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 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.” 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 incorporating his own original songs with various songs from top 40...
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...many years went by. At one point, Stephen
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.”
He started playing around town singing his songs in person for artists like,“Barbra Streisand...Bette Midler..Diana Ross...Michelle Phillips...”
Shortly thereafter, he was signed to ABC Records who released his first album, “Careless.” His two hits from that album were,”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,” from the movie, “Tootsie,” as
well as writing and/or singing 13 other films including, “Animal House,” and
“Separate Lives..” from “White Nights.” His songs have been sung by artists
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 a two Grammy’s and an Oscar nomination for his
song, “Separate Lives”. His last CD was entitled, “Blue Guitars..” His
newest album is an acoustic guitar and vocal solo album called, "YARDWORK."
MCA recently released a hit compilation in the Millennium series that is currently out in the stores...
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