Roger Alan Nichols is among 2025 inductees for the BHS Alumni & Friends Foundation Hall of Fame and will be honored Oct. 31 at the BHS football game, as well as Nov. 1 at the foundation's annual banquet at The O by Oliverio's. Tickets are available at $55 each HERE. 

 

Born and raised in Bridgeport, West Virginia, and the son of Robert and Barbara Nichols, Roger developed a passion for music shortly after beginning grade school. By junior high, he was writing and performing in a band with his closest friends. The group remained together, achieving regional success until each member graduated. One month after graduating, Nichols left home to tour professionally as a guitarist with multiple rock bands, covering all 50 states and Canada between 1981 and 1986.

 

During a brief stint in Atlanta, he attended the Art Institute while continuing to perform and record with regional acts. Nichols later moved to Nashville, where he formed the alternative rock band Dreaming in English. The band toured extensively throughout the Southeast, building a strong fan base before releasing their debut album, Stuff, in 1998 to critical acclaim. Shortly thereafter, Nichols signed a publishing deal as a songwriter with Acuff Rose/Idea Music. This partnership led him to begin producing and engineering his own demos, and eventually to establish his own studio, where he collaborated with and wrote for a variety of artists. A multi-instrumentalist, Nichols has written and produced music for Showtime, HBO, MTV, Spike TV, Discovery Channel and all three major broadcast networks.

 

His versatility as both a composer and producer was highlighted in the trailer campaign for Mission Impossible III and more recently in Bluebird, a documentary about the legendary Nashville venue where countless songwriters have launched their careers. Today, Nichols operates Bell Tone Recording in Nashville. He produced, engineered, and mixed the 2024 GRAMMY®-nominated album Life Don’t Miss Nobody by Tracy Nelson (Album of the Year – Traditional Blues). His credits also include GRAMMY®-winning and nominated projects with Larkin Poe, including Venom and Faith (2019, Engineer and Mixer) and Blood Harmony (2024, Engineer). In addition, Nichols has written, produced, and engineered music with artists such as Hayley Williams (Paramore), Steven Tyler, Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown, Kim Richey, and many others across the rock, blues, and Americana genres