Steve Albini, an iconic alt-rock music engineer, frontman of the acclaimed noise-rock group Shellac, and a two-time WSOP bracelet winner, died on Tuesday at the age of 61 from a reported heart attack.
Albini's widest fame came from his role as producer and engineer for numerous important rock albums from the late '80s onward, though he shied away from the most commercial side of the music industry. After years of playing and working in various punk- and alt-rock collaborations in the Chicago music scene, Albini made his music-world breakthrough by producing the Pixies' seminal 1988 debut album, Surfer Rosa.
Though not an immediate chart success, Surfer Rosa garnered a lasting reputation in the music world, and five years later, Albini was sought out by Nirvana's Kurt Cobain, who wanted to make "a Pixies album". That collaboration became the 1993 album In Utero, Nirvana's third and final studio release. The album's production was troubled, however, with Nirvana's label NGC (Geffen) Records threatening to not release the album due to its Albini-engineered "non-commercial" sound. Several songs on the album were remixed, which led to hard feelings that cemented Albini's anti-rock-establishment work from that time onward.
Both Surfer Rosa (#390) and In Utero (#173) have been named to Rolling Stone Magazine's list of the Best 500 Albums of All Time.
Childhood poker, Team Bear, and WSOP gold
Alternative music was Albini's primary passion, though not his only one. He was born in Chicago but was raised in Montana before returning to Chicago to attend Northwestern University, where he majored in journalism while planting the roots of his lifelong music career.
Albini was taught poker as a youth by his great-grandmother, and in his later years, enjoyed playing what evolved into a weekly stud game at private homes or at a Chicago-area casino. The games eventually included several of the area's best stud players. Around 2010, Albini began visiting the WSOP for a week or so each summer, and he soon became close friends with one of his stud-game invitees, well-known Midwest pro Brandon Shack-Harris.
The unlikely tale of Albini's and Shack-Harris's close friendship made for a two-part 2023 episode of the House and Poker Show titled "Shack & Steve".
The two also became core members of the unofficial "Team Bear", which debuted at the WSOP in 2015 and also included other players such as Eric Rodawig and Matt Ashton taking turns playing in WSOP events while wearing a full-length bear costume.
Albini soon proved that he could hold his own with the best stud and mixed players in poker. He won his first bracelet in 2018 in a $1,500 seven-card stud event during the wee hours of the night, on the stage of an all-but-deserted Brasilia Room at the Rio, Shack-Harris, also a two-time bracelet winner and others railed him on to his completion of a comeback win. Albini's second bracelet win came in 2022 in front of a rather larger rail, in a $1,500 H.O.R.S.E tourney at the WSOP's new home at Bally's/Paris.
All ten of Albini's recorded live-tournament cashes came in WSOP events between 2010 and 2023. Eight of those were mixed or stud events, including both bracelet wins, while the other two were Seniors NLH events held at Circuit stops near Chicago. Albini is credited with just over $370,000 in lifetime tourney winnings.
Steve Albini 2018 WSOP winner photoFeatured image source: Haley Hintze
