave Hole and pianist Bob Patient.

The band made their living playing to audiences in Geraldton, Port Hedland and other far-flung towns.

He also contributed greatly to the local music community as Perth Blues Club president from its inception in 1992.

On Tuesday via social media, Liz Steele announced that her husband of 49 years has passed away.

“I’ll miss that unmistakable voice and that classic sense of humour,” she wrote.

“He spent his life soothing the souls of so many through his incredible gift of music.

“He was an eccentric, an artist with a beautiful flair. He loved his family, dog, garden and his castle.

“An advocate for charity, he always wanted to give, give and give a little more,” Liz added. “A father figure and mentor to many.”

Luke Steele also paid tribute to his father on Tuesday, describing him as “a true legend, a voice and a shepherd for the common man, a story teller, a blues man with a heart of gold”.

The Empire of the Sun frontman wrote on the band’s Instagram page that Rick always reminded him that, as a songwriter, “you only have three minutes to tell the world what you want to say”.

Luke said his dad kept his sense of humour right to the end, telling family members “surely you didn’t all come here to see an old man dying”.

“The fight he fought in the last few months was a true testament to his strength and warrior spirit,” he wrote.

“We were all blessed to have had this time with him as a family in his final encore.”

He was an eccentric, an artist with a beautiful flair.

Luke’s wife Jodi also paid tribute to the man known to his family as Papa Steele.

“And we remember Papa as he would never want us to forget him — on the stage, harp around his neck, guitar in hand singing the blues like there was no tomorrow,” she wrote.

Steele is survived by his wife, four children and their partners, plus nine grandchildren.

A memorial will be organised to recognise his contribution to local music.