Editing Stephen Stills (section)

=== Signing to Columbia Records and The Stills Young Band (1975–1976) ===
[[File:Crosby-stills-nash-and-young-CSNY-1974-.jpg|thumb|Stills (far right) performing in 1974 with Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.]]
Stills signed to [[Columbia Records]] for three albums: ''[[Stills (Stephen Stills album)|Stills]]'' in 1975, ''[[Illegal Stills]]'' in 1976; and ''[[Thoroughfare Gap]]'' in 1978.  ''[[Stills (Stephen Stills album)|Stills]]'' released in June 1975, was the highest-charting release of the three at number 22 on the US charts, and also the most critically successful of the three. Stills then spent the rest of year touring the US, doing a summer and winter tour playing to 10,000 seat arenas, including the [[The Forum (Inglewood, California)|LA Forum]], and [[Red Rocks Amphitheatre]]. Stills played an acoustic set at the Bob Dylan-organised Night of the Hurricane Benefit at the Houston Astrodome in January 1976. He next released ''[[Illegal Stills]]'' in May 1976, which reached number 31 on the US charts, but was not critically well received, nor produced any charting singles. Around this time Stills played percussion on the [[Bee Gees]]' song "[[You Should Be Dancing]]" and wrote an unreleased song with Barry Gibb.<ref name=":3" /> In retrospect Stills has commented on his mid-70s solo period saying he "short-circuited for a while, things were moving too fast. I got a little crazed. Too much drinking, too many drugs. What can I say."<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Uncut|title=Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young: Ultimate Music Guide}}</ref> ''Cashbox'' magazine ranked Stills as the number 29 top male vocalist of 1975.

In 1976 after the release of ''Illegal Stills'', Stills attempted a reunion with Neil Young. At one point, ''[[Long May You Run]]'' was slated to be a CSNY record, but when Crosby and Nash left to fulfill recording and touring obligations,<ref name="ReferenceA">Cameron Crowe "Quick End to a Long Run." ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' Sep 9, 1976 reprinted in ''4 Way Street: The Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young Reader'' 2004 Da Capo Press.</ref> they returned to find the other pair had wiped their vocals from the recordings, as Stills and Young decided to go on without them as [[the Stills–Young Band]]. However, Young would leave midway through the resulting tour due to an apparent throat infection.<ref name="ReferenceA" /> Stills was contractually bound to finish the tour, which he did for three dates before it was cancelled with Chris Hillman helping him, but upon returning home, his wife announced she wanted a divorce and wished to move back to France, although they temporarily reunited.

Stills went out on tour in November 1976 as a three-piece: Stills on guitar, vocals, and piano; George Perry on bass; and Joe Vitale on drums. He reunited with Crosby and Nash shortly afterwards, thanks to the efforts of Nash's future wife Susan, who got Nash to forgive Stills for wiping the Crosby and Nash vocals from ''Long May You Run''. Not before Atlantic Records released a compilation album from Stills first two solo albums, and the two Manassas albums in December 1976 called ''[[Still Stills: The Best of Stephen Stills|Still Stills: The Best Of Stephen Stills]]''.<ref name=":3"/> ''Cashbox'' magazine ranked Stills at number 27 for the top male vocalist of 1976, and Stills and Young as the number 6 duo, number 3 new duo, and number 20 best new artist of 1976. Stills, as Gold Hill Publishing, was having hits publishing for the band [[Firefall]] and [[Joey Stec]] during this time, so much so that Billboard ranked him as the number 97 publisher of 1976.