Steve Walsh
Steve Walsh (born June 15, 1951) is an American musician, singer, and songwriter, best known for his work as a longtime member of the progressive rock band Kansas. He retired from the band in 2014. He sings lead on four of Kansas' best-known hits: "Carry On Wayward Son", "Dust in the Wind", "Point of Know Return", and "All I Wanted", the last two of which he co-wrote.
Steve Walsh

Wayne Camlin · Flickr: Steve Walsh · CC BY-SA 2.0
- Name
- Steve Walsh
- Born
- 15 June 1951
- Birthplace
- St.
- Occupation
- * Musician
- Nationality
- United States
- Fields
- rock music
- Languages
- English
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Documentary summary
Steve Walsh (born June 15, 1951) is an American musician, singer, and songwriter, best known for his work as a longtime member of the progressive rock band Kansas. He retired from the band in 2014. He sings lead on four of Kansas' best-known hits: "Carry On Wayward Son", "Dust in the Wind", "Point of Know Return", and "All I Wanted", the last two of which he co-wrote.
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Note VALÉORINE
Steve Walsh (born 1951) is an American keyboardist, musician and pianist, among other activities. The keyboardist is a member of Kansas and Streets.
Genres include rock music. Languages used include English.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 26 September 2026
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- Independent source families
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Authority files
wikidata · Q583470
In this article
Biography
Biography
Walsh worked across singer, keyboardist, pianist, songwriter and musician. The registers place that work in rock music. This article rests on 97 catalogued compositions, 21 published texts, 9 issued recordings, 1 digitised documents and 6 scholarly references drawn from named institutional registers. Every statement below returns to a source shown in the evidence panel; where the record is silent or divided, the article says so instead of resolving it.

Steve Walsh performing with Kansas in 2012 (cropped)
Wayne Camlin

2010 Photo of singer / keyboardist Steve Walsh of Kansas in concert at Wild Horse Pass in Arizona - Laurie Larson photographer
Laurie Larson
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Steve Walsh • Born — 15 June 1951 • Birthplace — St. Joseph, Missouri, U.S. • Origin — Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. • Genre — * Progressive rock • hard rock • Occupation — * Musician • singer • songwriter • Instruments — * Vocals • keyboards • percussion • harmonica • Years Active — 1973–present • Past Member Of — * Kansas • Streets • Website — stevewalshrocks.com
Career
Career
• Illustration — Walsh in 2008 Walsh was in a number of local Topeka groups prior to his joining Kansas, most notably the group White Clover that had reformed after its members had been in 2 earlier bands named Kansas that had split up. White Clover was signed to Don Kirshner's label and the band reverted to the name Kansas (the 3rd line up under this name). During Walsh's time with the band, Kansas recorded two commercially successful albums, 1976's Leftoverture and 1977's Point of Know Return. With Kansas, Walsh has released 12 studio albums, six live albums, and numerous singles. He has released four solo albums thus far. In 1978 he was invited, along with Kansas drummer Phil Ehart, to play on Steve Hackett's second solo album Please Don't Touch. He sang on two of the LP's songs, "Narnia" and "Racing in A". Hackett released "Narnia" as a single, but not before Walsh's management insisted that Hackett re-cut the track with another vocalist so as not to confuse Kansas fans into believing the track was a new Kansas release. John Perry sang the "Narnia" vocal for the single release version. Walsh left Kansas after 1980's Audio-Visions due to creative differences with the band's primary songwriter Kerry Livgren. Earlier in 1980, he released his first solo album, Schemer-Dreamer, which included bandmates Livgren, Rich Williams and Phil Ehart, as well as guitarist Steve Morse (who in 1985 joined the revamped Kansas). It contains the song "Every Step of the Way". In 1982 he formed a rock band called Streets with guitarist Mike Slamer, which released the albums 1st in 1983 and Crimes in Mind in 1985 before disbanding. As a guest vocalist, Walsh has appeared on numerous other artists' recordings. Kansas replaced Walsh with vocalist John Elefante until their split in 1984, but reformed in 1986 with Walsh as lead singer. He remained with the band until his retirement in 2014. Walsh released his second solo album Glossolalia in 2000. In 2003 he and Daniele Liverani formed the band Khymera. Walsh sang lead vocals on their first self-titled album. Adding to this album were Billy Greer and former Streets bandmate Mike Slamer. His third solo album Shadowman followed in 2005 (reissued in 2007 with bonus tracks), with the collaboration of Joe Franco on drums, Joel Kosche on guitars and bass, and David Ragsdale on the re-issued version of the album's bonus tracks. On June 30, 2014, Walsh announced he would retire from Kansas after 41 years. In 2015, Walsh contributed vocals to the Radioactive album, F4UR, which was released on April 7 that year, and he sang lead on the song "The Piper". In November 2017, Walsh released a collaborative "solo" album between himself and Tommy Denander on the Escape Music label, entitled Black Butterfly.
Identity
Identity
Steve Walsh is recorded with the occupation keyboardist. Classed in the genre rock music. Recorded as singer, keyboardist, pianist, songwriter and musician.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1951
Steve Walsh was born on 15 June 1951.
Discography
Solo • (1980) Schemer-Dreamer • (2000) Glossolalia • (2005) Shadowman • (2007) Dark Day & Faule Dr Roane (single releases available only via MP3 download) • (2017) Black Butterfly Streets • (1983) 1st • (1985) Crimes in Mind • (1997) King Biscuit Flower Hour Presents Streets or Live-Shakedown Contributions • (1978) Steve Hackett – Please Don't Touch • (1980) Kerry Livgren – Seeds of Change • (1983) Paul Barrére – On My Own Two Feet • (1990) Blonz – Blonz • (1993) Jeff Watson – Around the Sun • (2000) Vince DiCola – In-Vince-ible! • (2000) Christmas Collection with Father Rodgers – Remember the One • (2001) Seventh Key – Seventh Key • (2001) Trent Gardner – Leonardo – The Absolut Man • (2001) The December People – Sounds Like Christmas • (2002) Explorers Club – Raising the Mammoth • (2002) Daniele Liverani – Genius – A Rock Opera • (2003) Saint James Parish – Come Home for Christmas • (2003) Khymera – Khymera • (2006) Moonstone Project – Time to Take a Stand • (2010) Joel Kosche – Fight Years • (2010) Roswell Six – Terra Incognita: A Line in the Sand • (2015) Radioactive – F4UR • (2022) LALU – Paint the Sky Kansas Studio albums • (1974) Kansas • (1975) Song for America • (1975) Masque • (1976) Leftoverture • (1977) Point of Know Return • (1979) Monolith • (1980) Audio-Visions • (1986) Power • (1988) In the Spirit of Things • (1995) Freaks of Nature • (1998) Always Never the Same • (2000) Somewhere to Elsewhere Live albums • (1978) Two for the Show • (1992) Live at the Whisky • (1998) King Biscuit Flower Hour Presents Kansas • (2002) Device, Voice, Drum (CD/DVD) • (2009) There's Know Place Like Home (CD/DVD) Compilations • (1984) The Best of Kansas • (1992) Carry On • (1994) The Kansas Boxed Set • (1999) The Best of Kansas [expanded] • (1999) Definitive Collection • (2002) The Ultimate Kansas • (2004) Sail On: The 30th Anniversary Collection • (2006) Works in Progress
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.History. kansasband.com.
- 2.Blum, Jordan. The 11 Greatest Prog Rock Singers of All Time (Ranked). Loudwire. Townsquare Media. April 20, 2026.
- 3.Kansas: an everyday story of success, failure, drugs, booze and jealousy. Louder Sound. July 3, 2020.
- 4.Powell, Mark. Please Don't Touch!. Charisma Records. 2005.
- 5.Whitburn, Joel. Joel Whitburn Presents Rock Tracks 1981–2008. Record Research. 247–. 2008. 978-0-89820-174-1.
- 6.album. Shadowman.
- 7.KANSAS - Steve Walsh & Billy Greer Comment Exclusively. Melodicrock.com. July 28, 2014.
- 8.album.
- 9.album.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
institutional register
Wikidata, structured authority record Q583470: Steve WalshWikimedia Foundation
Unverified
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Music memorabilia
42,307 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
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