Steve Miller to Receive 2025 Les Paul Spirit Award

Steve Miller is set to become the 2025 recipient of the Les Paul Spirit Award on Monday, June 9, at a private event at the Gibson Garage Nashville. The event will take place on what would have been Paul’s 110th birthday. Miller is the fifth recipient of the award, following Bob Weir (founding member of Grateful Dead), Nile Rodgers, U2‘s The Edge and Peter Frampton.

The annual award, created and presented by the Les Paul Foundation (in partnership with Gibson Gives, the philanthropic division of Gibson), goes to an individual who exemplifies the spirit of the late Les Paul through innovation, engineering, technology and/or music. In addition to the award, a grant from the Les Paul Foundation will be made in the honoree’s name to the charity of his choice.

“I cannot think of anyone more deserving to be honored with the Les Paul Spirit Award than Steve Miller,” Michael Braunstein, executive director of The Les Paul Foundation, said in a statement. “Not only is he an extraordinary talent and a wonderful friend of the Les Paul Foundation, Steve holds the very distinct title of being Les’ godson. They had a very unique relationship which Les cherished. If anyone understands the ‘spirit’ of Les Paul, it’s Steve.”

The Steve Miller Band’s enduring popularity has been demonstrated twice in the past year. The band’s 1982 hit “Abracadabra” was interpolated in Eminem’s “Houdini,” which reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in June 2024. The band’s hit-laden 1976 album, Fly Like an Eagle, was inducted into the National Recording Registry this year.

Miller had three No. 1 hits on the Hot 100 – “The Joker” (1974), “Rock’n Me” (1976) and “Abracadabra” (1982). He never quite landed a No. 1 album on the Billboard 200, but four of his albums – The Joker, Fly Like an Eagle, Book of Dreams and Abracadabra – reached the top three. In addition, Miller’s 1978 compilation Greatest Hits 1974-78 has received a RIAA Diamond Award with U.S. shipments of more than 15 million copies.

Miller was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (2016) and the Songwriters Hall of Fame (2022).

Miller and Paul were both signed to Capitol Records in their heydays. They also had a long and personal relationship. Their connection began in Miller’s early childhood in Milwaukee, where his parents frequently attended Les Paul and Mary Ford’s performances. Miller’s father, Sonny, was even the best man at Les Paul’s wedding. A young Steve Miller was introduced to Paul, who gave him his first informal guitar lessons and taught him his first three chords. Miller has often recalled how these early experiences watching Paul perform and receiving personal instruction were pivotal in inspiring his own musical journey. Miller joined Paul on stage at the latter’s 90th birthday concert in New York City in 2005.

The Les Paul Spirit Award is made from hand-carved acoustic boards built by Paul that he used in his home studio. Given the unique nature of the studio pieces that are being used to create them, no two Les Paul Spirit Awards will be exactly the same.

Paul, who died in 2009 at age 94, won Grammys for best instrumental performance in pop, rock and country categories, a sign of his broad influence. He received a trustees award from the Recording Academy in 1983 and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as an early/musical influence in 1988. In addition to his innovations with the guitar, Paul was half of one of the top vocal duos of the 1950s. Les Paul and Mary Ford’s biggest hits were “How High the Moon” and “Vaya Con Dios (May God Be With You).”