Walter Steding

Career In 1972, Steding moved to New York City, hitchhiking there from Pennsylvania with two brown-bag lunches made by his mother. He moved into a former utility closet in a building off of Union Square. He became a self-taught musician fascinated by "the aesthetics of sound." He performed solo using an electric violin, a custom-built synthesizer, and an EEG machine to track his brainwaves. During gallery performances, he generated strange, high-pitched, and labored sounds on his violin while equipped with a belt-mounted biofeedback device and flashing goggles that were "synced" purportedly with his brain waves. His unique performance style so intrigued Andy Warhol that he decided to become his manager, making Steding the only artist he managed after the Velvet Underground. He worked at Warhol's studio mixing paint, stretching canvases, and interacting with famous visitors such as Keith Richards and Georgia O'Keeffe, who would come for lunch and photo sessions for Interview magazine.

In 2023, an exhibition, titled This Is My Voice, of Steding's artwork was held at the Howl! gallery in the East Village.

Personal life Steding had a daughter with Elizabeth Tisdale.

Death Steding died at his home in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, in November 2025, at the age of 75.