Stephen Percy "Steve" Harris (born 12 March 1957) is an English musician and songwriter, known as the bassist, occasional keyboardist, backing vocalist, leader, and primary songwriter of the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden, which he founded as a teenager in 1975. He and Dave Murray are the only original members of the band to have appeared on all of the band's albums, but Murray joined the band in 1976, making Harris the only person who has been a member of Iron Maiden since their inception. He used to work as an architectural draftsman in the East End of London but gave up his job upon forming Iron Maiden. During the mid-1970s, he was a youth team footballer for West Ham United. He still is a talented amateur football player and often has the crest of West Ham on his bass, and he has stated his first ambition in life before music was to become a professional footballer.