Stephen George Hooks, known as Steve Hooks, was born on March 25, 1946, in Ottumwa, Iowa. He began playing piano at age five, later switching to clarinet and then baritone saxophone by 1962. After moving to Memphis, Tennessee, in 1963, he pursued a full-time music career in the local soul scene. Hooks served in the US Army from 1966 to 1968, playing in the army band at Fort Leonard Wood. Post-military, he collaborated with various artists including Al Aarons and Jimmy Smith. In 1970, he moved to Los Angeles and later toured extensively across states like Tennessee, Missouri, Kentucky, and Oklahoma. Hooks led his own jazz band, The Steve Hooks Band, and worked as a songwriter for several music companies, including Broadway Music and Warner Brothers Music. He settled in Munich, Germany, in 1995, where he served as the musical director for The Weather Girls until 1999. Hooks passed away on March 14, 2019, in Munich.
