THE NEW MUSIC COLLABORATION OFJENNY BATES AND GRAMMY® AWARD WINNERTONY LAKE ANNOUNCES DEBUT EP “UNPACKED CASES”
RELEASE DATE: MARCH 2, 2021
BECKERTON is the new rock collaboration of vocalist Jenny Bates and Grammy® Award-winning engineer Tony Lake. Formed from a jolt of budding relationship energy while in quarantine, BECKERTON’s debut EP, “Unpacked Cases,” unfolds rock songs with pop-sensibilities about obsession, long-distance love and skeptical self-worth. BECKERTON’s “Unpacked Cases” EP releases Tuesday, March 2, 2021 on all digital music platforms.
Chatting backstage at a mutual gig seems like the only appropriate way for Jenny, a Broadway publicist by trade, and Tony to have a meet cute… though having logistical chats about microphones and early morning press pick-ups is less than conducive for flirtatious banter. So, after the curtain fell one evening on their shared project, the national tour of The Last Ship, Jenny and Tony decamped to a dive bar in the Mission District of San Francisco to enjoy one of the first of many live rock shows as a couple. Or so they thought.
Weeks later the COVID-19 pandemic hit the U.S., and when all live performances came to a halt, Jenny and Tony quickly quarantined themselves in Brooklyn...to make some music...together. “Unpacked Cases” references a rare moment when two entertainment road warriors can come home together and open up to something new. With travel plans eviscerated, one’s hard-sided Pelican cases and bags can truly be unpacked. And so can your stories, when you find the right person who will listen.
Tony Lake grew up in Detroit raised on the music of Motown, Midwest pop-rock, and Detroit R&B. He fell in love with music at an early age and cemented his passion by learning guitar. As his appetite for music grew, he became enamored with the recording and mixing side of music, learning the intricacies of the process, and adding this technical aptitude to his music appreciation.
These skills have seen him at the console of recording studios working with artists as diverse as Sting, Shaggy, Lady Gaga, Far East Movement, Jukebox The Ghost, Charlie XCX, and Mumford and Sons, as well as touring across the world with Sting and Shaggy, and with acts supporting Katy Perry, the Black Eyed Peas, and LMFAO.Tony won a Grammy® Award in 2019 for best Reggae Album with Shaggy and Sting's "44/876" and received a Grammy® Award nomination for Lady Gaga's "The Fame."
He is also part of the rock band, Detroit Dreamers, with Martin Kierszenbaum. Their eponymous EP debuted in May 2020. Tony's instrumental project, Danser Dans La Mer’s, 7-song collection entitled “Constellations I” debuted in December 2020. Tony is represented by Cherrytree Management.
Jenny Bates hails from San Diego but now considers herself to be an official (and proud) New Yorker. Before moving east, Jenny performed, produced and directed throughout Southern California in singing groups and regional theaters including the Old Globe, San Diego Chamber Orchestra and Starlight.
But Broadway beckoned and since her early 20s, Jenny has served as the publicist and marketing director for some of the most well-known musicals in the world including Les Misérables, The Phantom of the Opera, Miss Saigon, Jersey Boys, The Last Ship starring Sting, Fun Home, The Light in the Piazza and many more.
She has also worked on and off-stage at various venues in NYC such as HERE, The Zipper, NYU and Swing 46.
At night, when not on or backstage, Jenny is behind the camera of JenEpiphany Photography taking gig photos for local NYC bands, free for their personal and professional uses.
