Stephen Stills
Stephen Arthur Stills 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 Stones 2003 list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and number 47 in the 2011 list. Stills became the first person to be inducted twice on the same night into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Early in 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".
After Buffalo Springfield disbanded, Stills began working with David Crosby and Graham Nash as the trio called Crosby, Stills & Nash. 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. 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. CSN reunited in 1977 for its album CSN, which became the trio's best-selling record. CSN and CSNY continued to have platinum albums through the 1980s.
Early years
Stills was born in Dallas, Texas, to Talitha Quintilla Collard and William Arthur Stills. Stills moved frequently 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 H.B. Plant High School in Tampa, Florida, Admiral Farragut Academy in St. Petersburg, Florida and Saint Leo College Preparatory School in Saint Leo, Florida, before graduating from Lincoln High School in Costa Rica. He has two sisters, Talitha and Hannah.When he was nine years old, he was diagnosed with partial hearing loss in one ear. The hearing loss increased as he got older.
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 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.
Stills later 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. Stills nominally auditioned for the group that would become The Monkees; the producers of the show decided he was not photogenic enough for the part nor were they interested in his songwriting, but did accept Stills's recommendation for someone who looked vaguely like him but more attractive: Peter Tork.
Life and career
Buffalo Springfield and Super Session (1966–1968)
Stills, Furay, and Young reunited in Los Angeles and formed the core of Buffalo Springfield. Legend has it that Stills and Furay recognized Young's converted hearse and flagged him down, a meeting described in a recent solo track "Round the Bend". Buffalo Springfield performed a mixture of folk, country, psychedelia, and rock. Its sound was lent a hard edge by the twin lead guitars of Stills and Young, and that combination helped make Buffalo Springfield a critical success. The band's first record Buffalo Springfield sold well after Stills's topical song "For What It's Worth" became a top ten hit, reaching No. 7 on the US charts.Distrust of their management along with the arrest and deportation of bassist Bruce Palmer worsened the already strained relations among the group members and led to Buffalo Springfield's demise. A second album, Buffalo Springfield Again, was released in late 1967 and featured Stills songs "Bluebird" and "Rock And Roll Woman". In May 1968, the band split up for good, but contractual obligations required the recording and release of a final studio album, Last Time Around. The album was primarily composed of tracks recorded earlier that year. A Stills song from their debut album, "Sit Down, I Think I Love You", was a minor hit for The Mojo Men in 1967.
After the disintegration of Buffalo Springfield, Stills played on half of the Super Session album with Al Kooper in 1968, including a cover of Donovan's "Season of the Witch" that received heavy radio play on progressive FM radio formats. Mike Bloomfield was slated to play on the other half of the album but failed to turn up for the second day of recording. The album sold well and charted at No. 12 on the US charts while being certified Gold in December 1970.
Joni Mitchell (1968–1972)
As a session musician, Stills featured on various albums recorded by fellow artist Joni Mitchell. He was invited by David Crosby to play on Mitchell's 1968 debut album Song to a Seagull, on the track "Night in the City". Throughout the years from 1968 to 1972, Stills played on a variety of Mitchell's studio albums such as Song to a Seagull, Clouds, Ladies of the Canyon, Blue, and For the Roses. Mitchell used his bass playing for songs like "Carey".Stills was an influence on Mitchell's dulcimer sound, since she first discovered the instrument at Big Sur in 1969. Mitchell had observed Stills' aggressive, rhythmic style and transformed it into a unique rawness. She embraced her new sound, which can be heard on the 1970 album Blue. In 1972, Stills was credited as the rock 'n' roll band in "Blonde in the Bleachers". His multi-instrumentalist musicianship can be heard in these guest appearances on her albums. Stills' rendition with CS&N of Mitchell's "Woodstock" transformed her folk-based song into an electric rock 'n' roll showpiece.
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (1969–1970)
In late 1968, Stills joined forces with David Crosby and Graham Nash to form Crosby, Stills & Nash. Several of Stills's songs on the group's debut album, including "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" and "You Don't Have to Cry", were inspired by his on-again off-again relationship with singer Judy Collins. The album reached No. 6 on the US charts and was certified quadruple platinum.Stills dominated the recording of the album. Crosby and Nash played guitar on their own songs respectively, while drummer Dallas Taylor played on four tracks and drummer Jim Gordon on a fifth. Stills played all the bass, organ, and lead guitar parts, as well as acoustic guitar on his own songs.
Wanting to tour and needing additional musicians to fill out their sound, the band invited former Buffalo Springfield member Neil Young to join them for their first tour and second album to make the group the quartet Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. The first tour started in August 1969 and finished in January 1970, followed by the recording their debut album as a quartet, Déjà Vu. The foursome quarrelled frequently throughout the recording sessions, in particular Stills and Young, who both fought for control. Stills composed the songs "Carry On" and "4 + 20" and co-wrote "Everybody I Love You" with Young. He also brought his version of Joni Mitchell's song "Woodstock" for the band to cover. The album reached No. 1 on the US charts and was certified 7 times platinum there, selling over 8 million copies.
In May 1970, CSN&Y recorded Young's "Ohio" following the Kent State massacre on May 4. The single's B-side was Stills's "Find the Cost of Freedom". The single was rush-released by Atlantic Records at the same time as the group's "Teach Your Children" was climbing the charts. After an extended second tour finishing in July 1970, the band split up acrimoniously. Stills moved to England and started recording his debut solo album.
In April 1971, CSN&Y released 4 Way Street, a double live album recorded in 1970. The album reached No. 1 in 1971 on the US charts and was certified quadruple platinum in the US.
Having played at the Monterey Pop Festival with Buffalo Springfield and both Woodstock and Altamont with CSN&Y, Stills performed at three of the most iconic U.S. rock festivals of the 1960s. During CSN&Y's set at Altamont Free Concert, Stills was reported to have been repeatedly stabbed in the leg by a "stoned-out" Hells Angel, with a sharpened bicycle spoke. At the band's request, their performance was not included in the subsequent film Gimme Shelter.
Peak solo years (1970–71)
In the wake of CSNY's success, all four members recorded high-profile solo albums. In 1970, Stills released his eponymous solo debut album featuring guests Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Cass Elliot, Booker T Jones and Ringo Starr as well as Crosby, Nash, Rita Coolidge and CSN&Y drummers Dallas Taylor and Johnny Barbata. It provided Stills with the US No. 14 hit single "Love the One You're With", and another US top 40 hit "Sit Yourself Down", peaking at No. 37. The album peaked at No. 3 on the US charts, a solo career peak. At the time of release, Stills's album was the highest selling solo album out of the four. It was recorded in the UK, where Stills bought a mansion in Surrey, England, previously owned by Starr. To promote the album, Stills appeared on the BBC television show Disco 2 in January 1971.The 1970 album cover was shot by photographer Henry Diltz in Colorado, in the early hours of the morning after the death of Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix's untimely death affected Stills immensely. Ever since being first introduced to Hendrix at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, Stills was inspired by the guitarist and had befriended him. In 1969, Stills was invited to temporarily join the Jimi Hendrix Experience on tour as their bass player, but was held up by previous commitments with CSN&Y. In early 1971, on the French music show Pop 2, Stills talked about the influence that Hendrix had on him as a person and a musician:
Stills followed this first album with his second solo album, Stephen Stills 2, six months later. Recorded in Miami, the album included the singles "Change Partners" and "Marianne", which reached Nos. 43 and 42 in the US. The album itself reached No. 8 on the chart and was certified US Gold a month after release. Even though "Change Partners" was written before CSN formed, Nash saw it as a metaphor for the many relationships in CSN&Y. Stills initially recorded 23 songs and hoped to release them as a double album; this was ultimately rejected by Atlantic.
Stills embarked on his first solo US tour with an eight-piece band including the Memphis Horns, in which he sold out Madison Square Garden, The Philadelphia Spectrum, LA Forum and the Boston Garden, arguably at his solo commercial peak. Stills's performance at Madison Square Garden occurred one day prior to George Harrison's Concert For Bangladesh. Stills donated his stage, sound, lighting system and production manager, but was later upset when Harrison "neglected to invite him to perform, mention his name, or say thank you". Stills then spent the show drunk in Ringo Starr's dressing room, "barking at everyone". Stills's Madison Square Garden show was professionally recorded and remains unreleased, except for a clip of "Go Back Home" that was broadcast in early 1972 on The Old Grey Whistle Test. Two additional acoustic tracks were released on Stills's 2013 box set Carry On.
In 1971, Billboard magazine ranked him at No. 34 top singles artist, No. 44 top album artist, No. 14 top singles male vocalist, No. 12 top new singles vocalist, No. 17 top album male vocalists, No. 14 top new album artist, number 73 top producers, and ranked his debut album number 70 in the year end album charts. Additionally, Cashbox ranked Stephen Stills 2 as the No. 51 album of 1971, and his debut as No. 52.