Stephen Bishop

Singer/songwriter Stephen Bishop was born on November 14, 1951 in San Diego, California. Bishop was inspired to become involved with music after he saw the Beatles performing on "The Ed Sullivan Show." While in high school Stephen formed the band the Weeds; the group performed at local fraternity parties. In the late 60s Bishop went to Los Angeles, California to fulfill his dream of becoming a successful professional musician. It took him seven years to finally get signed by the label ABC Records; he was discovered by Art Garfunkel in 1976 and had been working for a music publishing company where he wrote songs for Chaka Khan, Barbra Streisand, and The Four Tops. His debut album "Careless" not only beget the hit songs "On and On" and "Save It For a Rainy Day," but also went gold and was nominated for a Grammy Award. His follow-up album "Bish" likewise did well. However, Stephen achieved his greatest success composing songs for a handful of movies which include "The China Syndrome," "Roadie," "Summer Lovers," "Tootsie," "Unfaithfully Yours," "Micki & Maude," "The Money Pit," "The Boy Who Could Fly," "Heart & Souls," "How to Deal," and "The Hitcher." "Separate Lives," Bishop's terrific theme song for the film "White Nights," was especially well received: the duet between Phil Collins and Marilyn Martin was a #1 Billboard chart hit and was nominated for an Oscar. Among the artists who have sung Stephen's songs are Eric Clapton, Steve Perry, Kenny Loggins, Phoebe Snow, Johnny Mathis, Art Garfunkel, Stephanie Mills, and David Crosby. Bishop has appeared in small roles in four pictures for director John Landis; he has a memorably funny part as the annoying folk singer who has his acoustic guitar smashed by John Belushi in "Animal House" (Stephen also sang the ending credits theme song in a squeaky falsetto voice). Stephen Bishop still continues to record the occasional album and performs in concerts all over the world.