A clip from the British series ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ brought attention to Steven Tyler’s Black ancestry.
In the video, actress Liv Tyler revealed that her research into her father’s maternal roots uncovered that his four-times-great-grandfather, Robert Elliot, was part African-American.
Reacting to the revelation, the Aerosmith frontman exclaimed, “I knew it! I knew it! Thank you, God! I always felt akin to Black people. Always.”
When asked if he had known about this before, Tyler admitted, “I had no idea, but I felt it my whole life.”
Liv added more details about Robert Elliot, 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!”
The rocker reacted with excitement: “Holy sh*t! Oh my God. That’s too good.”
Liv then asked, “And you were a drummer first, right? Was that your first instrument?” Tyler confirmed, and she continued, “So, then, Robert Elliot had a son named George Washington Elliot, and we found that he enlisted in the Civil War, signing up as a white man. He was a drummer in the Civil War.”
Tyler responded, “I’m so loving this. Oh my God. This explains it. This is the best.”
Alongside his newfound Black heritage, Steven Tyler also has Polish and English ancestry on his mother’s side and Italian and German roots on his father’s side.
