Bess McCrary

Bess McCrary hails from Charlotte, North Carolina and was a performer from her first words, crafting stories and fibs so magnificent that her mother had no choice but to enroll her in acting classes as a toddler. Born into a musical family and bitten by the stage bug at age four, Bess acted professionally until she was ten, and began composing her own songs when she was 13. Bess was still writing songs while she studied Musical Theatre at Catawba College—her work as raw and sincere as it was bold and complex. After two years, Bess was eager to test the limits of her instrument and become a better musician, so she transferred to The University of North Carolina School of the Arts. There she trained classically as a mezzo-soprano and took to her training so well that she was cast by Piedmont Opera Theatre, becoming a professional singer before she graduated, in a genre she had only begun studying two years prior. During this time she perfected a voice powerful enough to fill an auditorium and yet persuasive enough to feel like she was sharing an intimate secret with each member of the audience. These were also the years that Swing and Jazz first made an appearance in Ms. McCrary’s musical history and left indelible impressions on her compositional style.