Advertisement
Advertisement
Guitar man: Bishop (above and below) penned songs for Barbra Streisand and Johnny Mathis, but still enjoys performing himself.

Steven Bishop, songwriter to the stars, is excited about his Hong Kong debut

Back in 1976, not many aspiring singer-songwriters recording their debut albums were lucky enough to have Eric Clapton turn up at the studio to contribute a couple of guitar solos. According to Stephen Bishop, who is due to perform at Kitec in Kowloon Bay on July 28, his manager at the time was also managing Clapton's friend, Ronnie Wood from the Rolling Stones, and swung the session by telling the guitarist that Bishop was "a funny guy".

Bishop is certainly funny, and he proved it a couple of years later in John Landis' 1978 classic comedy . As well as singing the theme tune, Bishop plays the folk singer, serenading a girl at a frat house toga party, and having his guitar smashed by John Belushi. "An iconic moment," Bishop chuckles over the phone from his home in Los Angeles. "I've been very fortunate in having been associated with a lot of movies. Sometimes they use me as a singer, sometimes as a songwriter, and sometimes they ask me to do both."

In addition to his role, Bishop contributed cameo appearances to two other Landis films, and , but it's with movie songs that he found his niche.

He sang , the theme to the 1983 film starring Dustin Hoffman, and wrote for the soundtrack of 1985's , which became a huge hit for Phil Collins and Marilyn Martin.

Bishop wrote and performed as the theme for 1984's , and has contributed to many other soundtracks, including and .

was nominated for the best original song Oscar in 1986, but lost to Lionel Richie's — from the same film. But he has just been invited to become a governor of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which he says is "kind of neat".

It is some time since Bishop was last involved in a film score — "I haven't been working it like I should" — but has still been keeping busy. He recently released a new studio album of original compositions, , and is about to put out a live album of his old hits.

There is quite an extensive catalogue of those — in addition to the movie tunes, , and did well in the US charts — and he will be playing most or all of those, on his own with an acoustic guitar, during his Hong Kong show.

"I'm very used to doing that. It feels very comfortable. I enjoy playing with a band too, that's fun, but it's nice to get a little more intimate sometimes. I get a bit more loosened up. I don't do vocal acrobatics so much. It's not my thing. I'm more of a storyteller, I guess," he says.

Bishop started out as a songwriter playing his songs in person to artists like Barbra Streisand, Bette Midler and Diana Ross. Streisand recorded his , which is not the same song as the Phil Collins hit — "He copped my title," he says.

Just for laughs: Bishop plays folk singer in John Landis' 1978 comedy National Lampoon's Animal House.

Collins has also served as his drummer and producer, and Clapton has continued to contribute to his albums, most recently, 2008's Brazilian-themed , on which Earl Klugh also played.

He gets a particular kick out of the fact that , a song he wrote with Clapton for the latter's 1986 album, was also recorded by Luciano Pavarotti, with Clapton, in 1996 for a TV special recorded at a charity benefit concert.

Other artists who have covered his songs include Johnny Mathis, Kenny Loggins, Phoebe Snow, and the Four Tops. Art Garfunkel has recorded several of his compositions, and calls him one of his favourite songwriters.

"They are very personal songs," he says. "They're about loss, and about old love, new love and in between love. I try to cover all fronts as far as getting ideas for songs is concerned, and coming up with original ideas. I'm very happy to say I have some of those. I try to stay current."

He likes to rejuvenate old songs. found him working with the late Oscar Castro-Neves to reframe some of his hits in a bossa nova style. "It's fun to try different beats. You don't want to sound dated," he says. " , the original was back in 1976. I tried to make it like a disco song back then, but I don't do it that way now."

Bishop will also be performing in Singapore and the Philippines, where he has a particularly devoted following. He has played in Singapore before, but this is his Hong Kong debut, and he is full of questions about the city. "I'm excited to go to Hong Kong," he says, "as I haven't been."

 

 

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: schtick and stones
Post