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| Birth Name(s) : Sufjan Stevens |
Date of Birth: N/A |
| Status:
Single
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Partner:
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| Profession:
Actor |
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Full Sufjan Stevens Biography
Sufjan Stevens (IPA pronunciation: /'suːfjɑ:n/) (born July 1, 1975) is an American singer-songwriter and musician from Petosky, Michigan. Sufjan's music is lyrically focused and instrumentally rich. Lyrically it often relates to faith and family. Stevens has enjoyed wide critical success in the United States.
He is considered part of the folk revival in indie pop, but his influences are very broad. His music has been likened to electronica and the minimalism of Steve Reich. Stevens originally announced plans to make a concept album for each of the 50 U.S. states, having begun the series with Michigan (2003) and Illinois (2005), but has since retracted this statement.
Stevens was born in Detroit, Michigan, and grew up in Petoskey where he attended Harbor Light Christian School as well as the prestigious Interlochen Arts Academy. He attended Hope College in Holland, Michigan.
A multi-instrumentalist, Stevens is well known for his use of the banjo, but also plays guitar, piano, drums, and several other instruments, often playing all of these on his albums through the use of multitrack recording. While in school, he studied the oboe and English horn, which he also plays on his albums; he is one of the few musicians in popular music to use these instruments. A multitude of instruments are played in unison to give his songs a "symphony-like" sound. Strings and horns are often prominent in many of his songs.
Following the release of Michigan, Stevens compiled a collection of songs recorded previously into a side project, the Christian-folk album Seven Swans, which was released in March 2004.
He has contributed covers of Tim Buckley ("She Is"), Joni Mitchell ("A Free Man in Paris"), Daniel Johnston ("Worried Shoes"), John Fahey ("Variation on 'Commemorative Transfiguration & Communion at Magruder Park"), The Innocence Mission ("The Lakes of Canada") and The Beatles "What Goes On" to various tribute albums. His versions of "A Free Man in Paris" and "What Goes On" are notable for only retaining the lyrics of the original, as Sufjan has taken his own interpretation on the melody and arrangement. His rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner" has a similar rearranged melody and arrangement as well as a whole new verse .
The widely acclaimed Illinois was the highest-rated album of 2005 on the Metacritic review aggregator site, based on glowing reviews from Pitchfork, The Onion A/V Club, Spin, Billboard, Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, The New York Times, KEXP, and The Guardian. The 2006 PLUG Independent Music Awards awarded Stevens with the Album Of The Year, Best Album Art/Packaging, and Male Artist Of The Year. Pitchfork Media, No Ripcord, and Paste Magazine named Illinois as the editors' choice for best album of 2005 and Stevens received the 2005 Pantheon prize, awarded to albums selling 500,000 copies or more, for Illinois. In April of 2006, Stevens announced that 21 pieces of music he had culled from the Illinois recording sessions would be incorporated into a new album, called The Avalanche. The album was released on July 11, 2006.
Many of Stevens' songs have spiritual allusions. Stevens says he does not try to make music for the sake of preaching. "I don't think music media is the real forum for theological discussions," says Stevens. "I think I've said things and sung about things that probably weren't appropriate for this kind of forum. And I just feel like it's not my work or my place to be making claims and statements, because I often think it's misunderstood."
During a summer 2004 interview with Adrian Pannett for Comes with a Smile magazine, when asked how important faith was to his music he responded 'I don't like talking about that stuff in the public forum because, I think, certain themes and convictions are meant for personal conversation.'
On May 31st, 2007, Asthmatic Kitty announced that Stevens would be premiering a new project entitled The BQE in early November of 2007. The project, dubbed a "symphonic and cinematic exploration of New York City's infamous Brooklyn-Queens Expressway," will be manifested in a live show. The BQE will feature an original film by Sufjan Stevens (shot in Super 8 mm film), while Stevens and a backing orchestra will provide the live soundtrack. According to Asthmatic Kitty, the performance will include a small band, a wind and brass ensemble, string players, and hula-hoopers. However, there will be no singing. The BQE was commissioned by and will be performed on three consecutive nights - November 1-3, 2007 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music as part of their Next Wave Festival. The composition is 30 minutes long, and will be followed by an additional one hour of concert by Stevens.
Songs for Christmas122-3-17-
- Notes:
- A Sun Came was re-released on July 20, 2004.
- Enjoy Your Rabbit was re-released June 8, 2004.
- Michigan is also known as Greetings from Michigan: The Great Lake State.
- Michigan was released on vinyl on September 20, 2004.
- Illinois is also known as Come on, Feel the Illinoise!.
- Illinois was released on vinyl on November 21, 2005.
- The Avalanche is also known as The Avalanche: Outtakes and Extras from the Illinois Album.
- Sufjan Stevens can no longer appear on the Top Heatseekers chart as The Avalanche appeared in the Billboard Top 100. |
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