Born Stephen Raymond Merritt in 1965 in Yonkers, Stephin is a founder and core member of not only the Magnetic Fields, but groups such as Buffalo Rome, The 6ths, The Gothic Archies, Future Bible Heroes, The Baudelaire Memorial Orchestra, and the Three Terrors.
Growing up, Merritt used different spellings of his name for different purposes. He used "Stephin" to sort his junk mail, and that eventually became the name he used as a musician. Merritt is the only child of Alix Merritt, a Tibetan Buddhist of German and Irish descent. Merritt found himself moving around a lot during his youth, including a spell at an ashram in Saratoga where he formed his first band, and has concluded that by the time he reached adulthood and settled in New York, he had lived in roughly 32 places in various parts of the northwest of the United States. Merritt briefly became a "military brat" after his mother was married to a US Army officer, and they were stationed in West Berlin, Germany for a short period.
Merritt attended high school in Massachusetts at The Cambridge School of Weston and briefly attended New York University before moving back to Boston. Prior to 2013, he had never met his biological father, folk singer Scott Fagan, who had a brief affair with Merritt's mother. The three met at a film screening in 2013.
Merritt suffers from a hearing condition known as hyperacusis. Any sound heard louder than normal begins to "feedback" in his left ear at increasingly louder volumes. This has largely influenced the reserved live setup of The Magnetic Fields, which usually consists of acoustic instruments and little to no percussion.
He is a self-proclaimed "rabid militant atheist," wears only brown clothing, is openly gay, and a vegan, saying, "I ain't eaten an animal since 1983." Stephin has also been described as "the most depressed man in rock."
Growing up, Merritt used different spellings of his name for different purposes. He used "Stephin" to sort his junk mail, and that eventually became the name he used as a musician. Merritt is the only child of Alix Merritt, a Tibetan Buddhist of German and Irish descent. Merritt found himself moving around a lot during his youth, including a spell at an ashram in Saratoga where he formed his first band, and has concluded that by the time he reached adulthood and settled in New York, he had lived in roughly 32 places in various parts of the northwest of the United States. Merritt briefly became a "military brat" after his mother was married to a US Army officer, and they were stationed in West Berlin, Germany for a short period.
Merritt attended high school in Massachusetts at The Cambridge School of Weston and briefly attended New York University before moving back to Boston. Prior to 2013, he had never met his biological father, folk singer Scott Fagan, who had a brief affair with Merritt's mother. The three met at a film screening in 2013.
Merritt suffers from a hearing condition known as hyperacusis. Any sound heard louder than normal begins to "feedback" in his left ear at increasingly louder volumes. This has largely influenced the reserved live setup of The Magnetic Fields, which usually consists of acoustic instruments and little to no percussion.
He is a self-proclaimed "rabid militant atheist," wears only brown clothing, is openly gay, and a vegan, saying, "I ain't eaten an animal since 1983." Stephin has also been described as "the most depressed man in rock."