A resurfaced clip from an episode of the British series ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ revealed Steven Tyler’s Black ancestry.
Actress Liv Tyler revealed in the episode that her research into his father’s maternal roots showed his four-times-great-grandfather, Robert Elliot, was part African-American.
The rocker reacted, “I knew it! I knew it! Thank you, God! I always felt akin to Black people. Always.”
When asked if he had prior knowledge about this, Tyler added, “I had no idea, but I felt it my whole life.”
“Amazing.” Liv cooed. Then, she shared more about Robert Elliot’s life, saying, “They sort of think that Robert Elliot Sr. might have been an indentured servant. He was in the War of 1812, and he was a drummer!”
“Holy sh*t! Oh my God. That’s too good,” the Aerosmith vocalist said, and the actress followed up with a question, “And you were a drummer first, right? Was that your first instrument?”
After Tyler confirmed the info, she continued, “So, then, Robert Elliot had a son named George Washington Elliot, and we found that he had enlisted in the Civil War, and he signed up as a white man. He was a drummer in the Civil War.”
“I’m so loving this. Oh my God. explains it. This is the best,” her father’s response read.
Steven Tyler also has Polish and English ancestry on his mother’s side as well as Italian and German roots on his father’s side.