Stern was born in Boston and raised in Washington DC. Growing up with rock (the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Cream), Stern started playing guitar at age 12 and was first turned on to jazz listening to Miles Davis. His early guitar influences were B.B. King, Jim Hall, Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, and George Benson, and he also listened to the great jazz horn players and pianists of the era, Coltrane, Adderley, Rollins, Tyner, and Evans. Self taught through his teens, Stern went back to Boston and the Berklee College of Music where he studied with Pat Metheny and Mick Goodrick.

Following his professional initiation with Blood, Sweat & Tears and then with Billy Cobham, he moved to New York where he was soon part of Miles Davis’ comeback band in 1981, toured with Pastorius in 1983-84, and back again with Davis in 1985 for a second tour. After a year with David Sanborn, Stern moved on to Steps Ahead with Mike Mainieri, Michael Brecker, Darryl Jones, and Steve Smith. From 1986-88, he was a member of Brecker’s quintet. During this period he formed his own touring group with saxophonist Bob Berg, drummer Dennis Chambers, and bassist Lincoln Goines. In 1992, Stern joined a reunited Brecker Brothers Band.

Stern cut his first CD as leader on the Japanese Trio label (Neesh, 1985), then began a long relationship with Atlantic Records in 1986 with Upside Downside, followed by Time in Place (1988), Jigsaw (1989) and Odds or Evens (1991). With the release of his 1993 Standards (And Other Songs), he was named Best Jazz Guitarist of the Year by the readers and critics of Guitar Player magazine. His next recordings, Is What It Is (1994) and Between The Lines (1996) received Grammy nominations. In 1997, Stern released Give And Take with bassist John Patitucci, drummer Jack DeJohnette, percussionist Don Alias, and special guests Michael Brecker and David Sanborn; following the critical acclaim for this recording, Stern was recognized with the Orville W. Gibson Award for Best Jazz Guitarist that year. His first recording including vocal music, 2001's Voices, earned Stern his third Grammy nomination.

Cut loose by Atlantic, Mike Stern came back with These Times for Sunnyside (ESC) Records (2004), judged by many as the best of his career. “The combination of first rate musicianship, wide-ranging influences, blue-chip guest musicians, and excellent original material provides one with a reminder of how good the jazz-rock fusion scene can be in the 21st Century…While this brand of energetic, musically substantial jazz-rock fusion has evolved since its start in the 1970s, Mike Stern and his colleagues remain true to the principles, while making satisfying new music.” (George Graham, 2004, Graham Weekly Review).

Says Stern: “For me jazz does not necessarily mean that it’s better because it’s more complicated...I listen more from the heart for whatever gets me; sometimes it can be the simplest diatonic, one-chord thing with a simple melody that just grabs me.”