Eight Lean Years, a Demo Tape, and a Friend Who Passed It On

Stephen Bishop grew up in San Diego, California, and started as a clarinetist. After seeing the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show, he persuaded his brother to buy him a guitar. In 1967 he formed his first group, the Weeds, a British Invasion-style band, and later moved to Los Angeles looking for a solo record contract. What followed was a lean eight-year period in which nearly every label and producer turned him down. He kept writing and eventually found a $50-a-week job with a publishing house.

The break came through a friend, Leah Kunkel, who gave Art Garfunkel one of Bishop's demo tapes. Garfunkel chose two of his songs, “Looking for the Right One” and “The Same Old Tears on a New Background”, for his platinum album Breakaway. That patronage helped Bishop get a contract with ABC Records in 1976, and his first album, Careless, followed with contributions from Eric Clapton, Garfunkel and Chaka Khan. “Save It for a Rainy Day” reached number 22 on the Billboard singles chart, and “On and On” peaked at number 11.

Careless went gold, as did Bish in 1978. Film work soon followed. He sang two songs from National Lampoon's Animal House in falsetto, sang backing vocals on Phil Collins's “This Must Be Love”, and had a 1982 hit at number 25 with “It Might Be You”, the theme from Tootsie, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song. His own song “Separate Lives”, from White Nights, was nominated for the same award, and he has said he wrote it about the end of his relationship with the actress Karen Allen.

Bishop has said he writes much better when he is heartbroken or melancholy. His songs have also been recorded by Barbra Streisand, Phil Collins and Art Garfunkel. In August 2025 he announced his retirement after the album THIMK, saying he wanted to spend more time with his child, but in 2026 he began performing again, with concert dates stretching into 2027.