Stephen Stills
Stephen Arthur Stills (born January 3, 1945 in Dallas , Texas , USA ) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and music producer, who mainly works as a guitarist and as a co-founder of the influential groups Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young got known. His career began in 1964 and continues to this day. In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine voted him 28th on the list of the “100 best guitarists of all time”. In 2011 he landed at number 47. His best-known pieces include For What It's Worth , Suite: Judy Blue Eyes , Love The One You're With , Change Partners and Southern Cross, as well as the songs Black Queen and Treetop, which are particularly popular in live performances Flyer .
Musical career
"Travelin '" - childhood and adolescence
Stephen Stills was born in Dallas, Texas to Talitha Quintilla Stills (nee Collard) and William Arthur Stills. Since Father William was in the Army and was constantly being transferred, the family moved frequently. Stills developed an interest in blues and folk music at an early age . He continued to develop an interest in Latin American music after spending his youth in places such as Gainesville and Tampa , Covington , Costa Rica ( Panama Canal Zone ) and El Salvador , where he graduated from high school. He attended schools such as the Admiral Farragut Academy in St. Petersburg and the Saint Leo University in St. Leo . Stills also discovered his passion for sailing in his youth . Through his stays in many different countries and cities, he speaks fluent Spanish and French in addition to his native English.
“So Begins the Task” - beginnings in New York and with Buffalo Springfield
Finally, Stills began his career in New York in the early 1960s. Here he played with the Au Go Go Singers , the "house band" of the New York club Cafe au go go , with whom he released a record in 1964. Richie Furay was there too . On a tour of the band, both met Neil Young , with whom Stills worked repeatedly over the course of his career.
In 1966, Stills formed the band Buffalo Springfield with Young, Furay, Bruce Palmer and Dewey Martin . Their biggest hit, For What It's Worth , came from his pen. A year and a half and three albums later, Buffalo Springfield finally broke up and Stills played with Al Kooper and Mike Bloomfield the album Super Session (1968), which rose to number 12 on the US charts.
"Three Together" - Crosby, Stills & Nash
In the same year he met David Crosby , with whom he founded the trio Crosby, Stills and Nash in 1969 - when Graham Nash joined the company. On the group's 1969 debut album - simply titled Crosby, Stills & Nash - Stills turned out to be not only the main songwriter of the group: of ten songs he wrote four alone and co-wrote one. He also appeared as a pronounced multi-instrumentalist : apart from the drums, he had played almost all instruments (guitar, bass, piano, percussion) on his own and was only occasionally supported by Crosby on the rhythm guitar.
All four played with Neil Young at the legendary Woodstock Festival . It was only the band's second public appearance. A short time later they also appeared at the tragic Altamont Free Concert .
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"For What It's Worth" - stills at the height of your career
Between 1967 and 1978 Stills was at the height of his creative potential, which most critics agree that he was never able to use again. Late highlights, such as the album Stills Alone (1991), remained unique highlights of an otherwise inconsistent and often mediocre work. From the mid-1960s to the 1970s , Stills was very successful with Buffalo Springfield , Crosby, Stills & Nash and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and released solo recordings from 1970 or together with his companion band Manassas (1972–1973 ) recorded albums. During this time he released a total of 20 albums and had great commercial success , especially with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young . The Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young plates Déjà Vu (1970), 4 Way Street (1971) and So Far (1974) all reached # 1 in the US LP charts, the Crosby, Stills & Nash -Werk CSN (1977) took it to number 2, her follow-up album Daylight Again (1982) at least to number 8. His most successful solo album was Stephen Stills (1970, number 3 in the US LP charts), on which guests a. a. Jimi Hendrix , Eric Clapton , Ringo Starr , David Crosby, Graham Nash and John Sebastian could be heard. Stephen Stills 2 (1971, No. 7), Manassas (1972, No. 4), Manassas - Down The Road (1973, No. 8) and the album Long May You Run ( released with Neil Young as The Stills-Young Band ) were also successful. 1976, 12th place). Stills was rarely at the top of the singles charts: only For What It's Worth (1967), published with Buffalo Springfield , made it to number 7 on the US charts. After all, Love The One You're With from his first solo album (# 14) and Southern Cross , in 1982 a # 18 for Crosby, Stills & Nash, made it into the top 20 .
Between 1967 and 1973 Stills established himself as one of the leading rock guitarists and singers, who was also praised for his creative, stylistically diverse songwriting.
"Hung Upside Down" - Declining success from the late 1970s
From the mid-1970s onwards, things got pretty quiet around him. Although he continued to release solo records, his only success was still with Stills (1975). Illegal Stills (1976) and Thoroughfare Gap (1978) - although they contained some beautiful titles - were neither artistically nor commercially successful. The artistic low point of his solo career was marked by the over-produced album Right by You - released in 1984 as the first solo work since Thoroughfare Gap - although it had guests like Jimmy Page . Most notably, critics noted that Stills' songwriting qualities had deteriorated since the 1970s, though he continued to be a good singer and outstanding guitarist. Righty by You was Stills' last solo release on a major label , after which Atlantic Records dismissed him as a solo artist.
In 1991 Stills made a comeback as a solo artist: Stills Alone was considered very successful, but was released without much public attention and was therefore not particularly successful commercially. For Stephen Stills, however, it marked the first artistic climax in a long time. His output as a solo artist, which is characterized by fluctuating success, means that Stills is mainly associated with Crosby, Stills, Nash (& Young) , although only eight of his almost 30 studio albums were created in the context of this band - including all three of his with gold excellent albums.
"Man Alive" - stills in the 21st century
In 2005, after a 14 year hiatus, he released a new solo album entitled Man Alive! . Even if the time of great sales successes for stills seemed long over, he brought out interesting albums again and again in the following years: Just Roll Tape - April 26th, 1968 (2007) is a collection of demo recordings that his undisputed Documented songwriting talent from the early years. Live at Shepherd's Bush (2009), recorded in 2008 in London during his first (!) Solo tour through Europe, offers a varied overview of his career. In March 2013, Carry On was released, an 82-track box set (25 of which were unreleased), which received critical acclaim. The 4 CD set contains recordings from 1962 to 2012, including all hits, but also rarities and live versions as well as - in addition to the extensive solo material - recordings with all the bands in which Stills has ever played. Also in 2013, the blues-rock album Can't Get Enough was released , which Stills recorded together with the comparatively young guitar virtuoso Kenny Wayne Shepherd and keyboard legend Barry Goldberg under the band name The Rides . The record was Stills' first success in the US charts for almost 30 years and reached number 42. In Germany it even came to number 15, which is the highest chart position in Germany for each of the three main participants as a solo artist meant. In 2016 a second album together with the title Pierced Arrow followed . Both albums reached number 1 on the US blues charts.
While his record sales have seen all the ups and downs of the music business, Stills has consistently remained a successful live artist. Even today he is regularly on tour with his own band, with The Rides or - so far in 2015 - with Crosby, Stills, Nash (& Young) . In 2017 he was on stage with Judy Collins for the first time for a US tour to promote their album Everybody Knows , which was released in September 2017.
Musical style
Stephen Stills has tried his hand at a variety of musical genres, with folk , rock and country elements dominating and combined with influences from various North and South American roots music traditions. He has always managed - with varying degrees of success - to make these diverse influences noticeable in his music: In addition to folk and country sounds, his excursions into the southern blues (e.g. Black Queen , 1970) or into the Latin American music (e.g. Pensamiento , 1973; Dark Star , 1977; Amazonia , 1991; Panama , 1994) are noteworthy. In various pieces he also sings - mostly individual passages - in Spanish (e.g. Spanish Suite , 2005), in Midnight In Paris (1976) even in French. In addition, he also experimented with disco sounds (e.g. on Thoroughfare Gap , the song of the same name, of all things , being so beneficial) and bluegrass (e.g. on Manassas (1972) and the piece No Hiding Place , 1984). Since the beginning of the 90s he has been orienting himself more towards folk and rock music.
His records from the mid-70s and 80s are often characterized by large-scale instrumentation, only his album Stills Alone (1991) stands out. It is characteristic of many of his best-known songs that their title often does not appear in the lyrics (e.g. For What It's Worth , Rock and Roll Woman , Suite: Judy Blue Eyes , Black Coral , War Games ), the first words of the Text without being sung again afterwards (e.g. Helplessly Hoping , 4 + 20 , So Begins The Task , As I Come Of Age ), or only appears in a place outside the chorus (e.g. Bluebird , Myth of Sisyphus , Thoroughfare Gap , Southern Cross ). This means that Stills' songs can often be recognized quite easily based on the refrain or distinctive guitar melodies, but their respective title is far less known.
“Do For the Others” - stills as guest musicians
Stills not only surrounds himself with outstanding musicians on his albums, he can also be heard on numerous productions by well-known artists. He played guitar on Ringo Starr's hit It Don't Come Easy (1971; produced by George Harrison ) and co-wrote and produced the song You've Got a Nice Way (1981). Stills can be heard as a singer on Neil Young's albums After the Gold Rush (1970), Harvest (1972), Zuma (1975) and Americana (2012). In 1970 he played the piano at Rolling Stones concerts and accompanied his wife Véronique Sanson's 1975 tour of France as a bassist. For Judy Collins he produced her album Who Knows Where the Time Goes (1968) and sang with her the duet Last Thing on My Mind on the album Paradise (2010). He played guitar and bass for Joni Mitchell on their album Blue . In 1998 he could be heard as guitarist and singer on the song He Got Game by the hip-hop band Public Enemy and also appeared in the accompanying music video . The music for the song was taken from Stills' hit For What It's Worth . Blues legend Jimmy Rogers brought Stills into the studio in 1997 for his "Jimmy Rogers All-Stars". On two tracks of the album Blues, Blues, Blues, which was only released after Rogers' death, Stills was a singer and guitarist. The Texan spoken word poet George Watsky invited Stills to come into the studio as a guest singer in 2014 and released the title Cannonball with him . A jam session with Jimi Hendrix has not been released before . The biggest hit that Stills was ever heard on is a work as a guest musician: In 1976 he played the (easy-to-hear) timbales on the Bee Gees song You Should Be Dancing , which became a worldwide hit.
Honors
Stephen Stills is the only musician to be inducted twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on the same evening : in 1997, he received the honor as a member of both Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills & Nash .
He was also inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in June 2009 .
In 2011, the Rolling Stone listed Stills 47th of the 100 best guitarists of all time . In a list from 2003 he was ranked 28th.
Private
Around 1968 Stills was in a relationship with the folk singer Judy Collins , to whom he later dedicated the song Suite: Judy Blue Eyes . This piece was published by the group Crosby, Stills & Nash . Other songs that he wrote for or about Judy Collins are among his best-known pieces. B. Bluebird ( Buffalo Springfield , 1967), You Don't Have To Cry ( Crosby, Stills & Nash , 1969), and Bluebird Revisited (1971). From 1973 to 1979 Stills was married to the French singer and songwriter Véronique Sanson . Their son is the musician Christopher Stills .
In December 2007 it was announced that Stills had prostate cancer . Stills' friend and bandmate Graham Nash made this public on Larry King's talk show . According to his wife Kristen, Stills survived the necessary operation on his 63rd birthday, January 3, 2008, very well.
Discography
For placements apart from the solo projects, see the corresponding artist page.
solo
Studio albums
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 UK
|
 US
|
|||
| 1970 | Stephen Stills |
UK8 (9 weeks) UK |
US3  (39 weeks)US |
|
| 1971 | Stephen Stills 2 |
UK22 (3 weeks) UK |
US8th (20 weeks)US |
|
| 1975 | Stills |
UK33 (1 week) UK |
US22 (17 weeks) US |
|
| 1976 | Illegal stills |
UK54 (2 weeks) UK |
US30 (15 weeks) US |
|
| 1978 | Thoroughfare Gap | - |
US83 (4 weeks) US |
|
| 1984 | Right by you | - |
US75 (12 weeks) US |
|
More solo albums
- 1991: Stills Alone
- 2005: Man Alive!
- 2007: Just Roll Tape - April 26th 1968 (demo recordings)
- 2013: Carry On (Box-Set) (4-CD-Set with numerous unpublished recordings from all creative phases and with all bands, 1962–2012)
- 2017: Everybody Knows (with Judy Collins)
Live albums
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
UK
|
US
|
|||
| 1975 | live | - |
US42 (11 weeks) US |
|
More live albums
- 2009: Live at Shepherd's Bush
- Since 2014, a number of CDs with concert recordings that were broadcast on the radio at the time have been released. This was made possible by a European change in law; however, the recordings are not official releases authorized by the artist.
Compilations
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
UK
|
US
|
|||
| 1976 | Still Stills: The Best Of Stephen Stills | - |
US127 (5 weeks) US |
|
More compilations
- 2003: Turnin 'Back The Pages
- 2013: Carry On
Solo singles
| year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
UK
|
US
|
|||
| 1970 | Love the One You're With Stephen Stills |
UK37 (4 weeks) UK |
US14 (11 weeks) US |
|
| 1971 | Sit Yourself Down Stephen Stills |
- |
US37 (6 weeks) US |
|
| Change Partners Stephen Stills 2 |
- |
US43 (9 weeks) US |
||
| Marianne Stephen Stills 2 |
- |
US43 (8 weeks) US |
||
| 1975 | Turn Back The Pages Stills |
- |
US84 (3 weeks) US |
|
| 1984 | Can't Let Go Right By You |
- |
US67 (6 weeks) US |
|
| Stranger Right By You |
- |
US81 (8 weeks) US |
||
More solo singles
- 1976: Buyin 'Time
- 1978: Can't Get No Booty
- 1984: Only Love Can Break Your Heart
Guest Posts
| year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 DE
|
UK
|
|||
| 1998 | He Got Game He Got Game |
DE70 (7 weeks) DE |
UK16 (4 weeks) UK |
Public Enemy feat. Stephen Stills
|
Al Kooper and Mike Bloomfield
- 1968: Super session
Manassas
- 1972: Manassas (US:gold)
- 1973: Down The Road
- 2009: Pieces (unreleased material from the 1970s)
Au Go Go Singers
- 1964: They Call Us Au Go Go Singers
Buffalo Springfield
- 1967: Buffalo Springfield
- 1967: Buffalo Springfield Again
- 1968: Last Time Around
Crosby, Stills and Nash
- 1969: Crosby, Stills & Nash
- 1977: CSN
- 1982: Daylight Again
- 1983: Allies (mostly live recordings of the CSN tours of 1977 and 1982)
- 1990: Live It Up
- 1991: CSN (Box-Set) (4-CD-Set with numerous unreleased recordings, partly also CSNY)
- 1994: After The Storm
- 2007: Live in LA (recordings from 1982)
- 2009: Demos
- 2012: CSN 2012 (live recordings of the US tour from April 2012)
Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young
- 1970: Déjà Vu
- 1971: 4 Way Street
- 1988: American Dream
- 1999: Looking Forward
- 2008: Déjà Vu / LIVE (live recordings of the "Freedom of Speech" tour 2006)
- 2014: CSNY 1974 (live recordings of the legendary stadium tour 1974)
The Stills-Young Band
- 1976: Long May You Run
The rides
- 2013: Can't Get Enough (with Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Barry Goldberg )
- 2016: Pierced Arrow (with Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Barry Goldberg)
Web links
- Sound carrier by Stephen Stills in the catalog of the German National Library
- Homepage of Stephen Stills
Individual evidence
- ↑ 28. Stephen Stills. In: rollingstone.com. December 2, 2010, accessed November 6, 2017 .
- ↑ a b 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. Rolling Stone , December 18, 2015, accessed August 8, 2017 .
- ↑ For details on Stephen Arthur Stills, "Texas Birth Index, 1903-1997." Retrieved November 6, 2017 .
- ↑ Zimmer, Dave. Crosby, Stills & Nash: The Biography, Philadelphia: Da Capo Press, 2008, p. 8th
- ↑ See Scott Young, Neil and Me , 2nd A., Toronto 1997
- ↑ Rob Hughes: Album Review "Stephen Stills: Just Roll Tape - April 26, 1968". In: www.uncut.co.uk. Retrieved November 6, 2017 .
- ↑ Rob Hughes, Album Review, op.cit.
- ↑ See the review by James Chrispell on www.allmusic.com [1]
- ↑ Music Sales Awards: US
- ↑ Review on the specialist portal allmusic
- ↑ The recordings have not yet been published, there are photos of them. a. here: [2]
- ↑ See his profile in the Hall of Fame on the Internet. Archived copy ( Memento of the original from May 20, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time - David Fricke's Picks. Rolling Stone , December 2, 2010, accessed August 8, 2017 .
- ↑ See various media reports, u. a. on www.bunte.de and www.viviano.de. [3]
- ↑ See the report on www.viviano.de. [4]
- ↑ a b c d e Chart sources: DE UK UK guest posts US
- ↑ Music Sales Awards: US
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Stills, Stephen |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Stills, Stephen Arthur (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American musician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 3, 1945 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Dallas , Texas , USA |