1. Sufjan Stevens 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.
27 Facts About Sufjan Stevens
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Sufjan Stevens had spent the second half of 2004 researching and writing material for the album.
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Pitchfork, No Ripcord, and Paste magazine named Illinois as the editors' choice for best album of 2005, and Sufjan Stevens received the 2005 Pantheon prize, awarded to noteworthy albums selling fewer than 500,000 copies, for Illinois.
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On September 11,2006, in Nashville, Tennessee, Sufjan Stevens debuted a new composition, a ten-minute-plus piece titled "Majesty Snowbird".
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On May 31,2007, Asthmatic Kitty announced that Sufjan Stevens would be premiering a new project titled The BQE in early November 2007.
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Sufjan Stevens wrote the introduction to the 2007 edition of The Best American Nonrequired Reading, a short story about his early childhood education and learning to read titled How I Trumped Rudolf Steiner and Overcame the Tribulations of Illiteracy, One Snickers Bar at a Time.
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In 2007 alone, Sufjan Stevens played piano on The National's album Boxer, produced and contributed many instrumental tracks to Rosie Thomas's album These Friends of Mine, multiple instruments on Ben + Vesper's album All This Could Kill You and oboe and vocals to David Garland's 2007 album Noise in You.
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In February 2009, Sufjan Stevens contributed "You Are the Blood" to the AIDS benefit album Dark Was the Night produced by the Red Hot Organization.
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In 2010, Sufjan Stevens was featured on The National's album High Violet, released in May, and sang backing vocals for the band on the Late Show with David Letterman.
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On October 12,2010, Sufjan Stevens began his North American tour in Montreal, featuring virtually all new material.
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Sufjan Stevens toured Australia and New Zealand in early 2011, featured as part of the Sydney Festival, and appeared on-stage with The National during the last of three sold-out Auckland shows.
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Sufjan Stevens toured Europe and the United Kingdom in April and May 2011, playing there for the first time in five years.
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On March 18,2014, Sufjan Stevens released the self-titled album, Sisyphus, with Son Lux and rapper Serengeti.
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Sufjan Stevens shared the first single from the album, "No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross", on February 16,2015.
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Sufjan Stevens stated that the songwriting for the album was incited by his process of grieving and coming to terms with his and his mother's relationship following his mother's death due to stomach cancer in 2012.
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In January 2017, it was announced that Sufjan Stevens would contribute original songs written and recorded by himself for the coming-of-age romantic drama film Call Me by Your Name.
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In December 2017, Sufjan Stevens released two versions of "Tonya Harding", a song about the figure skater of the same name.
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Two days later, the single was offered for digital download and streaming, to be followed later by a cassette and vinyl release, in two versions, the one featured in the video and a piano-only arrangement ; in a short essay, Sufjan Stevens revealed his intention to write a song about Harding since 1991.
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In October 2018, Sufjan Stevens performed and recorded with indie folk musician Angelo De Augustine a collaborative duo of the latter's "Time" single.
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On May 29,2019, Sufjan Stevens released two new songs, respectively titled "Love Yourself" and "With My Whole Heart", which were released in celebration of Pride Month.
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In October 2019, Sufjan Stevens released an album titled The Decalogue with pianist Timo Andres.
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On March 24,2020, Sufjan Stevens released a collaborative album with his stepfather, Lowell Brams, titled Aporia.
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On May 6,2021, Sufjan Stevens released a five-volume album of meditation music, called Convocations.
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On July 7,2021, Sufjan Stevens announced the release of a collaborative album, called A Beginner's Mind, that he recorded with fellow folk singer-songwriter Angelo De Augustine.
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Sufjan Stevens has resided in Upstate New York near the Catskill Mountains since 2019.
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Sufjan Stevens stated in 2005 that he attended an Anglo-Catholic Episcopal church.
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In October 2023, Sufjan Stevens dedicated his new album Javelin to his partner, Evans Richardson, who died in April of the same year.