Emcee and Judges

The Judges from last year's Battle of the Bands.

Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, Jordan Berliant and Hugh Surratt were the judges at last year's Battle of the Bands and they will be back.

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ROAD CREW LEVEL

Battle of the Bands judging had two components: a panel of celebrity judges weighed in with opinions (and wit) and audience members armed with mobile phones voted for their favorite bands – over 1,200 text votes were cast! Along the way, singer and actress Tatyana Ali kept things rocking all night long as our emcee.

An Emcee With Celebrity Appeal

Tatyana Ali: An award-winning actress, Harvard graduate, singer and host of TV One Access, emceed the 2009 Battle of the Bands Charity Fundraiser. Ali has numerous film and TV credits including, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Since the show's completion, Tatyana has appeared in several films including Kiss the Girls and The Brothers. In 1998, Ali released her debut album, Kiss the Sky, which went gold. In 1999, she pre-recorded, Precious Wings, a song on the Sesame Street soundtrack which won her a Grammy for "Best Musical Album for Children."

Judges Who Really Rock

	Jeff "Skunk" Baxter: A Grammy-winning extraordinaire, Baxter has played on 150 albums with such popular acts as Steely Dan, The Doobie Brothers, Rod Stewart, Ringo Starr and more, and has 17 gold records and eight platinum records to his credit.

	Jordan Berliant: As a partner in The Collective Music Group, a leading artist management company based in Beverly Hills, CA, Jordan Berliant works with some of the largest names in music including: Linkin Park, All American Rejects, Staind, Plain White T's, Avenged Sevenfold, All Time Low, Hoobastank & Slash. Over his 15 year career in management, Jordan has worked with a wide range of musical superstars and legends including Meat Loaf, Duran Duran, The Cranberries, The Bee Gees, Blondie, Hanson, Mötley Crüe, Buckcherry and others, overseeing the creation of global marketing and promotional strategies and the implementation of these campaigns on their behalf.

	Hugh Surratt: With almost 30 years experience in the music business, Hugh Surratt has played a major role in launching and building the music careers of a wide range of artists such as Dave Matthews. As the Senior Vice President of Marketing at Sony BMG (and previously RCA Records), Hugh directed the marketing campaigns for all of the winners of American Idol. He is currently a strategic consultant to a number of record labels.

All About the Judging

Judging this year was done a bit differently than last' years judging. Here's how:

A panel of celebrity judges will carry 50% of the vote - the other 50% will come through audience polling.
Audience voting will be limited to 10 votes per unique voter ID.
The band with the highest combined scores wins the competition.