Stephen Bishop has been one of my favorite singer-songwriters since he emerged in 1976. Besides being an excellent songwriter, he possesses one of the most fabulous vocal instruments in pop music, with a legendary falsetto he slips into and out of effortlessly. Want more? He is a wonderful acoustic guitarist. I have spent many hours figuring out how to replicate some of his intricate fretwork.He began his career as a songwriter for a publishing house. He released a close-to-perfection first album "Careless", which generated the hits "On And On" and "Save It For A Rainy Day". This 1976 LP was the pinnacle of his commercial success, followed by the weaker "Bish" in 1978. Other career highlights include the hit theme song from the movie "Tootsie" (Dustin Hoffman in drag) "It Might Be You", writing "Separate Lives", which was a hit for Phil Collins, and appearing in the movie "Animal House". Do you remember the scene where John Belushi grabs a guitar from an earnest folkie on the staircase and smashes it against the wall? That folkie is Stephen.But there has been a lot of great music since then, without the commercial success. After a third LP, "Red Cab to Manhattan" issued in 1980 there was a nine-year gap until his next CD "Bowling in Paris" (great songs, but too full of 80s instrumentation and little acoustic guitar), then seven more years until "Blue Guitars", one of his best. Since then, there has been a LOT of Bishop material issued, mostly through his website and CD Baby - three CDs of demos, an all-acoustic "Yardwork" and, just this year, "Saudade". This latest CD is only available from Target stores, online or in-store. You can find the link by going to stephenbishop.com. This one is a little different, as there is a strong Brazilian flavor (calling Ivylander!) in the arrangements and the contributions of legendary Brazilian guitarist Oscar Castro-Neves. Here is a lovely track from the latest CD, "Take This Empty Heart": And a couple of live performance videos. I'm not sure of the venue, but here is Stephen doing a better-than-the record performance of "It Might Be You":And, from Saturday Night Live, a performance of "On And On"
PopeyePete says
Ocean, did you see Animal House? Well Stephen Bishop is the dude singing "I gave my love a chicken that had no bone..." etc. Then Bluto (John Belushi) grans his guitar and smashes it against the wall.
"On and On" is one of the first songs I remember hearing on the radio when I was really small.
Stephen Bishop has been one of my favorite singer-songwriters since he emerged in 1976. Besides being an excellent songwriter, he possesses one of the most fabulous vocal instruments in pop music, with a legendary falsetto he slips into and out of effortlessly. Want more? He is a wonderful acoustic guitarist. I have spent many hours figuring out how to replicate some of his intricate fretwork.He began his career as a songwriter for a publishing house. He released a close-to-perfection first album "Careless", which generated the hits "On And On" and "Save It For A Rainy Day". This 1976 LP was the pinnacle of his commercial success, followed by the weaker "Bish" in 1978. Other career highlights include the hit theme song from the movie "Tootsie" (Dustin Hoffman in drag) "It Might Be You", writing "Separate Lives", which was a hit for Phil Collins, and appearing in the movie "Animal House". Do you remember the scene where John Belushi grabs a guitar from an earnest folkie on the staircase and smashes it against the wall? That folkie is Stephen.But there has been a lot of great music since then, without the commercial success. After a third LP, "Red Cab to Manhattan" issued in 1980 there was a nine-year gap until his next CD "Bowling in Paris" (great songs, but too full of 80s instrumentation and little acoustic guitar), then seven more years until "Blue Guitars", one of his best. Since then, there has been a LOT of Bishop material issued, mostly through his website and CD Baby - three CDs of demos, an all-acoustic "Yardwork" and, just this year, "Saudade". This latest CD is only available from Target stores, online or in-store. You can find the link by going to stephenbishop.com. This one is a little different, as there is a strong Brazilian flavor (calling Ivylander!) in the arrangements and the contributions of legendary Brazilian guitarist Oscar Castro-Neves. Here is a lovely track from the latest CD, "Take This Empty Heart": And a couple of live performance videos. I'm not sure of the venue, but here is Stephen doing a better-than-the record performance of "It Might Be You":And, from Saturday Night Live, a performance of "On And On"
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