Stephen Stills

Stephen Stills has been a restless man for the whole of his career. Born on January 3, 1945, he first made his mark in Buffalo Springfield, where he wrote "For What It's Worth", one of the defining songs of the '60s, along with "Sit Down, I Think I Love You", "Bluebird" and "Rock & Roll Woman".

When the Springfield fell apart he threw in with David Crosby and Graham Nash, and Crosby, Stills & Nash was off and flying. Stills wrote many of the songs and played bass, guitar and keyboards on the trio's debut, which sold over four million copies, outsold anything the three had done in the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield and the Hollies, and won them the Grammy for Best New Artist.

Then came his own first solo album, Stephen Stills, in 1970, a gold record and the only one to feature both Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton. Its hit, "Love the One You're With", is a grinning, organ-and-percussion-fuelled singalong that climbed to number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100, his biggest solo hit. Manassas, with Chris Hillman, came in 1972, and CSN kept regrouping, with and without Neil Young, for years afterward. All told he has sold more than 35 million albums, and he holds a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame first: two inductions on a single night.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.