Monday, December 10, 2012

Stephen Stills

Stephen Stills
Stephen Arthur Stills (born January 3, 1945) is an American guitarist and singer/songwriter best known for his work with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills & Nash (and Young). He has performed on a professional level in several other bands as well as maintaining a solo career at the same time. Stills was ranked #28 in Rolling Stone Magazine's 2003 list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". Stills became the first person to be inducted twice on the same night into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his work with CSN and Buffalo Springfield.

uring the disintegration of Buffalo Springfield, Stills played on the Super Session album with Al Kooper, and joined up with David Crosby, who had recently been ejected from The Byrds in the autumn of 1967. At a party in the Laurel Canyon neighborhood, according to various sources either at the home of Cass Elliott or Joni Mitchell, Graham Nash joined in a rendition by Crosby and Stills of the latter's "You Don't Have to Cry," this leading to the formation of Crosby, Stills & Nash. Several of Stills' songs, including "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" and "You Don't Have To Cry" on the debut album were inspired by his on-again-off-again relationship with singer Judy Collins. In a 1971 interview in Rolling Stone the interviewer noted "so many of your songs seem to be about Judy Collins." Stills replied, "Well, there are three things men can do with women: love them, suffer for them, or turn them into literature. I've had my share of success and failure at all three.

During a Manassas tour in France, Stills met and married his first wife singer-songwriter VĂ©ronique Sanson. Stills has since divorced and remarried twice; his third wife is Kristen Hathoway.

Stills' son, Justin Stills, was critically injured at age 26 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. Another son, Henry, has been diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, and is profiled in the 2007 documentary Autism: The Musical. 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.

Like all four members of CSNY, Stills has long been involved in liberal causes and politics. In 2000, Stills served as a member of the Democratic credentials committee from Florida during the Democratic National Convention, and was an actual delegate in previous years.
Stills performing with his band at the Wilbur Theater in Boston, Massachusetts on October 23, 2011.

The comic book series Scott Pilgrim features a character by the name of Stephen Stills, referred to as "The Talent" by the band he shares with the titular character. The character also plays an acoustic guitar and sings, and is often portrayed wearing the kind of western shirts that Stills has as standard wardrobe. The series also has a reference to Stills' collaborator Neil Young in the character of Young Neil.



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