STEPHEN BISHOP
At
the age of 13, Stephen Bishop found himself at a crossroads. A
clarinetist with hopes of becoming a History teacher, he was
forever changed after watching the Beatles one night on The
Ed Sullivan Show. He convinced his brother to buy him an
electric guitar. He bought a “Mel Bay” chordbook and began to
learn to play guitar and make up chords as well, writing his first
song, "Surf’s Turf", a pathetic sounding instrumental.
He formed a band called, “The Weeds” and began to play at
local fraternity parties mixing in his own original songs with
popular Top 40 songs.
The Weeds won 2nd place at the Claremont Battle of the Bands,
prompting one of the judges to explain that “Stephen Bishop is
going to be a big songwriter someday!” Determined to fulfill
that prophesy, Stephen made the trip to Los Angeles. He walked the
streets with his $12 acoustic guitar, playing songs for various
publishers in Hollywood, eventually landing a publishing deal at
$50 a week for E. H. Morris Publishing. One of his songs was
recorded only to be followed by a long wait. As the years
went by, Stephen even considered leaving L.A. to return home and
work for his Dad’s Insurance company. Through a good friend, Art
Garfunkel heard some of his new songs and recorded two of them on
his Gold recording, “Breakaway.”
Stephen started playing around town singing his songs in person
for artists like Barbra Streisand, Bette Midler, Diana Ross and
Michelle Phillips, among other. He was soon signed to ABC
Records who released his first album, Careless. Two hits
from that album were "Save It For a Rainy Day" and
"On and On". This album, as well as his followup, Bish,
went gold.
He sang the hit theme, "It Might Be
You" from the movie Tootsie, as well as either
writing, singing or both on 13 other films including, Animal House
and White Nights. His songs have been sung by legends such as Phil
Collins, Eric Clapton, Barbra Streisand, Art Garfunkel, Steve
Perry, Stephanie Mills, Kenny Loggins, Johnny Mathis, Phoebe Snow,
David Crosby, The Four Tops, Aswad and Pavarotti.
Stephen has been nominated for 2 Grammys, as well as receiving an
Oscar nomination for his song, "Separate
Lives".
Stephen has not been idle. His last CD was entitled, Blue
Guitars. His newest album is an acoustic guitar and
vocal solo album called Yardwork. MCA also released a
hit compilation in the Millennium series. His book on rough
drafts, "SONGS IN THE ROUGH." published by St. Martins'
Press, has nearly sold out in it's first printing. He also sang
and co-wrote the song, "You Can Do Anything" for the
movie, Barney's Big Adventure.
