Interviewing The Legends, October 2, 2018
Stephen Bishop is a world-class guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter with a celebrated career of over four decades of live performance, song craftsmanship, recording, and entertainment. A San Diego native, Stephen Bishop’s introduction to the music industry was after seeing the Beatles perform on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” at 13 years old. Shortly after seeing their performance, his brother Denny bought him an electric guitar. He began creating his own unique chords, melodies and writing original songs.
Numerous artists have recorded songs written by Bishop. These include:
- Art Garfunkel – "Looking for the Right One", "The Same Old Tears on a New Background", "Sail on a Rainbow", "One Less Holiday", "Slow Breakup", "King of Tonga", "If Love Takes You Away"
- Barbra Streisand – "One More Night"
- Eric Clapton – "Holy Mother"
- Four Tops – "Save It for a Rainy Day"
- Helen Reddy – "One More Night"
- Phil Collins & Marilyn Martin – "Separate Lives"
- Johnny Mathis – "One More Night", "Let Your Heart Remember"
- Kenny Loggins – "Give It Half a Chance"
- David Crosby – "Natalie"
- Luciano Pavarotti – "Holy Mother"
- Steve Perry – "Donna Please"
- Phoebe Snow – "Never Letting Go"
- Stephanie Mills – "Give It Half a Chance"
- Kenny Rankin – "On and On"
- Aswad – "On and On"
- Diane Schurr – "Red Cab to Manhattan"
- Cleo Laine – "One More Night"
- Frida – "Tell Me It's Over"
- Cheryl Ladd – "Rock and Roll Slave"
- Shelley Duvall – "Tiny Pillow"
- Yvonne Elliman – "Sailing Ships"
- Patricia Kaas – "When I Was in Love"
- James Lee Stanley – "Every Minute"
- Leah Kunkel – "A Fool at Heart", "Under the Jamaican Moon"
Guest, Stephen Bishop
S T E P H E N B I S H O P
CELEBRATING OVER FOUR DECADES
OF
LIVE PERFORMANCE,SONG CRAFTSMANSHIP, RECORDING,AND ENTERTAINMENT
Stephen Bishop is a world-class guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter with a celebrated career of over four decades of live performance, song craftsmanship, recording, and entertainment. A San Diego native, Stephen Bishop’s introduction to the music industry was after seeing the Beatles perform on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” at 13 years old. Shortly after seeing their performance, his brother Denny bought him an electric guitar. He began creating his own unique chords, melodies and writing original songs. The first song he ever wrote was called, “Surf’s Turf,” an instrumental. Less than a year after picking up the guitar, Stephen formed a band called, “The Weeds.” Soon after, they began performing at local venues, playing a mixture of original songs and popular hits on the radio at the time. As a band, the Weeds placed second at the Claremont Battle of the Bands in 1966.
After the Weeds disbanded, Stephen ventured to Los Angeles in the hopes of landing a songwriting contract. Stephen walked the streets of LA in the early 1970’s with nothing more than a $12 guitar. He began playing songs for different publishers in the area and landed a deal with Edwin H. Morris Publishing in Hollywood. Stephen was paid $50 per week. During his first few years at the publishing company, only one of his songs was recorded. At one point, Stephen considered leaving Los Angeles to work for his father's insurance company in San Diego. However, his friend Leah Kunkel connected him with Art Garfunkel. Art recorded two of Stephen's songs on his album, “Breakaway.”
Shortly thereafter, Stephen was signed to ABC Records. He released his first album, “Careless,” which had two popular hits, “On and On,” and “Save It For a Rainy Day.” It became gold certified, as well as his second album, “Bish.” Stephen Bishop has released 17 albums and has played his songs personally for Barbra Streisand, Diana Ross, Bette Midler, Melissa Manchester, and Katy Perry. His newest album, "Blueprint" was released in 2016. In Eric Clapton's autobiography, he mentions Stephen Bishop as one of his favorite songwriters.
Accomplishments
Stephen Bishop’s hit song, “It Might Be You,” was the theme to the film “Tootsie.” Stephen has written the themes to several films, including “Animal House,” "The Money Pit," and “White Nights.” His songs have been performed by Phil Collins, Eric Clapton, Barbra Streisand, Art Garfunkel, Steve Perry, Stephanie Mills, Kenny Loggins, Johnny Mathis, Phoebe Snow, David Crosby, The Four Tops, Aswad, Beyonce, and Pavarotti. Stephen was nominated for two Grammy's and awarded an Oscar nomination for his song, “Separate Lives.”
Fun Fact
Stephen appeared as the “Charming Guitar Player,” in Animal House. In the toga party scene, John Belushi slams Stephen's guitar to smithereens.
Recent News
On March 16th, 2018, Netflix released the film, "Benji." The main theme song for this movie, "Almost Home," was written by Stephen Bishop and Curt Sobel.
For more information about Stephen Bishop visit ...
Interviewing The Legends
Interviewing The Legends is devoted to promoting authors and musicians worldwide. Ray spotlights exclusive interviews with both legendary and up and coming artists. Ray also features the movers and shakers of the music and publishing industries and suggests important methods for getting the most out of your public relations and marketing methods.
Important links:
https://www.publicityworksagency.com/ Publicity Works Agency
https://www.classicrockmusicwriter.com/ The Classic Rock Music Reporter
http://www.classicrockhereandnow.com/ Classic Rock Here and Now
https://www.musictriedandtrue.com Music Tried and True
For more information about Stephen Bishop and concert dates visit … https://www.stephenbishop.com/
Also Purchase Stephen Bishop’s latest release Blueprint
at amazon
Very special thanks to LIZ OF STEPHEN BISHOP MUSIC & WINDSONG ENTERTAINMENT Artist Management & Consulting for arranging this interview with STEPHEN BISHOP and of course the dynamic duo of Doug & Don Newsom of BBS Radio for making the magic happen for each and every broadcast of The Ray Shasho Show. If you have comments of suggestions for the show contact me at therayshashoshow@gmail.com.
And don’t forget to purchase a copy of my book entitled Check the Gs -the true story of an eclectic American family and their Wacky family business... available now at iUniverse.com and amazon.com. You’ll live it!!!
Have a great week everybody!
