Meg Toohey

“I’ve always been interested in every aspect of music––interested in writing, playing, and recording and always asking, ‘Oh, how does a string section work? How can I get my guitar to sound like an orchestra? What element of production or what lyric is going to make that chorus really hit you in your gut?” - Meg Toohey

Meg Toohey’s peers and devoted fans have followed her impressively diverse career for over 20 years. A darling of the 2000’s Boston folk music scene, her knack for writing hooky guitar lines helped create the sound of indie folk heroes The Weepies (over 100 million streams on Spotify), also whom she went on to tour with for 13 years. She has co-written songs and performed with some of the greatest living songwriters like Lori Mckenna, Josh Ritter, and Sara Bareilles.

Toohey is as well versed in Americana music as she is in moody pop-rock. After a move to Los Angeles in 2006 she shifted gears forming a superstar indie girl band The Cold And Lovely, featuring members of Hole and The Smashing Pumpkins.. Toohey penned songs that found their way to hit TV series such as Pretty Little Liars, Vampire Diaries, Parenthood, Grey’s Anatomy, Gossip Girl, and other shows on MTV, PBS, and more, as well as films including Sex in the City, Morning Glory, and Last Shift, which bowed at the Cannes Film Festival. In addition she has been a media composer for OUTFEST, Apple, ABC, and Chase and her voice and compositions have been featured on countless commercials and campaigns. As a producer, Toohey has worked with a diverse slew of indie artists including Vivek Shraya, Garrison Starr, and comedian Margaret Cho, whose album features a Toohey-produced track that garnered a Grammy nod. She is known to play most of the instruments on the recordings she produces, as well as acting as the engineer and mixer.

The Massachusetts native headed back east to New York after 11 years in Los Angeles thanks to receiving the offer of a lifetime: to play on Broadway for Sara Bareilles’ production of “Waitress”. She orchestrated many of the guitar parts and performed as a member of the band for the duration of the Tony nominated run and has since become a top tier musician in the NYC Broadway scene. In addition to Waitress she has played for shows like “Donna Summer”, “Head Over Heels” (The Go- Go’s), “The Secret Life of Bees”, and “Alice By Heart” (Duncan Sheik). Recently she teamed up with Morgan James and a star studded Broadway line up (Shoshana Bean, Cynthia Ervio, Ledisi) to produce an all female version of “Jesus Christ Superstar” to be released April 2022.

Over the years Meg has played guitar and sang for artists like Sara Bareilles, Jason Mraz, Keala Settle, Adrienne Warren, Kat McPhee to name a few. She was hand picked by Spain’s beloved artist Manolo Garcia to write guitar parts on his album Geometría del Rayo, which went on to win the Latin Grammy for Rock Album of the Year.

Subsequently, she toured the album with him playing massive stadiums all over Spain. Manolo called her again in 2021 to help with his new record to be released May 2022.

In 2020 Toohey released her first solo album since 2001. "Butch" received critical acclaim from her peers and industry alike. Going back to her roots Toohey dug into the artists that resonated deeply with her like Bonnie Raitt, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and Springsteen. In other words, she dove into studying "classic songwriters making great music". It's what brought her back to the music she has always been drawn to.

“Butch was followed by “Lucky Streak”, a tribute written to Meg’s friend and fellow Waitress cast mate, Nick Cordero, who sadly passed away from Covid in July 2020. The track features Sara Bareilles and the rest of the Waitress band and was picked up on many national news programs.

After 20 years plus in the music industry, Toohey is just getting started. “All I Know”, a new group of Meg’s songs and sounds will be released in 2022.