As lead singer of the rock band Third Eye Blind, Stephan Jenkins knows what it means to have worked his way up the food chain. Strumming a guitar in his suite at Philadelphia's posh Rittenhouse Hotel, he has Godiva on the nightstand and champagne in the fridge. Even the cheeseburger and fries on his dinner tray seem like gourmet cuisine once Jenkins describes the meal plan from his starving-artist days. "In the morning you scrounge up enough dimes and quarters to get coffee," he says. "You put in thick cream and a lot of sugar, which gives you the calories you need to get to lunch. Then you show up at friends' houses around dinner."

But look who's cookin' now. Since the April 1997 release of their triple-platinum debut album Third Eye Blind, the band has opened for U2 and the Rolling Stones (who were impressed by what the Boston Globe called Third Eye Blind's "hook-packed songs...and the pop-star package that is Jenkins") and seen the disc spawn five hit singles, including "Semi-Charmed Life," a cautionary sex-and-drugs tale that some critics accused of gloryifying its topics. But Jenkins, 34, dismisses the notion. "I live a healty life," he says. "I like middle-class drugs like coffee and wine and cigarettes."

That's fine by South African actress Charlize Theron (Devil's Advocate), who has been Jenkin's sweetheart since they met last December after a show in Hawaii, where she was celebrating Christmas with her family. "She's very funny," says Jenkins. "And she learned to play the drums faster than anyone I've ever seen." Theron, 23, is equally enthralled. "He lives for what he does," she says. "I found that very attractive. It's nice to be with someone who lives life to the fullest."

Lately that life has been spent mostly on the road, Since the album's release, Third Eye Blind has circled the world twice, once landing at the base of Japan's Mt. Fuji, where they played during a torrential downpour. A storm is nothing, though, compared to the squealing fans who hang on every twist of Jenkins's hips and toss onstage lyric-related trinkets including velvet gloves and Blue Diamond match boxes. Jenkins, for his part, indulges them. "We try not to be isolated," he says. "We try to take care of them and sign everything we can."

Jenkins has been waiting a long time for this. The younger son of George Jenkins, a retired political science and African studies professor at Stanford University, and his now ex-wife Elizabeth, a former administrator there, Stephan ignored his father's career advice. "Dad wanted me to become a professor or an environmentalist," says Jenkins. "He wanted me to make a direct, tangible impact on the world."

That he did, but by another route. After graduating with a literature degree from the University of California at Berkley in 1988, Jenkins broke into San Francisco's rock and roll dives with the hip-hop combo Puck and Zen. By 1995, he joined with guitarist Kevin Cadogan, now 28, bassist Arion Salazar, 28, and later, drummer Brad Hargreaves, 27, to form Third Eye Blind (the name refers to the spiritual third eye of Hinduism). "We clicked right away," says Cadogan. "He had this impossible ambition and drive, and I needed to play with people who have faith."

That faith has paid off, and not only in a better diet, Jenkins has been able to indulge his passion for Adidas sneakers and to spring for a beige, 1961 Buick Invicta convertible. And now when he goes to the movies, "I get the biggest popcorn, the biggest Coke," he says. "If I want Milk Duds, I get the Milk Duds." But he has his limits. After the band finishes touring in early December, Jenkins will head back to his modest San Francisco apartment (he also has one in Manhattan) and heed the advice he was given by U2's Bono. "I've seen so many bands make a fantastic first record and get all obsessed with home decorations, art deco fruniture and Persian rugs," Bono told him. "Focus on the music."

October 12, 1998 People Weekly