Joey Kramer

Kramer was born in the Bronx, New York City, the son of Doris and Mickey Kramer, a businessman.[1]

In the early 1970s, Kramer was a member of The Institution,[2] a seminal New Jersey garage band founded by Philip Rubin, J. Howard Duff,[3] Richie Lester, and Marv Coopersmith. On Nov. 25, 1970, the early Bruce Springsteen band, Steel Mill, opened for The Institution at Newark State College.[4]

Kramer is credited with originating the name Aerosmith. In his memoir, Kramer revealed that he idly conceived the name Aerosmith while listening to Harry Nilsson’s album Aerial Ballet in 1968, two years before the band was formed. Kramer insists that there is no connection between the name “Aerosmith” and Sinclair Lewis’ novel Arrowsmith. Shortly before joining Aerosmith, Kramer moved to Boston and was attending Berklee College of Music[5] and worked with Chubby & the Turnpikes (later to be known as Tavares) alongside Bernie Worrell.