Claus Hessler was born in Laufach, Bavaria, Germany in 1969 and started playing the drums in 1973 at the age of 4.

[1] He studied the Moeller Method with Jim Chapin starting in 1990 and also developed an Open-Handed playing technique.

[7] Hessler received his second nomination for "Best Educational Book" in Modern Drummer magazine[8] for his Camp Duty Update [9] published in 2014 in German and 2017 in English, which explained, interpreted, and modernized the classic military rudimental camp duty calls.

Hessler works as a session musician and has played with artists such as Mike Stern, Herb Ellis, Randy Brecker, Ack van Rooyen, Matt Smith, Albert Mangelsdorff, Michael Sagmeister, Larry Coryell, Barbara Dennerlein, and the New York Voices, with whom he toured Europe.

[14] Hessler teaches at Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Frankfurt[9] and other higher education institutions.