Stephen Stills
Stephen Arthur Stills (born January 3, 1945)[1] is an American musician, singer, and songwriter best known for his work with Buffalo Springfield, Crosby, Stills & Nash, and Manassas. As both a solo act and member of three successful bands, Stills has combined record sales of over 35 million albums. He was ranked number 28 in Rolling Stone's 2003 list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time"[2] and number 47 in the 2011 list.[3] Stills became the first person to be inducted twice on the same night into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. According to Neil Young, "Stephen is a genius".[4]
This article is about the musician. For his self-titled album, see Stephen Stills (album). For the character in Scott Pilgrim, see Stephen Stills (Scott Pilgrim character).
Stephen Stills
- Musician
- singer
- songwriter
- record producer
1963–present
7
- Vocals
- guitar
- bass guitar
- keyboards
Beginning his professional career with Buffalo Springfield, he composed "For What It's Worth," which became one of the most recognizable songs of the 1960s. Other notable songs he contributed to the band were "Sit Down, I Think I Love You", "Bluebird", and "Rock & Roll Woman". According to bandmate Richie Furay, Stills was "the heart and soul of Buffalo Springfield".[5]
After Buffalo Springfield disbanded, Stills began working with David Crosby and Graham Nash as the trio called Crosby, Stills & Nash (CSN). In addition to writing many of the band's songs, Stills played bass, guitar, and keyboards on their debut album. The album sold over four million copies and at that point had outsold anything from the three members' prior bands: the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, and the Hollies. The album won the trio a Grammy Award for Best New Artist.
Stills' first solo album, Stephen Stills, earned a gold record and is the only album to feature both Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton. Its hit single "Love the One You're With" became his biggest solo hit, peaking at number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100.[6] Stills followed this with a string of solo albums, as well as starting a band with Chris Hillman called Manassas in 1972. In summer 1974, Young reunited with CSN after a four-year hiatus for a concert tour that was recorded and released in 2014 as CSNY 1974. It was one of the first stadium tours and the largest tour the band has done to date.[7] CSN reunited in 1977 for their album CSN, which became the trio's best-selling record. CSN and CSNY continued to have platinum albums through the 1980s.
Early years[edit]
Stills was born in Dallas, Texas, to Talitha Quintilla Collard (1919-1996) and William Arthur Stills (1915–1986).[8][9] Raised in a military family, he moved around as a child and developed an interest in blues and folk music. He was also influenced by Latin music after spending his youth in Gainesville and Tampa, Florida, as well as Covington, Louisiana, Costa Rica, the Panama Canal Zone, and El Salvador. Stills attended Admiral Farragut Academy in St. Petersburg, Florida and Saint Leo College Preparatory School in Saint Leo, Florida,[10] before graduating from Lincoln High School in Costa Rica. He has sisters Talitha and Hannah.[11]
When he was nine years old, he was diagnosed with partial hearing loss in one ear. The hearing loss increased as he got older.[12]
Stills dropped out of Louisiana State University in the early 1960s. He played in a series of bands, including the Continentals, which then featured future Eagles guitarist Don Felder. Stills also sang as a solo artist at Gerde's Folk City, a well-known coffeehouse in Greenwich Village. Stills eventually ended up in a nine-member vocal harmony ensemble, the house act at the famous Cafe au Go Go in New York City, called the Au Go Go Singers, which included his future Buffalo Springfield bandmate Richie Furay. This ensemble did some touring in the Catskills and in the South, released one album in 1964, and then broke up in 1965. Afterwards, Stills formed a folk-rock band called the Company with four other former members of the Au Go Go Singers. The Company embarked on a six-week tour of Canada, where Stills met guitarist Neil Young. On the VH1 CSNY Legends special, Stills said that Young was doing what he always wanted to do, "play folk music in a rock band." The Company broke up in New York within four months; Stills did session work and went to various auditions. In 1966 he convinced a reluctant Furay, then living in Massachusetts, to move with him to California.
Personal life[edit]
Stills was involved with musician Judy Collins from 1968 to 1969 and wrote the song "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" for her. He dated actress and singer-songwriter Nancy Priddy, who was the inspiration for the Buffalo Springfield song "Pretty Girl Why".[37][38] Stills also had a short-term relationship with Rita Coolidge, as had Graham Nash, which apparently led to the initial breakup of CSNY, in 1970.[39] During a Manassas tour in France, Stills met his first wife, French singer-songwriter Véronique Sanson. They were married on March 14, 1973. Their son Christopher was born in 1974. They divorced in 1979.[40] In 1988, he married American model Pamela Ann Jordan,[41] with whom he had a daughter, Eleanor.[42] His third wife is Kristen Hathaway, whom he married on May 27, 1996.
In 1976, Stills told Rolling Stone, "My hearing has gotten to be a terrible problem. If I keep playing and touring the way I have been, I'll go deaf."[43]
Stills' son Justin Stills was born in 1972 to Harriet Tunis. Justin was critically injured while snowboarding on Mt. Charleston, just outside Las Vegas, in 1997. An episode of Discovery Health's documentary series Trauma: Life in the ER featured his treatment and recovery.[44] Another son, Henry, has been diagnosed with Asperger syndrome[45] and is profiled in the 2007 documentary Autism: The Musical. Stills' daughter Eleanor is a photographer and graduate of Art Center College of Design in Pasadena.[46] Since Eleanor's graduation, she has been responsible for all recent Crosby, Stills & Nash photography. Stills has another daughter, Alex, who attends Emerson College in Boston and currently plays in the rock band Stilljill.[47] His son Chris and daughter Jennifer are both recording artists. His youngest son, Oliver Ragland, was born in 2004 and named in honor of Neil Young, whose maternal family name is Ragland.[48]
Stills has long been involved in liberal causes and politics. In 2000, he served as a member of the Democratic Party credentials committee from Florida during the Democratic National Convention, and was a delegate in previous years.[49]
In December 2018, Stills received an Honorary Doctorate in Music from the University of Florida, Gainesville, where he was a speaker at the commencement ceremony.
Stills performed with Billy Porter during the 2020 Democratic National Convention.[50]
Style, musicianship, and sound[edit]
Stills is a guitarist whose music draws from myriad genres that include rock and roll, blues, gospel, country and folk music. In addition, Latin music has played a key role in both his approach to percussion and guitar and he is also a multi-instrumentalist, capable of playing keyboards, bass, percussion, congas, clavinet, electric piano, piano, organ, banjo and drums.[51]
Stills experimented with the guitar itself, including soaking strings in barbecue sauce[52] or flipping pickups to mimic Hendrix playing a right-handed guitar left-handed. He is also known for using alternate guitar tunings, particularly when performing acoustically. Often a long acoustic solo section of the show would showcase agile fingerstyle playing in standard and altered tunings. His primary alternate tuning is usually D A D F♯ A D, or "Palmer modal tuning which is 'E E E E B E' ", which can be heard in "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes," "Carry On," and "4 + 20."[53]
For the CSN debut album in 1969, Graham Nash commented that "Stephen had a vision, and David and I let him run with it."[54] Stills played every instrumental part on Crosby, Stills and Nash with the exception of some guitar by Crosby and Nash, and drums by Dallas Taylor.