As a music artist trying to move forward in your career, writing your bio may be just one of the more difficult things to do.

Following your passion and creating music may be easier for some compared to others, but how can you convey that passion to the world?

Why Is Your Music Artist Bio Important?

Your music artist bio tells a lot about you, and it is important for you to get it right. It will help people figure out who you are, what you do, and where you come from.

More importantly, it helps people understand you. Music is a type of art, and like all art, the artist’s story and background will have a big influence on the type of art they create.

To better understand your music, fans need to be able to understand what is driving you, what your passions are, and what your outlook on life is.

That’s why telling stories in your bio can be so powerful. More on that later, however.

Your bio helps people understand why they should care about you and what is special about your music.

Is it your style — are you a pioneer who combines different genres to produce something unique? Is it the things you sing about (love, romance, etc.), or is it the beautiful voice you have?

Your artist bio will help drive your promotional efforts. You will need one for your PR campaigns, outreach campaigns, and more.

When you get listed on sites or directories listing various musicians, or when you get your songs listed on an on-demand streaming site such as Spotify, you will also need to have a bio so people who stumble on your music can figure out what you are all about.

What Your Bio Needs To Have

Every music artist’s bio should contain a few things. First, it should contain some sort of storyline.

You don’t have to write paragraph upon paragraph about your life. You don’t want to draw the story out too much, as that will take the spotlight away from your achievements, and people may become distracted.

Your storyline might be a single line or even the opening phrase of your first sentence. Remember, storytelling is about painting a picture in people’s minds and bringing out certain emotions.

Your story should reflect upon your personality and struggles, if you have any. It can detail your journey in the music world and how you broke onto the scene, or how you were influenced by the greats from an early age.

Don’t be afraid to point out what makes you unique in your story. It might be an early influence in your life, a famous singer you collaborated with who taught you a lot, something you struggle with personally, or anything else.

Of course, your music bio also needs to list your achievements. Talk about any hit pieces you put out that are popular.

Mention awards you have won, bands or artists you have played alongside, musicians you have toured with, and any other achievement you think will reflect positively on your career.

So, here’s a short template of how your bio might look:

Start off with a storyline, as mentioned before. It can be a phrase, sentence, or an entire paragraph.

You can talk about your childhood, influences, struggles, or career journey.

Then, move on to the music you play now. Talk about the music you produce, the genre you like, some of the songs you have put out, and so on.

Move on to some major accomplishments — while you don’t have to list every award you won or make your awards the bulk of your bio, you should mention some accomplishments to back up your credibility. Not everyone will know what each award is all about, and they might gloss over this section, but it adds credibility nonetheless.

Accomplishments aren’t limited to awards. You could be ranked at the top of a list by a famous music blog or have your song used as the soundtrack of some movie.

Finally, end with your plans for the future and with a note on where you see your career heading going forward. Make sure to allude to the fact that there is a lot more to come.

8 Tips For Writing A Great Music Bio

1. Write In Third Person

Always use the third person for a music artist bio. Write about he, she, or they; not “I.”

That is the standard for music artist bios.

2. Write Your First Paragraph Carefully

Your first paragraph is the most important, as you can use it to draw people in. One way to draw people in is to start with a storyline, as I talked about before.

Remember that many journalists, when talking about your bio, will just copy and paste the first paragraph.

3. Write Different Bio Versions

The length of your bio and what type of content it will contain will differ based on the platform you are using it on. Here are some different types of bio versions you can write:

• The main version: This is your default bio. It should contain at least a few paragraphs and all the things I mentioned above when talking about what your music artist bio should contain. You will use this bio version on your own site, on streaming services such as Spotify, and on databases such as AllMusic.
• The short version: This version should be only a paragraph long. It should be a shortened version of your main version. Make a list of the most important achievements and accomplishments in your main bio, and choose 1-3 to mention in your shorter version. Start off with a storyline, but make it concise.
• The social media version: This version will be the shortest. It should only be a few sentences long and should fit into an Instagram bio or Twitter bio. You can use it in your Instagram bio, tweets, and on your other social media profiles.

4. Describe Your Mission

Instead of just talking about what you do, talk about why you do it. What are your values, and what is your mission?

What is driving you behind the scenes? Not all bios talk about this, but it can be a powerful addition to any bio.

This doesn’t have to be limited to music. You can talk about other charity work you do, but try to find a way to tie it into your music.

For example, if you release music in the Christian religious music genre, you can talk about charity organizations you collaborate with. You may even be donating a portion of your proceeds to a particular charity.

5. Use A Strong And Powerful Tone Of Voice

Be direct and to the point. Use the active voice instead of the passive voice in your bio.

6. Always Update Your Bio

Don’t write a bio once and then forget about it. You should always be updating your bio as your career moves ahead.

While you don’t want to change the entire layout and outline of your bio too often, you can keep the outline but edit the accomplishments and awards, for example, as you get new awards and release new songs.

Your vision and goals may also change. Let your bio reflect that.

7. Learn From The Greats

Never copy another musician’s bio; that will eventually come out, as fans and critics will see that you plagiarized.

However, you can learn and draw inspiration from other artists, including artists in your niche or those who have similar backstories.

Always look at the layout of their bios. What do they talk about?

Do they mention their personal story or family? Do they talk about their awards, and if so, which ones?

What tone of voice do they use — it is relaxed or more forceful? How do they tie in their personal stories or life beliefs to the genre they are in or the music they release?

There are a lot of places you can find bios to analyze. One method is to simply look on Google for the top artists in your genre, and then search for each artist’s personal website.

The most famous artists, like Snoop Dogg, may or may not have a bio on their personal websites, as they are already household names. However, they may still have bios on other sites.

Anyway, you want to see how smaller time music artists write their bios.

Another way to find music artist bios is to look on Spotify. Each artist will have a bio at the bottom of their profile page, under their most popular releases.

You can find popular artists in any niche on Spotify by simply looking for the top hits in any genre.

Finally, you can view bios on record label sites or on music directory websites like All Music.

8. Have Fun

Don’t be too stressed out about it. Relax and let your personality shine through your bio.

Remember, you can always tweak your bio later; you are not forced to stay with what you write the first time.

10 Best Music Artist Bio Examples

Here, I’m going to go over 10 music artist bio examples from real musicians. Some of these musicians are more well known than others, and they come from all different types of genres: rock, country, psychedelic, hip hop, Latin, metal, and more.

I’ll talk about what makes their bios unique as well.

1. Rob Zombie

Rob Zombie is a metal artist with an interesting history. Here’s the first paragraph of his Spotify bio:

“The longtime frontman for industrial metal superstars, Rob Zombie was born Robert Bartleh Cummings on January 12, 1966, in Haverhill, Massachusetts, forming the group soon after moving to New York City circa 1985. He subsequently worked as a bike messenger, porn magazine art director, and production assistant for the classic children’s TV series Pee Wee’s Playhouse, concurrently leading through a series of cult-favorite indie releases; the success of their 1992 major-label debut, La Sexorcisto: Devil Music, Vol. 1, not only launched Zombie to new prominence within the music industry, but also allowed him to try his hand at animation (most notably a hallucinatory sequence of the feature film Beavis & Butt-Head Do America) and directing (he was slated to helm the third chapter of The Crow franchise, working from his own screenplay, but Miramax Films eventually pulled out of the deal).”

It’s quite a story! It starts off with a powerful note: “The longtime frontman for industrial metal superstars.”

Often, the hardest part of your bio will be the opening sentence. Don’t go with something boring — be unique.

You also don’t want to be too extravagant in your opening line (for example, saying that Rob is a “metal superstar” himself might have been too much of a stretch).

It then goes on to detail the way he rose to fame. It wasn’t an easy journey; being a bike messenger is pretty difficult, but that didn’t stop Rob — his bio subtly demonstrates how hardworking and determined he is.

The part about being a porn magazine art director is a nice touch, considering the genre we are talking about (heavy metal).

Finally, it acknowledges that things haven’t always worked out the way he wanted (Miramax pulled out of a deal), but he forged ahead nonetheless.

2. Carly Pearce

Carly Pearce is an American classical music artist who combines traditional classical music with modern, pop-classical music. Here’s how her Spotify bio starts off:

“Fiercely rooted in the classics, the girl who left her Kentucky home and high school at 16 to take a job at Dollywood has grown into a woman who embraces the genre’s forward progression and is confident in what she wants to say. Lighting a fire with her debut album EVERY LITTLE THING and the PLATINUM-certified history-making title track, Carly has since become “Country’s ‘it’ girl” (ABC Radio), touring alongside Blake Shelton, Rascal Flatts, and Luke Bryan.”

The bio starts off with a strong point (“fiercely rooted in the classics”) and goes on to describe how her music career and style evolved.

It then goes on to add some social proof: singers she has toured with and awards she has won.

Mentioning that she started her career at a young age is important, as it shows that she has more experience and that her career has had a chance to evolve until she found her own unique music genre style.

Notice how her storyline is just one sentence long. However, that sentence says a lot about her and was written carefully.

3. Amy Grant

Amy Grant is a famous Christian singer. She’s from Nashville, but she is well-liked all across the United States.

Here’s the first half of her bio:

“Amy Grant has built a long, successful career on music that matters. Ever since she burst on the scene as a fresh-faced teenager bringing contemporary Christian music to the forefront of American culture, the Nashville native gained a reputation for creating potent songs that examined life’s complexities with an open heart and keen eye. She became the first artist in Christian music to have a platinum record and went on to become a crossover sensation, her musical gifts transcending genre boundaries to make her a household name.”

It’s a pretty well-written bio. It uses strong words such as “potent” and “crossover sensation” and then goes on to mention her various awards and philanthropy — the latter being particularly relevant given the type of music she produces (religious music).

4. Steve Cropper

Steve Cropper is Stax Records’ house guitarist, focusing on blues, country, and related music genres. Let’s have a quick look at how his bio starts off:

“If Yankee Stadium is “the house that Babe Ruth built,” Stax Records is “the house that Booker T. and the MG’s built.” Integral to that potent combination is MG rhythm guitarist extraordinaire Steve Cropper. As a guitarist, A & R man, engineer, producer, songwriting partner of Otis Redding, Eddie Floyd and a dozen others and founding member of both Booker T. and the MG’s and The Mar-Keys, Cropper was literally involved in virtually every record issued by Stax from the fall of 1961 through year end 1970. Such credits assure Cropper of an honored place in the soul music hall of fame. As co-writer of (Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay, Knock On Wood and In The Midnight Hour, Cropper is in line for immortality.”

What makes this bio powerful is the analogy. First, it links him to Stax Records; while not everyone will have heard of Steve Cropper the man, many will have heard of Stax or Booker T. & The M.G.s, Stax Records’ house band.

It then compares Stax to Yankee Stadium and Babe Ruth and states that Cropper was “integral” to the “potent combination” that made up Stax and Booker T. & The M.G.s. Mentioning Yankee Stadium and Babe Ruth links Steve to fame and celebrity.

5. Chung Ha

Chung Ha is a popular Korean singer. Her bio has a few strong points, which I will point out here:

“Taking the Korean popular music industry by storm, she made six consecutive hits from her debut single, “Why Don’t You Know,” followed by… pre-release #1 “Stay Tonight” from her first official studio album.

Not only does she give fantastic performances that captivate the viewers, but she has a pure and beautiful voice that suits all kinds of music genres such as dance ballads. And this placed her at the top of the list of artists that other artists want to invite to feature in their music.

CHUNG HA has already collaborated with various artists including Wheesung…

Moreover, she is active in various areas such as participating in the original soundtracks of many popular TV dramas and releasing a song for MNH Entertainment’s music project, “New.wav.”

Remember, when reading an artist’s bio, readers will want to see what’s in it for them. While your awards may impress some, many casual listeners don’t know enough about what a particular award is, what people need to do to qualify for such an award, and how significant that award is (how many people actually get it).

This bio mentions her “pure and beautiful voice” and mentions how she has collaborated with many other artists that at least some readers will love. It also mentions her other projects, such as soundtracks she helped create for popular TV dramas — remember, your music bio doesn’t have to be only about your albums.

6. MishCatt

MishCatt, or Michelle Gonzales, is a Costa Rican singer based in LA. Her bio is pretty intriguing — here is how it starts off:

“MishCatt– born Michelle Gonzalez – is a Costa Rican born, Los Angeles based singer/songwriter who is blessed with synesthesia, a unique condition where when one sense is activated, another kicks in at the same time. When she hears music, she sees colors and shapes. Born to a musician family, her father was a jazz pianist and commercial jingle writer and her mom was a singer and actress. While she was clearly influenced by her father’s jazzier tastes, including artists like Nat “King” Cole and Ella Fitzgerald, MishCatt’s mom imparted her obsession with 80’s pop music as well. She started writing songs at 12 and soon realized that her natural facility for languages translated to singing songs not only in English and her native Spanish, but also in French, Portuguese and Italian.”

If you’re like me, you’ve never heard of synesthesia before. In fact, you might be wondering if it’s a real thing or whether it’s a made-up syndrome.

It is, however, a real neurological condition, and it causes people to experience two senses from one stimulating cause at the same time. You might see something instead of just hearing or smelling it; in MishCatt’s case, she sees colors and shapes when she hears music.

It’s not a very common condition, but it’s pretty interesting. In the case of MishCatt, her bio points to it as a blessing and a strength.

It makes her more creative and artistic and sets her apart from other singers and songwriters, almost all of which do not experience music the same way she does.

It also explains how she was exposed to music at a young age, with both her father and her mother being musical artists and professionals (that’s her background). Pointing out that she can sing songs in various languages other than her native language shows how talented she is as well.

7. Gregory Porter

Gregory Porter is an American jazz musician who has twice won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album.

“One of eight siblings raised by a minister mother in Bakersfield, California, Gregory Porter found his voice both by singing in church and by studying her Nat King Cole records at home. Though Cole’s talent, wisdom, and poise made him something of a surrogate father to a musically gifted boy who lived in his own head, it was a football scholarship that eventually carried Porter from California’s Central Valley to San Diego State University. An injury derailed his athletic career, but he found a mentor in producer Kamau Kenyatta, who has worked with Porter ever since. After college, Porter moved to New York to work the kitchen in his brother’s Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn cafe by day, and jazz clubs by night.”

Again, what you can see here is a powerful story. Being one of eight siblings isn’t easy, but Gregory got involved in music at a young age.

The bio talks about how he struggled to find a voice for his musical talent, something that is alluded to when talking about how his talent and wisdom made him a “surrogate father” to the musically gifted boy who lived in his own head.

It goes on to detail how he left athletic sports for music and played as a musician in iconic New York cafes and bars until he ended up receiving various Grammy Awards (that comes later in the bio). All in all, it’s a powerful story that is told well and paints an image of a talented, hard-working, courageous individual.

8. Nancy Ajram

Nancy Ajram is a popular Lebanese singer. While her songs are mostly in Arabic, they are still popular around the world for their catchy tunes.

Her music videos also tell potent stories, and they are popular around the world as well. Here’s how her biogeography starts off:

“Nancy Nabil Ajram is a multi-platinum Lebanese singer and Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF.

By 2007, Ajram had sold over 2 million records ranking 3rd best-selling female artist in Lebanese history.

She has released seven studio albums to date and appeared in numerous music videos and commercials.

She participated in the most significant Arabic festivals and won multiple awards, most importantly the 2008 World Music Award of best-selling Middle Eastern artist, the youngest Arab WMA winner to date, 2012 WMA for the second time and 2014 WMA for the third time.

Nancy Ajram is the first and only female sponsor and spokesperson of Coca-Cola in the Middle East and Arab world.

Considered by many as an Arabic music icon of the decade, Nancy was described on the Oprah Winfrey Show as one of the most influential personalities of the Middle East.”

It’s simple but to the point. Before getting to the awards she has won, her bio states that she was ranked as the third best-selling artist in Lebanese history.

While readers might not know enough about individual awards, if you were ranked at the top of a specific list, consider adding that to your bio, as it adds a lot of credibility and authority (make sure readers from all backgrounds can understand what the list is about).

9. Becky G

Becky G is a popular Latin singer, who became famous for some viral hit pieces she did in collaboration with other popular Latin singers such as Bad Bunny.

Although she has produced songs in both English and Spanish, it is her Spanish language songs that are the most popular, not only in Spanish-speaking countries but in the United States as well.

“Singer, songwriter, actress and activist Becky G was born for the spotlight and her multifaceted career is shaping up to be nothing short of iconic. The 24-year-old global superstar’s achievements include two number one hits on the Billboard Latin Airplay Charts (“Mayores” & “Sin Pijama”), a starring role in “Power Rangers,” and guest-starring in Fox TV’s Emmy-winning “Empire” series.

She has toured alongside Katy Perry, Demi Lovato, J Balvin, Fifth Harmony, and Jason Derulo and has recorded collabs with Daddy Yankee, Maluma, Anitta, Natti Natasha, ZAYN, Bad Bunny, Ozuna, Pitbull, and CNCO, among others.

Becky won the first-ever American Music Award for Favorite Latin Female Artist (2020) and the E! People’s Choice Award for The Latin Artist of 2020.”

I really like how her bio hints that the best of her career is yet to come (“is shaping up to be nothing short of iconic”). In other words, she still has a long way to go, even though she is already a popular superstar.

It goes on to list some of her top songs and some of the famous singers she has collaborated with, such as J Balvin, Katy Perry, Demo Lovato, Bad Bunny, Pitbull, and Maluma.

10. Roky Erickson

Roky Erickson, who passed away in 2019, was often considered the pioneer of psychedelic rock. He was one of the founding members of the popular psychedelic rock band, 13th Floor Elevators.

His bio starts off by comparing him to Syd Barrett. Syd Barrett was a founding member of Pink Floyd, a British rock and psychedelic band that was popular throughout the 60s, 70s, and to this day.

“Like Syd Barrett, a common point of reference, Roky Erickson rose to cult-hero status as much for his music as for his tragic personal life; in light of his legendary bouts with madness and mythic drug abuse, the influence exerted by his garage-bred psychedelia was often lost in the shuffle.”

The storyline here is very powerful. It’s a gritty one; it’s not all sunshine and roses, but that didn’t stop Roky from achieving “cult hero status.”

The bio is very open about his struggles with drug abuse.

However, that won’t fit in every genre. Mentioning such struggles in the psychedelic rock genre is okay because it actually enhances his story and perhaps the image of him being a “cult hero”; many outlaws and counter-culture singers had such struggles.

In another genre, it might not be something you would want to mention.

Wrapping It Up

So, there you have it — 10 great music artist bio examples. While there are many other bios that are amazing as well, I couldn’t fit all of them into this article.

The point here, again, is to take inspiration from these artists when writing your own bio. Don’t copy, but do learn what makes a bio good by analyzing the bios of famous artists.