Jess Cates

Jess Cates
Born (1976-07-27) July 27, 1976 (age 48)
Nashville, Tennessee, United States
OccupationSongwriter

Jess Cates (born July 27, 1976 in Nashville, Tennessee) is an American songwriter who has co-written songs such as Nick Lachey's "What's Left of Me" and the Backstreet Boys' 2005 hit "Incomplete". In recent years, Cates has worked in a songwriting team with Lindy Robbins and Emanuel Kiriakou. In its 2008 "Roundup", ASCAP characterized the trio as "award-winning, multi-platinum selling songwriters."[1]

Other artists who have recorded his songs include Kevin Paige,[2] Jordin Sparks, Britt Nicole, The Jonas Brothers, LeAnn Rimes, Clay Aiken,[3] Kimberley Locke, The Afters, Bo Bice, JC Chasez, Taylor Hicks, plus international artists including Australian Idol's Shannon Noll and Dean Geyer, Canadian Idol's Melissa O'Neil and Ryan Malcolm, Germany's Stanfour and Tobias Regner, and Latin singer David Bisbal.

Cates wrote five songs for Nick Lachey's album "What's Left of Me", including the first two singles, the title track, and "I Can't Hate You Anymore". In April 2007, Cates received an ASCAP Award for "What's Left of Me" being among the most performed songs of 2006. In 2002, Cates was recognized by ASCAP for cowriting "I Don't Want to Go", one of the year's most frequently performed Christian songs.[4]

In 2008, he co-wrote David Archuleta's debut single, "Crush".[5] Ben Ratliff of The New York Times wrote that it was one of the "few dollops of good writing" on Archuleta's debut album.[6]

  1. ^ "2008 Rock & Pop Roundup > Going Places". April 1, 2008. Retrieved June 9, 2024.
  2. ^ Donahue, Michael (December 4, 2003). "There's no place like 'Home' at the Apollo", The Commercial Appeal, p. E3.
  3. ^ Hay, Carla (February 28, 2004). "Spotlight on Aiken's Platinum Partners", Billboard 116 (9): 28–9.
  4. ^ "The Music of Christmas by Christian Artists". Archived from the original on October 7, 2009. Retrieved July 19, 2009.
  5. ^ Getlen, Larry (November 2, 2008). "Making Daves: After their one-two finish on 'Idol', Cook and Archuleta set out to reinvent themselves for the real world", New York Post, p. 46.
  6. ^ Ratliff, Ben (November 10, 2008). "Critics' Choice: New CDs: David Archuleta", The New York Times. Retrieved on July 16, 2009.