Maggie Rogers

Maggie Rogers grew up on the Eastern Shore of Maryland along the banks of the Miles River in Easton, Talbot County, Maryland. Her father is a now-retired Ford Motor Company dealer and her mother, a former nurse, is now an end-of-life doula.[3] She began playing harp at age seven and loved the music of Gustav Holst and Antonio Vivaldi. Her mother would play neo-soul artists such as Erykah Badu and Lauryn Hill. By the time she was in middle school, Rogers had added piano and guitar to her repertoire and began songwriting in eighth grade.[4] For high school, she attended St. Andrew's School in Middletown, Delaware as well as The Gunston School on the Corsica River in Centreville, Queen Anne's County, Maryland. At school, she played harp in the orchestra, sang in the choir, joined a jazz band, learned banjo and became interested in folk music, and taught herself how to program. She also spent many summers during her formative years at a rural camp in Maine.[5]

The summer after her junior year, Rogers attended a Berklee College of Music program and won the program's songwriting contest, which spurred her to focus on writing.[4] During her senior year, she recorded what became her first album, The Echo (2012). Rogers included her demos as part of her application to New York University's Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music.[3] She secured admission and started in 2012.[3]

After the Pharrell video went viral, several different record labels tried to sign Rogers.[3] She ended up negotiating a contract with Capitol Records where "she licenses her music to them through her own imprint, Debay Sounds." As a result, she has more control over her sound and image than many artists at a similar place in their music careers.[7]

Rogers performing in 2019

Rogers' EP, Now That the Light Is Fading, was released on February 17, 2017. She released her major-label debut album, Heard It In a Past Life, in January 2019. The album debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200.[14][15]

In April 2019, Rogers covered the Taylor Swift song "Tim McGraw" as a Spotify Single.[16] She told Rolling Stone, "This song so distinctly belongs to one of – I think, personally – the greatest living songwriters."[16]

Rogers made her television debut on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on February 15, 2017, Saturday Night Live debut on November 3, 2018 and Today Show debut on July 12, 2019.[17]

Rogers cites Carrie Brownstein, Patti Smith, Kim Gordon, and Björk as her musical inspirations,[2] while prominent singers Brandi Carlile and Sharon Van Etten – whom she calls her "musical big sisters" – have become mentors.[18]

She guested with Dead & Company, performing "Friend of the Devil" and "The Weight" on November 1, 2019 at Madison Square Garden.

Rogers earned a nomination for Best New Artist at the 62nd Grammy Awards.[19]

Rogers performed during the 2020 Democratic National Convention, appearing remotely from Scarborough, Maine due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. She was introduced by Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives and 2020 US Senate candidate from Maine Sara Gideon.[20]

On November 13, 2020, Rogers collaborated with Phoebe Bridgers on a cover of the Goo Goo Dolls' 1998 single "Iris", which Bridgers said she would make if Donald Trump lost the 2020 United States elections.[21] The song was released as a one-day exclusive on Bandcamp and was downloaded 28,000 times, with all proceeds going to Fair Fight Action.[22][23]

On December 18, 2020, Rogers released Notes from the Archive: Recordings 2011-2016 via her label Debay Sounds. The album is a compilation of songs she wrote and recorded in the past ten years of her recording career. Some of the songs are from her independently released first two albums: The Echo and Blood Ballet. Other songs are from her previously unreleased 2016 rock EP and a band she was previously in with Holden Jaffe, Del Water Gap. The album was released along with a deluxe version in which Rogers provides an auditory commentary talking through each stage of her music career that the songs in that section reflect.<https://consequenceofsound.net/2020/12/maggie-rogers-notes-from-the-archive-stream/>

Rogers has synesthesia, a benign condition where two or more senses are perceived at once. In her case, she is able to perceive colors as a response to hearing music.[27]

She has been praised in the media for standing up against sexist comments made during one of her performances. During the ACL Live performance at the Moody Theater in Austin on October 19, 2019, one man asked her to "free the nips" while another yelled out "you cute though."[28] Rogers went to social media to express her anger and was praised by her followers, the public and media outlets.[29][30]

Her song "Give a Little" was penned on the same day the National School Walkout demanded congressional action on gun control. She was inspired by the activism of students across the nation, and wrote "Give a Little" about empathy and unity.[31]

Rogers also supports organizations like the ACLU and Planned Parenthood by donating proceeds from merchandise and shows. In an interview, she said that "Planned Parenthood is something that's really important to me. I am proudly, loudly and distinctly pro-choice. I just don't believe that the government should have a say in what a woman's relationship with her doctor is. But I also just think that I am a woman, and I am an artist, and I'm also a businesswoman, and on stage I'm an athlete. And having access to sexual and reproductive health is key for me running my life. It's important that women all over have access to that, because it also affords them access to opportunities."[32][33]

Rogers performed at the 2020 Democratic National Convention.[34] She later endorsed Sara Gideon, who introduced her performance, in the 2020 United States Senate election in Maine.[35]

• After Wowing Pharrell, Maggie Rogers Delivers Her Pop Thesis - NPR
• First, Maggie Rogers's Music Enchanted Pharrell—Now, the Rest of the World - W Magazine
• NY Magazine article
• Artist Interview: Maggie Rogers - EarToTheGround Music
• Petrusich, Amanda (March 13, 2017). "All in : Maggie Rogers's collection of influences". The Critics. Pop Music. The New Yorker. 93 (4): 110–111., Online version is titled "Maggie Rogers, an artist of her time".

• Official website
• Media related to Maggie Rogers at Wikimedia Commons