Having taken up the guitar at the age of 10, Van Stephenson played in a succession of garage bands before meeting veteran songsmith Kenny O'Dell at 17, teaching the youngster the art of songwriting. Stephenson eventually found employment as a writer with House Of Gold Music, a publishing concern, leading to CRYSTAL GAYLE scoring a hit with the Van Stephenson penned 'Your Kisses Will'.

Stephenson (by this time residing in Nashville) made his official recording debut with a self-titled album on the Handshake label in 1983. Produced by Kenny O'Dell, the album was not a hit, although a track ('China Girl') was to be covered by JOHN COUGAR MELLENCAMP. It was, however, to be the release of the 'Righteous Anger' album a year later with which the Ohio born singer/songwriter would make his mark.

Although the debut record was nothing more than average Pop Rock affair, Stephenson took an altogether new direction for his 'Righteous Anger' album, the first for new label MCA Records. He enrolled the services of the hottest of the new breed of Los Angeles based session players in the likes of one-time WHITEHEART guitarist Dann Huff and keyboard player Alan Pasqua. The pair were merged with the already established rhythm team of Dennis Belfield (bass) and Mike Baird (drums) - the pair having worked together on TERI DE SARIO's 'Caught' album in 1980 for starters. Indeed, the duo (along with Pasqua) had helped STAN BUSH record his self-titled debut solo album the year previously. Interestingly, that album included

The single from the album, 'Modern Day Delilah', earned Van Stephenson his first hit as a performer in his own right. The album, incidentally, closed with a version of 'All American Boy', a song originally penned by Stephenson and covered by STAN BUSH and turned into a hit by Y&T.

Van Stephenson kept this studio band together for 1986's 'Suspicious Heart' release, although with the addition of other top session guitarists in MICHAEL LANDAU and Waddy Wachtel

The album boasted a number of tracks penned by or with R. Nielsen, quite possibly Rick Nielsen of CHEAP TRICK fame. The tracks 'No Secrets' and 'Make It Glamorous' were used in the movies 'Secret Admirer' and 'The Wild Life' respectively.

Oddly, the man claims to have been going through an extremely self-destructive period of his life during the period these two records were made. It certainly didn't reflect in the quality of the product.

In 1994 Van Stephenson was revealed to be involved in the BLACKHAWK project, recording a self-titled album for Arista with Henry Paul of THE OUTLAWS and HENRY PAUL BAND fame on vocals. Van contributed guitar and backing vocals. The album was also graced with performances from GIANT's Dann Huff.