The buzz on Jennifer Batten rose
from the guitar underground, and the guitar magazines promptly
began chronicling her savvy musicianship and highly original
approach to the electric guitar in print.
At one point Batten was in 6 different
bands, playing everything from straight ahead rock, to metal,fusion,
and funk. A major turning point came when she was selected
from over one hundred guitarists to play in Michael Jackson's
highly skilled band which toured the world for one and a
half years playing for over four and a half million people.
Jennifer wasted no time after the” Bad” Tour's
grand finale, diving into work on her own album with renown
producer (and Stevie Wonder guitarist) Michael Sembello.
The stunning results can be heard on “Above, Below,
and Beyond”, the title appropriately describing the
interesting diversity within. With this debut release, the
world at large learned what all the excitement was about.
Shortly after the record's release
in the spring of '92, she was asked again to join Michael
Jackson for his upcoming "Dangerous Tour". In
January '93, she joined Jackson to partake in Superbowl
XXVII's half time entertainment which aired to one and half
billion people in 80 nations. It was the largest audience
in television history.
She completed her second solo record
"Jennifer Batten's Tribal Rage~Momentum," just
before she was again asked to join Michael Jackson for his
2 year world tour supporting his double album "HIStory"
in 1997.
Jennifer's Tribal Rage project took
a much different direction than her first record and is
heavily influenced by world music. It is a hybrid of rock
and very exotic sounds, including African percussion, Australian
didgeridoo, Caribbean steel drums and Scottish bag pipes.
In the spring of 98 Jeff Beck asked
Jennifer to join his band. They joined forces for 3 years
on the CD’s "Who Else", and “You Had
It Coming” which were both supported by world tours.
Other guest appearances include CD's
with Carmine Appice, Michael Sembello, Carl Anderson, Carina
Alfie and several rock tributes.
Jennifer has authored two music books
and ihas just released her third solo CD/DVD entitled “Whatever”.
With this 3rd effort, she’s ventured into electronica,
vocal samples, and film. She’s supporting this release
with a multimedia one woman show, playing guitar in synch
with films projected onto a giant screen. The companion
DVD includes over 90 min of art films, previously unreleased
music videos, interviews, commentary, and an innovative
guitar lesson.