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About Steve
Steve Bogard's music career began at twelve years of age fronting his first band in Tampa, Florida. By the time he was sixteen, the band was signed to Florence Greenberg's New York label, Scepter Records, and released two singles of Bogard originals songs. This first publishing and record deal was done in Memphis, with legendary Bill Black's publishing company, and by the age of nineteen, Bogard had a top 20 R&B hit on James Carr, "Freedom Train," and two cuts on A&M records' soulful star Rita Coolidge. While in Memphis, Bogard played guitar, sang backgrounds, and toured extensively with both Charlie Rich and Jerry Lee Lewis.
At twenty, he made the move to Miami with famed Memphis rhythm section, The Dixie Flyers, as a staff writer for Atlantic's Cotillion Music. Based at Criteria Recording Studios, he learned from and worked closely with Tom Dowd and Jerry Wexler on artists and projects from Eric Clapton's "Layla" to Aretha Franklin's "Spirit in the Dark". During this time, Steve’s songs were recorded by Dee Dee Warwicke, and Delaney and Bonnie and Friends.
When Atlantic moved its Miami operation, Bogard stayed, playing clubs, engineering recording projects, and producing music for TV and radio. He met and married his wife and best friend of thirty-five years, Beverly, and they have two children, Jessica and Zachary. During this time Steve continued his career as a singer-songwriter with an album on Canada's Attic Records, and two singles and an album on Decca Records in the U.K. He was drawn to Nashville, when in 1981, an eleven-year-old Bogard song, "Touch Me with Magic" became a BMI award-winning top ten hit for Marty Robbins. The family decided to move to Music City.
After his first publishing deal with the Welk Music Group in Nashville, Bogard signed as a writer with Chappell Music, which later became Warner Chappell Music. He remained as a staff writer at Warner Chappell for a remarkable twenty years, until in August of ‘04 he signed a multi-year agreement with The Famous Music Corporation. Artists named in his discography range from country legends Conway Twitty and Waylon Jennings to soul greats Etta James and The Four Tops, to more recent pop artists, Sinead O'Connor and Louise Goffin.
Steve Bogard has written eight number one country songs among eighteen ASCAP or BMI award winners including George Strait's, "Carried Away” and “Carrying Your Love with Me," Rascal Flatts' career breaker, "Prayin' For Daylight," and this year’s #1’s for Jack Ingram, “Wherever You Are,” and Grammy nominee for Country Song of the Year, Dierks Bently’s “Every Mile A Memory.” His co-written second single on Dierks is the title cut “Long Trip Alone.” Additional artists recording Bogard songs include Tim McGraw, Kenny Chesney, Reba, Patty Loveless, Restless Heart, Blackhawk, Clay Walker, Lonestar, Alabama, Tanya Tucker, The Oak Ridge Boys, Diamond Rio and Steve Wariner. Total sales of albums, CD's and cassettes containing Steve Bogard songs are over seventy million units.
Steve has produced eight major-label album projects, for Arista, Virgin, Lyric Street and Sony from finding and developing Michelle Wright ("Take It like a Man"), the ACM's best new female vocalist of '93 to recent “Nashville Star” winner Brad Cotter.
Steve capped a stellar 2007 with a Grammy nomination for Best Country Song of the Year for “Long Trip Alone,” co-written with fellow nominee Dierks Bentley. Dierks was also nominated for Best Country Male Vocal Performance for the song.
Several years ago Bogard became active in the Nashville Songwriter’s Association International. He was soon elected to its Board of Directors and is now the president of NSAI Board, taking office in July ’06. Steve is currently working closely with the NMPA, DiMA, the RIAA, BMI and ASCAP on pending and future legislation affecting songwriters’ rights to digital income, covering subscription services, tethered downloads, satellite radio devices, and future digital uses of music. Bogard was the witness representing songwriters at last spring’s Copyright Royalty Board rate setting proceeding.
Steve Bogard is a current member of the CMA Board of Directors, and a former Board Member of the Academy of Country Music. He is a 1995 graduate of Leadership Music, served on ASCAP's Southern Writer's Advisory Board, and has hosted the ASCAP Song Seminar. He is a member of the ACM and both the Composer and Producer and Engineer wings of NARAS.
