Stevie's bio
A guitar player, writer, producer, and composer, Stevie Salas has recorded on over 70 different albums with artists as diverse as George Clinton, Justin Timberlake, Buddy Miles, T.I., Mick Jagger, and Rod Stewart. Having sold over two million solo albums around the world, Stevie has been cited as one of the top 50 guitarists of all time.
Dreaming of a career in music, Stevie left the small town of Oceanside, California in 1985. Eight months later he was discovered by funk music legend George Clinton as the lead guitarist for Clinton’s albums. Stevie received his first major label producer credit with “Was (Not Was)” when he co-produced the UK hit “Out Come the Freaks” from the Album “What up Dog?” Rolling Stone Magazine listed “What up Dog?” as one of the top 100 records of the decade.
In 1988, Stevie was asked to join Rod Stewart on a world tour as lead guitarist. Skipping cities in a private jet to sold-out stadiums led to Stevie signing the largest record deal Island Records had ever paid for a new artist. Stevie’s first record, “Colorcode,” is still a cult classic in the UK and Europe, and his second solo album, “Back from the Living,” ousted the Rolling Stones and Aerosmith for “Best Album” in Japan.
An accomplished composer, Stevie is credited with providing the score for several films including Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure and the 2009 film Darfur. Over 50 of Stevie’s compositions have been released on major labels.
From 2006 to 2010, Salas served as music director and consultant for American Idol and 19 Entertainment, nurturing Kris Allen, Adam Lambert, Chris Daughtry, and their respective touring bands for subsequent American tours.
A Native American, Stevie has been involved in prominent projects that support indigenous communities, including serving as the Advisor of Contemporary Music at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. For his efforts in support of Native American culture, Stevie received the Native American Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009.
Stevie continued to make his mark-in television by working as the Executive Producer on several successful ventures including being a Producer Co-Host on Arbor Live! A Musical/Comedy Variety Show featuring Aboriginal and Mainstream Artists.
Arbor live won the 2013 Canadian Aboriginal People’s Choice Award.
It was 2014 when he wrote When We Were the Boys, a memoir about Stevie’s first tour with Rod Stewart. The Book met with outstanding reviews and was #1 for 8 weeks on Amazon’s book chart.
In January 2017 Stevie Created and Executive Produced the Emmy Award nominated Documentary “Rumble, The Indians Who Rocked the World” which received the Sundance Film Festival World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Masterful Storytelling.
At the same time, he released a collaborative album “Chubby Grove” with Japan’s Koshi Inaba under the name “Inaba/Salas”. The album went to Gold with a sold-out tour and was #2 on billboard Hot 100 Chart.
Along with headlining the Blue Feather Film Festival in 2018 with Superstar Band the IMFs which included the legendary Bernard Fowler, Doug Wimbish, and Brian Tichy, Stevie spent the next couple years touring Film Festivals around the world with “Rumble” overall winning many awards.
In early 2020 Stevie was back in the Studio with Inaba/Salas recording their next album “Maximum Huevo” that went straight to number one on Billboard Japanese Top 100 and was certified Gold.
Later that year Stevie Executive Produced a Short Documentary Film “The Water Walker” which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) that follows the story of Autumn Peltier, a young Anishinaabe climate and clean water activist from Canada released on HBO Canada. This led to his next role Co-Producing the Documentary “Boil Alert” in 2023 featuring Activist Layla Staats and the stories behind the challenges of First Nations Reserves to receive Drinkable Water.
Stevie’s love for music brought him back into the Studio in 2025 with another Inaba/Salas Gold Album “Atomic Chihuahua” and a Stadium Tour along with the score for the Film “Protectors of the Land” which he also Co-Produced.
He remains close to his roots. The ND’e Apache Nation selected him as their U.S. Ambassador, and he also received the San Diego Music Life-Time Achievement Award.
Most recently he is designing guitars and guitar effects with Jim Dunlop, Truetone, and Divitone, and has scored the Music for the Documentary “Long Knife” Produced by Leonardo DiCaprio and Narrated by Robert De Niro.
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