We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Sam Derose Jr a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Sam, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s been one of the most interesting investments you’ve made – and did you win or lose? (Note, these responses are only intended as entertainment and shouldn’t be construed as investment advice)

I’ve made some great decisions and of course some terrible decisions in my career and win or lose you have to take responsibility for all outcomes. As of late the best decision I made was to record and produce my music at the world famous Abbey Road Studios.

Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a music recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, St John’s Wood, City of Westminster, London. It was established in November 1931. Some of the studio’s most notable clients were the Beatles, who used the studio as the venue for many of the innovative recording techniques that they adopted throughout the 1960s. Abbey Road Studios also hosted the likes of Pink Floyd, Lady Gaga, Radiohead, Ed Sheeran and Adele to name a few.

For my sessions I had the distinct pleasure of teaming with Engineer Gordon Davidson who has called Abbey Road Studios his home since 2008. Gordon has worked with major rock and pop artists including Ian Brown, Kasabian, Stereophonics and Mick Jagger. Working with engineers and producers such as Geoff Emerrick, Ethan Johns, John Frasier, and Will.i.am across a variety of genres has provided Gordon with an incredible breadth of experience to apply to the projects he works on and collaborates with.

I am so grateful for the time and care Gordon put into the sessions we worked on together. With his help my songs came to life and I was able to see my full vision come to fruition.

At the end of my Abbey Road sessions I had completed four songs. Of the four, three I released on an EP entitled “Sam DeRose Jr, The Abbey Road Sessions”.

The last song completed “Sarah” the single gets released to commercial Radio in January 2025 through Sony records.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I have charted on the radio in Rock, Pop and R&B. Im currently a songwriter and producer affiliated within many major industry artist development record labels. I’m an artist, songwriter and singer. I have redefined myself within my own brand cataloging a library of songs stylized in a nuevo pop sound with hard rock underpinnings a sort of re-construction of my own style and genre. I mentored privately studying advanced composition and theory, classical solo violin as applied to electric bass, principles of chamber music and orchestral designs for film and television. I use custom made electric basses. The Dragonetti Soloist was designed by Les Godfrey and myself and comes as a hollow body and is hand carved to order. The bass comes in fretted and fretless, neck through designs feature a 30.5 inch three octave neck with 36 frets, locking tuners, active pickups, tremolo bass bridge, traditional scroll headstock, exotic woods and a finish that is comparable to violin varnishes of past history.

For me, choosing to play bass became the whole snowball effect monologue. One thing always leads to another and the lion needs to be fed. Every conquest achieved brings on new horizons and more opportunities. I began to trust my abilities and instincts. The higher I went the deeper I traveled inward and I began to truly know myself.
Today I would describe myself as an Artist, Songwriter, Producer, Engineer, Bass Player and Musician.
But….
I am also a Teacher, I edit Video on a Pro Level, I write Code, I build Websites, I am a Graphic Artist and have mastered multiple platforms both in OSX and Windows, I am a Graphics and Video Animator, I am an expert at Search Engine Marketing and Search Engine Optimization, I am an expert in Social Media Marketing and Product Branding, I am actively involved in Radio Promotion, Audio Production, Video Production and Artist/Product Branding and Development. I have worked with many of the Major Record Labels, Production Companies and many Music Producers. I am a Successful Entrepreneur. But when I started out I just wanted to play bass.

Learning to play bass was the seed to what became my life.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

While growing up I was a competitive swimmer. I spent a lot of time in the pool and even more time preparing for swim races. I was about thirteen years old and training for an extremely important swim race. When it came time to race I was so worried about getting beat I started to focus on the competition. I lost sight of my own plan, my own training, my own preparations. I lost the race! I lost my sight. I lost myself. Since then I have never swam another person’s race.  I have always been true to myself willing to stand or fall by my own volition.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

To Participate!

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.samderosejr.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samderosejr/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SamDeRoseJr
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@samderosejr
• Other: Linktree
  https://linktr.ee/samderosejr

  TikTok

  @samderosejr

  Spotify
  

  Apple
  https://music.apple.com/us/artist/sam-derose-jr/987016717

  Amazon Music
  https://music.amazon.com/artists/B00WFKWF2Y/sam-derose-jr