First recorded (as a demo) by Lisa Loeb (1992).
Hit version by Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories (US #1/MOR #5/CAN #1/UK #6/AUS #6 1994).
From the wiki: “‘Stay (I Missed You)’ was written by singer-songwriter Lisa Loeb. It was released in May 1994 as the lead single from the original motion-picture soundtrack for Reality Bites. ‘Stay’ was originally conceived by Loeb in 1990. Loeb, who had attended Berklee School of Music in Boston for a summer session after graduating from Brown University, formed a full band called Nine Stories in 1990.
“The band, named after a book by J.D. Salinger, included Tim Bright on guitar, Jonathan Feinberg on drums, and Joe Quigley on bass. Loeb began working with producer Juan Patiño to make the cassette Purple Tape in 1992. It included the earliest recordings of later popular tracks such as ‘Do You Sleep?’, ‘Snow Day’, ‘Train Songs’, ‘It’s Over’ and ‘Stay (I Missed You)’. Loeb sold the violet-colored cassette to fans at gigs and used it as a sonic calling card to music industry gatekeepers.
“Loeb would be ‘discovered’ by actor and friend Ethan Hawke, who lived in an apartment across the street from her in New York City, meeting through mutual friends in the NYC theater community. Hawke gave a tape of Loeb’s song to director Ben Stiller during the making of Reality Bites, with Stiller subsequently agreeing to use the song in the film and on the film’s soundtrack.”
Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories, “Stay (I Missed You)” (1994):