Shelley Biss, daughter of a piano and kindermusik teacher, grew up in Southern Oregon and began formal vocal training at the age of 16. She attended college at Willamette University in Salem Oregon on a partial music scholarship and sung classical, choral, and jazz works which led to the making of a vocal recording and playing with many famous Jazz artists including Clark Terry. Scouted as the University’s next young opera singer, she learned numerous languages and gave operatic recitals in the process of obtaining a Music Minor amongst other degrees.

After college, Shelley moved to Alaska where she became part of the chorus for Anchorage Opera, participating in operas such as Cosi Fan Tutte, Carmen, Eugene Onegin, and Pagliacci. She also traveled to Oregon to join Southern Oregon Opera in their modern version production of Carmen.  In 2000, she took a hiatus from singing to pursue a Master’s degree in Social Work and a Ph. D in Pastoral Counseling.

In 2006, she fulfilled a life long dream and preformed Hayden’s Mass in Time of War at Carnegie Hall under the direction of Dr. Wallace Long, Jr. During that time, she also participated in the recording of a techo CD and sung Carmina Burana as part of the 300-person Concert Chorus in Anchorage.  Shelley has continued to work on broadening her vocal repertoire by joining church and community choirs and Jazz groups.

Her first Solo Album HEARTSONGS was released spring of 2016.  She continues to explore music through community works such as the Carnegie Foundation Lullaby Project where she composes and preforms songs with inmates from Hiland Mountain Correctional Facility. She continues to explore and teach music to her two children, ages 14 and 17.