Stephenson was born in
Hamilton, Ohio, but moved to
Nashville, Tennessee, when he was ten years old, and he played in
garage bands as a teenager. He graduated from
seminary school and wrote songs on the side in the 1970s; his first chart hit as a songwriter was for
Crystal Gayle, who cracked the US country Top Ten with his "Your Kisses Will" in 1979. Stephenson went on to write hits for
Kenny Rogers,
Dan Seals,
Janie Fricke, and
John Anderson. Partnering with Dave Robbins, Stephenson wrote a string of hits for
Restless Heart and would continue to work with Robbins later in his career. Stephenson landed a recording contract of his own with Handshake Records, through which he released his first solo album,
China Girl, in 1981. He later signed with
MCA, and his second album,
Righteous Anger, was released in 1984. He scored big on the
Billboard charts with "Modern Day Delilah" peaking at No. 22, and a second hit, "What the Big Girls Do", peaked at No. 45.
Righteous Anger charted at No. 54 on the
Billboard 200, but his follow-up 1986 disc,
Suspicious Heart, did not chart, nor did its lead single, "We're Doing Alright." It also included two songs featured on movie soundtracks: "Make It Glamorous" from the 1984 film
The Wild Life and "No Secrets" from the 1985 film
Secret Admirer. Stephenson returned to songwriting duties until the early 1990s, when he became one-third of
BlackHawk, a successful country group, through the end of the decade. In February 1999, Stephenson was diagnosed with
melanoma and underwent surgery. He left the group in February 2000 to continue battling the cancer, but he died on the morning of April 8, 2001, as a result of the disease. ==Discography==