At the age of thirteen, 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.” His brother Denny bought Stephen an electric guitar and a “Mel Bay” chordbook and turned his stereo into an amp so Stephen could play music. Stephen began to learn to play guitar and make up his own chords as well, writing his first song, “Surf’s Turf..” a pathetic sounding intrumental. He formed a band called, “The Weeds” and began to play at local fraternity parties incorporating his own original songs with various songs from top 40…
Stephen made a trip to Los Angeles at 17… eventually landing a publishing deal at $50 a week. After years of trying to make it, a good friend, Leah Kunkel got some of Stephen’s songs to Art Garfunkel, who wound up recording two of them on his gold recording, “Breakaway.”
He started playing around town singing his songs in person for artists like, Barbra Streisand…Bette Midler..Diana Ross.” Shortly thereafter, he was signed to ABC Records who released his first album, “Careless.” He had two hits from the album..”Save It For a Rainy Day,” and “On and On”..
Soon the album went gold, as well as his next album, “Bish.” He sang the hit theme,”It Might Be You,” for the movie, “Tootsie,” as well as writing and/or singing 13 other films including, “Animal House.”and composing “Separate Lives,” for the film “White Nights.” His songs have been recorded by: Beyonce, 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. He appeared as the “Charming Guitar Player” in “Animal House,” wherein John Belushi slammed his guitar to smithereens in the Toga Party scene. Stephen was nominated for two Grammys and awarded an Oscar nomination for his song, “Separate Lives,” which became a No. 1 hit for Phil Collins and Marilyn Martin. In Eric Clapton’s autobiography, Eric mentions Stephen as “One of the great singer songwriters.”
Stephen just released his 25 year Anniversary Album, “Bowling in Paris,” Remastered with new artwork and the
album features Sting on bass and vocals, Eric Clapton and Phil Collins and is produced by Michael Omartian and Phil Collins.
Stephen has released two new albums last year..”Be Here Then,” a new studio album and “Stephen Bishop LIVE,” an album of his hits and popular favorites as well as a few new songs. He has also returned from a successful tour in Asia last year.. “His newest single is called, “Pretty Baby.” from his new studio Album, “be here then.” Recently, Beyonce released her Platinum Beyonce Album which includes, “Ring Off..” co-written by Stephen and Beyonce. Stephen just released his newest album, “Blueprint,” Produced by Jon Gilutin.
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