Song:Love The One You're With
Album:Stephen Stills
Of course Stephen Stills is best known as part of Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills & Nash. But he also scored a major solo hit with Love The One You're With in 1970. He was born Jan. 3, 1945 in Dallas but his dad was in the military so they moved a lot. He dropped out of college in the early 60s and he was in several bands. He was in The Au Go Go Singers who were the house act at the Cafe Au Go Go in New York. They recorded one album but this is where Stills met Richie Furay. The group split up and Stills and Furay formed The Company. When the group was on tour in Canada, they met Neil Young. Eventually, they all moved to Los Angeles and formed Buffalo Springfield. Stills wrote their big hit For What It's Worth. But the band wasn't around very long as they couldn't get along. After Stills played on Super Session with Al Kooper and Mike Bloomfield, he met David Crosby who had just left The Byrds and Graham Nash who had just left The Hollies. And they became Crosby, Stills and Nash and then Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. All four recorded solo with Young being the most successful. But Stills scored a top 20 with Love The One You're With from his 1970 solo debut Stephen Stills. It reached #14 on the Billboard Hot 100. But what it really did was boost sales of the album as it was certified Gold. The idea for the song came from a remark Billy Preston made that Stills heard at a party. The album is available as a budget CD. Stills recorded two solo albums for Atlantic and two albums with Manassas, the band he formed with Chris Hillman. After the 1974 CSNY reunion tour, Stills moved to Columbia Records. An attempt at a CSNY album turned into The Stills-Young Band. Stills' Columbia albums weren't as successful as his Atlantic albums and he returned to Atlantic in 1984. CSN have reunited several times over the years. Stills doesn't record solo very often. His most recent solo CD was released in 2007. But he still tours sometimes with his band The Rides. Here's Stephen Stills performing Love The One You're With from the 2008 DVD Live at Shepherd's Bush. I noticed that Stills can't seem to recreate the energy of the studio recording live.
I grew up listening to the group Crosby, Stills and Nash and Young. I loved their music a great deal. I liked the stories behind all of them as well.
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