Michael Steele

Michael Steele (born Susan Thomas on June 2, 1955) is a retired American musician, best known as the bassist for The Bangles. Under the name Micki Steele, she was a founding member of The Runaways but left in 1975, shortly before the band's major label debut. For the next several years, she played with various other musical groups for short periods of time. In 1983, Steele replaced original bassist Annette Zilinskas as a member of the Bangles. Steele joined just in time to play on the band's first full-length album, All Over the Place. She remained with the Bangles throughout the high point of their career, contributing as bassist, vocalist, and songwriter until the band's dissolution in 1989. She rejoined the band for a 2003 reunion album, Doll Revolution, and toured with them until the following year. Career Steele began her professional career as Micki Steele in the teen-girl band The Runaways, one of the first all-female rock groups. Her stay in The Runaways was brief, leaving the band in late 1975, months before the recording of their first self-titled album. The main recording of this early period is an August 1975 demo session, bootlegged and later released as the 1993 album Born to Be Bad, with Steele playing bass and singing lead vocals on most songs. Additionally, this release also has her first songwriting credit with "Born to Be Bad", cowritten with Sandy West and Kim Fowley. The Runaways recorded a second demo at the famed Gold Star Studios in September 1975; as of 2019 it remains officially unreleased. Steele's departure from the group has been given several interpretations—her own account being that she was fired by manager Kim Fowley for refusing his sexual propositions and calling the band's debut single "Cherry Bomb" stupid. Fowley would further denigrate her for blowing a chance at fame and not possessing sufficient "magic" or "megalo" to make it in the music industry.