SUFJAN STEVENS, born on this date, is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He has released ten solo studio albums and multiple collaborative albums with other artists. Stevens has received Grammy and Academy Award nominations.

His debut album, A Sun Came, was released in 2000 on the Asthmatic Kitty label, which he co-founded with his stepfather. He received wide recognition for his 2005 album Illinois, which hit number one on the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart, and for the single “Chicago” from that album. Stevens later contributed to the soundtrack of the 2017 film Call Me by Your Name. He received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song and a Grammy nomination for Best Song Written for Visual Media for the soundtrack’s lead single, “Mystery of Love”.

Stevens has released albums of varying styles, from the electronica of The Age of Adz and the lo-fi folk of Seven Swans to the symphonic instrumentation of Illinois and Christmas-themed Songs for Christmas. He employs various instruments, often playing many of them himself on the same recording. Stevens’ music is also known for exploring various themes, particularly religion and spirituality. Stevens’ tenth and most recent studio album, Javelin, was released in October 2023.

Stevens has resided in Upstate New York near the Catskill Mountains since 2019. Before this, he lived in New York City for 20 years. He identifies as a Christian. Stevens also stated in 2005 that he attended an Anglo-Catholic Episcopal church.

In September 2023, Stevens revealed that he had been hospitalized the previous month and diagnosed with Guillain–Barré syndrome. He wrote that he was undergoing physical rehabilitation to relearn how to walk after the illness.

In October 2023, Stevens dedicated his new album Javelin to his partner Evans Richardson, who died in April of the same year. Richardson had served as the chief of staff at the Studio Museum in Harlem, which is dedicated to showcasing the work of black artists; in 2021 he had also been elected as chair of the accreditation commission for the American Alliance of Museums, with “a focus on diversity and access for the communities they serve”. Stevens’ dedication of Javelin to Richardson was the first time that Stevens had publicly discussed his sexuality.