Stella Nova, born Stephen Charles New (16 May 1960 – 24 May 2010),[1] was an English guitarist and singer who performed with a number of punk rock and new wave bands in the late 1970s and early 1980s, including the Rich Kids.

[1] Nova first came to be noticed as a talented lead guitarist with a unique playing style at the beginning of London's punk rock music and fashion scene in the mid-1970s.

[6] When the bass player Glen Matlock left the Sex Pistols in early 1977 he invited Nova, then only 16 years old, to join a new band that he was forming called Rich Kids as its lead guitarist.

[1][6] Unable to find another band to join after the Rich Kids, Nova resorted to working as a jobbing guitar for hire with a number of acts, including Public Image Ltd and Wasted Youth.

[11] Having relocated to the United States in the 1980s, by the mid-1990s Nova was resident in Los Angeles, but failed to find musical success there, and ended up homeless, living in a car for a while before returning to England.

[1][2][21][22] A funeral service was held at the Islington & St. Pancras Cemetery in East Finchley on 11 June 2010, Glen Matlock, Tony James, Rhys Mwyn and Terry Edwards being among the pallbearers, where Nova's body was cremated.