Bess Rogers is an artist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, educator, and producer from New York, now based in Nashville. She graduated in 2005 from SUNY Purchase with a Master’s degree in Studio Composition, where she recorded her first album, Decisions Based on Information, produced by Dan Romer (HBO’s Station Eleven, Pixar’s Luca). From 2007-2013 she was a member of Ingrid Michaelson’s band as lead guitarist and back-up singer, playing on stages all over the world including Madison Square Gardens in NYC & Union Chapel in London, and on live television and radio including Late Night with Conan O’Brien & Good Morning America. She also featured as a guitarist and singer on her records, Be OK, Everybody, Lights Out, It Doesn’t Have to Make Sense, & Ingrid Michaelson’s Songs for the Season. In 2020 she co-produced, arranged and performed on 4 new songs for Ingrid’s Songs for the Season Deluxe Edition, including a duet with Zooey Dechenel (She & Him, New Girl).

As a solo artist, Bess has written, performed, and toured-in-support of her albums, Travel Back EP, Bess Rogers Presents Bess Rogers, Out of the Ocean, & Can’t Remember Where EP. Her songs have been featured on many tv shows including Pretty Little Liars & One Tree Hill. In 2013 she formed a female-fronted rock band called Secret Someones and was quickly signed to Interscope/Cherrytree Records (Sting, Robyn, Feist), where they released their self-titled album to critical acclaim. The band toured internationally, sharing the stage with Feist, Ingrid Michaelson, Mariana’s Trench, A Great Big World, and more. In 2018, Bess joined Broadway’s first all-female pit band for The Go-Go’s Broadway Musical, Head Over Heels, performing in NYC’s legendary Hudson Theater. 

Bess has also made a name for herself in the sync-licensing world with her songs being featured in ads by Cheerios, Motts, Hersheys, Google, Facebook, New Balance, Cadillac, and more. She composed a song and jingle called The Perfect Day for a Cheerios national ad campaign and was featured in commercials for over a year. 

Throughout her music career, education has always been a through-line. She has taught privately, at The Songwriting School of Los Angeles, and co-founded and co-directs Thinking Outside the Blocks, a global songwriting membership and educational resource. She joined the MTSU faculty as Assistant Professor of Commercial Songwriting in 2022 and lives in Nashville with her family.

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