Remembering Steve Morse: A Music Journalism Icon

Long time Berklee instructor and music journalist Steve Morse has died. While Boston’s rich music scene was Steve’s beat, his reach went far beyond the Bay State.

Remembering music journalist Steve Morse

by Pat Healy from Berklee Online

Steve Morse left an indelible mark on music journalism—and on everyone fortunate enough to have known him. He died over the weekend, after a brief illness.

He authored and taught the Rock History course for Berklee Online, a role he poured his heart into after retiring from the Boston Globe, where he was senior rock critic for 30 years.

He was a nominating committee member for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and a member of the New England Music Hall of Fame. He was also a devoted partner and a devoted father to his special needs son, Nick, whose visual art he proudly celebrated on social media posts and in conversation.

On a personal note, Steve was also a friend. Early in my own career as a music journalist, he would often reach out after reading my articles, emailing to offer words of encouragement (and occasionally, an additional detail that spoke to his deep knowledge of music). Over the years I was fortunate enough to get Steve to share some of this knowledge in the Take Note articles he wrote. 

Whenever we’d meet at a party or a show, Steve would always have so many stories to share, all delivered with a sense of humor and humility, as if to say that he still couldn’t believe he had witnessed so much music history. But he was also very much a part of that history, having an impact on many of those he wrote about. Bono came to Steve’s retirement party just to raise a toast to him. 

When we started a video interview series a few years ago, I knew he had to be a part of it, just to try to capture a few of those stories. 

In just 10 minutes we were able to get into anecdotes about him interviewing Madonna, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, Bob Marley, David Bowie, Neil Young, Roy Orbison, Stevie Nicks, David Gilmour of Pink Floyd, and more. 

But if you knew Steve, you’d know that he was just as much of a giant as any of the stars he wrote about.