Happy Birthday Stephen Stills

Stephen Arthur Stills was born January 3, 1945 in Dallas, Texas. Stephen was raised in a military family and lived all over the world. Little Stephen received a guitar for his 12th birthday from his nanny, Lupe Rodriguez, and soon developed an interest in Blues and Folk Music.

Stephen dropped out of college and moved to NYC in the early 1960’s. He played in many bands during this time and met Don Felder, Richie Furay, Neil Young and all the rest. In 1966, Stills convinced a reluctant Furay, then living in Massachusetts, to move with him to California. They ran into Neil Young on Sunset Strip and the next day formed Buffalo Springfield. A mixture of folk, country, psychedelia, and rock, lent a hard edge by the twin lead guitars of Stills and Young, made Buffalo Springfield a critical success. Distrust of their management, as well as the arrest and deportation of bass player Palmer, worsened the already strained relations among the group members and led to Buffalo Springfield’s demise in 1968.

Judy Blue Eyes

In 1968, Stills formed Crosby, Stills & Nash. Their debut album was a huge success. They asked Neil Young to join, played Woodstock and released Deja Vu, which went to number 1. They all got sick of each other and broke up. Stills has admitted that every song he ever wrote was about Judy Collins.

Stephen Stills Illustration By Paul King Art

Stephen is one of the few performers to be in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame 9x. He was Inducted 2x but has visited the hall 7 times with his family. Did you know Stills was almost a Monkee but Peter Tork had better teeth!? Can you imagine Crosby, Tork, Nash & Young!?

Tony Bennett once gave Stills two invaluable pieces of advice that have helped him continue his career. “Take the gun, leave the cannoli” and “if you can’t get in, then stay the hell out.” Words to live by.

Big 3

Having played at the Monterey Pop Festival with Buffalo Springfield and both Woodstock and Altamont with CSNY, Stills (along with Crosby) has the honor of being one of the few who performed at three of the most iconic U.S. rock festivals of the 1960s. Cheers Stephen!