Sufjan Stevens

Sufjan Stevens
Stevens performing at Pitchfork Music Festival, July 2016
Background information
Born	(1975-07-01) July 1, 1975 (age 41)
Origin	Detroit, Michigan, United States
Genres	Indie folk indie rock indie pop alternative rock avant-garde folk folk pop chamber pop electronica
Occupation(s)	Musician singer-songwriter
Instruments	Vocals guitar bass banjo piano keyboards organ glockenspiel vibraphone accordion oboe saxophone flute drums percussion recorder theremin
Years active	1999–present
Labels	Asthmatic Kitty Sounds Familyre Orchard
Associated acts	Sisyphus Cryptacize Danielson Famile Denison Witmer Marzuki My Brightest Diamond Rosie Thomas The Welcome Wagon The National Nico Muhly Bryce Dessner Stranger Cat St. Vincent dawn Landes Gallant
Website	music.sufjan.com

Sufjan Stevens (/ˈsuːfjæn/ SOOF-yan; born July 1, 1975) is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He first came to wider recognition with the 2000 album A Sun Came, which was released on the Asthmatic Kitty label he cofounded with his stepfather. He is perhaps best known for his 2005 album Illinois, which hit number one on the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart, and for the single "Chicago" from that album.

Stevens has released albums of varying styles, from the electronica of Enjoy Your Rabbit and the lo-fi folk of Seven Swans to the symphonic instrumentation of Illinois and Christmas-themed Songs for Christmas. Stevens makes use of a variety of instruments, often playing many of them himself on the same recording, and writes music in various time signatures. Though his songs are imbued with his Christian faith, he has repeatedly stated an intent to separate his beliefs from his music.

Stevens was born in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of nine, when his family moved to Petoskey, in the northern part of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. He was raised by his father Rasjid and his stepmother Pat, only occasionally visiting his mother, Carrie, in Oregon after she married her second husband Lowell Brams. (Brams would later become the head of Stevens' record label Asthmatic Kitty). He attended the Detroit Waldorf School, Petoskey High School and Interlochen Arts Academy, and graduated from Harbor Light Christian School. He went on to attend Hope College in Holland, Michigan, and earned a Masters of Fine Arts from The New School in New York City.