If the L.A. music scene of the early '80s had a secret weapon, it was the Philadelphia-born Steve Berlin. Having cut his musical teeth playing R&B with some of the City of Brotherly Love's finest sessioneers before heading West and landing in the ranks of the Blasters — one of the most ferocious roots-rock outfits to ever come out of Southern California, Berlin had bigger wolves to run with. He took leave from the Blasters to co-produce Los Lobos' landmark 1984 debut 'How Will the Wolf Survive?' alongside T Bone Burnett, and quickly became a full-time member of the band. That album was later ranked among Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time — not bad for a kid from Philly who didn't know a lick of Mexican music when he first heard the band play. Then came the monster: in 1987, Berlin produced \"La Bamba\" — the Los Lobos cover of Ritchie Valens' classic for the hit biopic of the same name — and suddenly the whole world knew what East L.A. already did.
As a multi-instrumentalist, Berlin has spent four-plus decades as the heartbeat behind Los Lobos' saxophone and keyboards, but his parallel career as a producer is equally jaw-dropping. His production credits include Faith No More, Crash Test Dummies, and Canada's beloved Tragically Hip, and his session work contributed saxophone to Paul Simon's Grammy-winning Graceland and John Lee Hooker's Grammy-winning comeback album The Healer — two records that redefined what American music could sound like. Add to that production and session work with the Replacements, R.E.M., the Dandy Warhols and Sheryl Crow, and you've got a résumé that reads like mind-blowing best-of compilation of the last four decades of American rock. Berlin has earned four Grammy Awards as a member of Los Lobos, with a total of ten nominations across his enttire career. In this conversation, we talk about his history — the records, the studios and a few of the stories behind one of the most inspirational music careers of our time.
","author_name":"Daniel House"}