Mitchell Kristopher Rowland is an American songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, best known for his work as a touring guitarist and for co-writing songs on all three of Harry Styles's solo albums. "Watermelon Sugar", a song he co-wrote with Styles, Tyler Johnson, and Thomas Hull, was nominated for and won Best Pop Solo Performance at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards in 2021.^[1] Rowland, along with Styles, Johnson, and Hull, also won the Brit Award for Song of the Year for "Watermelon Sugar" at the 2021 Brit Awards.^[2]

Rowland grew up 15 miles outside of Columbus, Ohio in the city of Dublin, Ohio.^[3] He played in the jazz band at Dublin Coffman High School.^[3] After attending college at the University of Cincinnati,^[4] he played drums for the indie rock band Lionel the Jailbird.^[5] After leaving Lionel the Jailbird, he played in the band Total Navajo with audio engineer Ryan Nasci.^[6][7]

Ryan Nasci was the audio engineer on tracks for the album that would become Harry Styles when a session guitarist dropped out last-minute.^[7] He contacted Rowland, who he was also rooming with at the time, about whether or not he would be interested in the gig.^[7] According to Styles, Rowland had never been in a studio before.^[8] Rowland ultimately co-wrote and played guitar and percussion for nine songs on Harry Styles, including Styles's debut single, "Sign of the Times",^[9] which debuted at number four on the Billboard Hot 100.^[10] After the album's release, he accompanied Styles as lead guitarist in his band for Harry Styles: Live on Tour.^[11] According to Styles's then-music director and producer Thomas Hull, Rowland had "never toured like [that] before" so he was having to "learn on the road."^[11] In September 2017, Rowland, Styles, and producers Tyler Johnson and Thomas Hull (also known as Kid Harpoon), recorded "Watermelon Sugar" in Nashville on a day off from Live on Tour.^[12]

Following Live on Tour, Rowland co-wrote five additional songs on Styles's second album, Fine Line, including the single "Golden",^[13] which eventually peaked at number 57 on the Billboard Hot 100.^[14] He also did session work for the album on electric guitar, drums, slide guitar, acoustic guitar, glockenspiel, and background vocals.^[13] Rowland's guitar solo in the song "She", which was (according to Styles) written while they were both under the influence of psychedelic mushrooms,^[15] has been praised by Rob Sheffield from Rolling Stone as "a cosmic guitar voyage".^[16] Fine Line was nominated for Album of the Year at the 2020 Brit Awards,^[17] and for Best Pop Vocal Album^[18] at the 2021 Grammy Awards. "Watermelon Sugar" received a Grammy Award for Best Pop Solo Performance^[1] and a Brit Award for British Single of the Year.^[2] In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked Fine Line number 491 on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, making it the most recent album to be included.^[19] All three songs mentioned in the Rolling Stone list as album highlights were co-written by Rowland.^[19]

Harry Styles: Love on Tour was initially supposed to start April 2020, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[20] Styles stayed with Rowland and his wife, Sarah Jones, during parts of the pandemic.^[21] Before tour started again, Styles and Rowland co-wrote "Music for a Sushi Restaurant" and "Keep Driving" together.^[22][23] Rowland also co-wrote two songs on Cam's 2020 album The Otherside: "Forgetting You"^[24] and "Happier for You".^[25] He also did session work on the album, playing drums, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, and mallets.^[26] When Love on Tour started again in 2021, Rowland played guitar.^[27] In January 2021, Rowland appeared as himself in Styles's music video for the song "Treat People With Kindness".^[28] Styles's third album, Harry's House, released on May 20, 2022.^[29] In addition to his writing credits on the album, Rowland also did session work playing guitar, bass, percussion, and drums.^[23] "Music for a Sushi Restaurant" debuted at number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100, marking Rowland's third top-ten hit as a songwriter.^[30]

On July 20, 2023 it was announced that Mitch Rowland's debut album Come June^[31] will be released October 6, 2023 via Giant Records / Erskine Records.^[32] This will be the first record released on the Erskine Records imprint from an act other than Harry Styles.^[33] First single of the same name, "Come June" premiered with accompanying sun soaked video.^[34] Second single "Bluebells", was written "after finding out my wife and I were having a baby," Rowland says.^[35]

Rowland's is married to English drummer Sarah Jones.^[36] Jones and Rowland met while rehearsing for Harry Styles: Live on Tour together.^[37] They have one child, Scout Mitchell Rowland-Jones, born in March 2021.^[36][38] Rowland and Jones reside in London.^[38]