The Latest Breaking News from Jennifer Batten

“The call was, ‘Michael’s interested. Can you come down, rehearse with the band, and take a year off?’ I said, ‘Take me anywhere for any length of time’”: Jennifer Batten on how she landed the gig of a lifetime with the world’s biggest superstar

Batten was Michael Jackson’s go-to touring guitarist for a decade – standing side by side with the King of Pop on the Bad, Dangerous, and HIStory world tours

Guitar World · Oct 6, 2025

“Ozzy had a problem with my short hair. Sharon had a problem with my green guitar – she said it looked like a booger”: The unlucky 13 guitarists who auditioned for Ozzy Osbourne – but didn’t make the grade

A procession of all-time guitar greats tried their hand with the Prince of Darkness but were ultimately rejected – sometimes for surprising reasons

Guitar World · Sep 22, 2025

“He called and said, ‘Would you have any interest in auditioning for Michael Jackson?’ I was like, ‘Oh my god, yes!’” Nita Strauss once received a call to audition for the King of Pop – and ended up playing funk with his brother

How Strauss went from watching Jennifer Batten on TV during Michael Jackson's 1993 Super Bowl halftime performance to being approached to audition for him

Guitar World · Feb 14, 2025

“Computers crashed several times… I recorded vocals four or five times. But on the other hand, I started doing my job alone, learning many things”: Why Tarja Turunen recruited Mike Oldfield, Trevor Rabin and Steve Rothery for Outlanders

Former Nightwish singer’s new direction took nearly a decade to deliver – but she’s ready to do it all over again

Louder · Feb 5, 2024

“The funny thing is I don’t even really like pedals... I’ve used them, but constantly stomping on different pedals to get what I need is still bonkers”: Jennifer Batten reveals what’s on her pedalboard

The former Jeff Beck and Michael Jackson guitarist is no stompbox addict, but has everything she needs in this simple setup, built around a compact pedal amp

Guitar World · Nov 8, 2023

10 diehard rock and blues guitarists who boarded the pop train

The megastar crossovers where guitar met box office pop and made magic happen

Guitar World · Aug 27, 2023

Impressed by that double Whammy pedal footage? Jennifer Batten did it first

The virtuoso guitarist first put two DigiTech pedals to the metal on a lesser-known track from her 1992 solo album

Guitar World · Jun 8, 2023

Double Whammy: metal guitarist Sean Long goes viral with his bonkers dual-pedal technique

Clips of the While She Sleeps guitarist’s experimental pitch-shifting approach have had over 2 million views. As he tells us: “It allows me to create things that sound impossible”

Guitar World · May 31, 2023