Stephen Bishop (singer)

Earl Stephen Bishop (born November 14, 1951) is an American retired singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor. His biggest hits include "On and On", "It Might Be You", and "Save It for a Rainy Day". He has also written songs for many other artists, such as Barbra Streisand, Phil Collins, and Art Garfunkel. He has contributed music and acted in films including National Lampoon's Animal House.

Personal life

Earl Stephen Bishop was born and raised in San Diego, California. He attended Will C. Crawford High School. Originally a clarinetist, he persuaded his brother to buy him a guitar after seeing the Beatles perform on The Ed Sullivan Show.

Bishop is married to Liz Kamlet, who is also his manager. In August 2025, he announced his retirement following the release of his final album, THIMK, explaining his desire to spend more time with his child.

Career

Music

In 1967, he formed his first group, the Weeds, a British Invasion-style band. After the Weeds folded, Bishop moved to Los Angeles in search of a solo recording contract. He continued to write songs, eventually landing a $50-a-week job with a publishing house. The next single, Bishop's highest charting to date, "On and On", peaked at No. 11. Eric Clapton, Garfunkel, and Chaka Khan all contributed their talents to the album.

Careless went gold as did Bishop's next album, Bish, released in 1978. Other film music includes "Somewhere in Between" (written and performed) from The China Syndrome (1979), "Your Precious Love" (performed with Yvonne Elliman) from Roadie (1980), "If Love Takes You Away" (written and performed) from Summer Lovers (1982), "Unfaithfully Yours (One Love)" which was written and performed from Unfaithfully Yours (1984), "Something New in My Life" (performed) from Micki & Maude (1984), "The Heart Is So Willing" (performed) from The Money Pit (1986), "All I Want" (performed) from All I Want for Christmas (1991), and "You Can Do Anything" (written and performed by Bishop and Jeff Jones) from Barney's Great Adventure (1998). In addition, the original version of "Walkin' on Air" (written and performed by Bishop) was featured in the 1986 film The Boy Who Could Fly.

In 1989, Bishop released the album Bowling in Paris with Phil Collins (the co-producer on some of the songs), Eric Clapton, and Sting contributing. The album included a revamped version of "Walkin' on Air", this time featuring drumming, production, and additional vocals from Collins. The version became a No. 13 hit on the Adult Contemporary chart. In 1987, the Norwegian swing/pop duo Bobbysocks! had recorded their own version of "Walking on Air" (as "Walkin' on Air") as the title track to their album Walkin' on Air. One of Bishop's best vocal performances was the song "(You'll Always Be) My Heart And Soul" on the soundtrack of the 1993 movie Heart And Souls.

Bishop released his 20th and final album in August 2025. The album, titled THIMK, features Art Garfunkel and Leah Kunkel.

Eric Clapton, in his autobiography, mentions Bishop as being one of his favorite singer-songwriters.

Acting

Bishop has appeared in several motion pictures as a "charming" character including four directed by John Landis. He had a cameo role, billed as "Charming Guy", in The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977); he appeared as a hustler in the infamous "Catholic High School Girls in Trouble" segment. In addition to singing the theme song off-screen, Bishop had a cameo appearance in National Lampoon's Animal House in 1978 (the aspiring folk singer billed as "Charming Guy with Guitar" who sang "The Riddle Song"). Charming Guy's guitar was smashed against a staircase wall at the Delta Tau Chi house by John "Bluto" Blutarsky (John Belushi). The scene was filmed twice and Bishop had the second smashed guitar signed by the cast and framed.

He appeared in The Blues Brothers (1980), billed as "Charming Trooper", who breaks his watch during a mall chase. He appeared very briefly in Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983), billed as "Charming G.I.", in the Vietnam War scene. Bishop appeared, as "Blue London", in Harry Jaglom's Someone to Love (1987).

Discography

Albums

Careless (1976)
Bish (1978)
Red Cab to Manhattan (1980)
Sleeping with Girls (1985; Asia only)
Bowling in Paris (1989; re-released in 2015 with different sequencing and cover)
Blue Guitars (1996; released in 1994 in Japan with different tracks and cover)
Happy Bishmas (2002; re-released in 2003 with different cover)
Yardwork (2002; released in Japan with different cover)
The Demo Album 1 (2003)
The Demo Album 2 (2003)
Fear of Massage: Demo 3 (2003)
Stephen Bishop Live at Duo Music Exchange (2006; Japan only)
America & Friends: Live at the Ventura Theater (2007; Japan only)
Saudade (2007; Target-only release. Re-released worldwide as Romance in Rio)
Romance in Rio (2008)
Be Here Then (2014)
Stephen Bishop Live (2014; also issued 2015 as The '70s: Stephen Bishop with series cover)
Blueprint (2016)
We'll Talk About It Later in the Car (2019)
Rock Little Reindeer (2019)
THIMK (2025)

Collections

Best of Bish (1988)
On and On: The Hits of Stephen Bishop (1994)
An Introduction to Stephen Bishop (1997)
Back to Back (1999; split title with Michael Johnson)
The Millennium Collection (2002)

Singles

{| class="wikitable sortable"

! rowspan="2"| Year

! rowspan="2"| Single

! colspan="7"| Chart Positions

! US

! AC

! CAN

! CAN AC

! NZ

! UK

|rowspan="3"|1977

|"Save It for a Rainy Day"

| style="text-align:center;"|22

| style="text-align:center;"|6

| style="text-align:center;"|20

| style="text-align:center;"|8

| style="text-align:center;"|—

|"On and On"

| style="text-align:center;"|11

| style="text-align:center;"|2

| style="text-align:center;"|6

| style="text-align:center;"|3

| style="text-align:center;"|29

| style="text-align:center;"|—

|"Never Letting Go"

| style="text-align:center;"|—

|rowspan="3"|1978

|"Everybody Needs Love"

| style="text-align:center;"|32

| style="text-align:center;"|5

| style="text-align:center;"|—

|"Animal House"

| style="text-align:center;"|73

| style="text-align:center;"|—

|"Looking for the Right One"

| style="text-align:center;"|—

|rowspan="2"|1980

|"Your Precious Love" (with Yvonne Elliman)

| style="text-align:center;"|—

|"Send a Little Love My Way"

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:center;"|31

| style="text-align:center;"|—

||1982

|"If Love Takes You Away"

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:center;"|22

| style="text-align:center;"|—

||1983

|"It Might Be You"

| style="text-align:center;"|25

| style="text-align:center;"|1

| style="text-align:center;"|16

| style="text-align:center;"|1

| style="text-align:center;"|

| style="text-align:center;"|99

||1984

|"One Love (Unfaithfully Yours)"

| style="text-align:center;"|87

| style="text-align:center;"|4

| style="text-align:center;"|—

||1986

|"The Heart Is So Willing"

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:center;"|31

| style="text-align:center;"|—

||1987

|"Something New in My Life"

| style="text-align:center;"|—

||1989

|"Walking on Air"

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:center;"|13

| style="text-align:center;"|—

||1990

|"Mr. Heartbreak"

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:center;"|42

| style="text-align:center;"|—

||1991

|"All I Want"

| style="text-align:center;"|—

References

External links

Fan Site show of February 8, 2014