Erinn Bates Native Nashvillian

Erinn Bates was born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, and became involved in music as a child playing the piano at six and staying with it through college. By eleven she was writing her own book of poetry and writing songs on the piano. She was cast as “Maria” in the Sound of Music in Junior High and was the lead in several other musicals and plays in high school. As she learned more about her own singing voice, she found that she had developed a true appreciation and deep love for country music. While still in high school, a friend of the family who was in the music business began working as her manager and helped her find great songwriters to work with.

After graduating with honors from Hillwood High School, Bates enrolled at Nashville’s Belmont University and started interning for a publishing company on music row. After a year and a half, the company closed its doors and she began working with Capitol Records as an intern for one semester. That semester, her self-written music had made it into the hands of Grammy winning Judd’s producer, Brent Maher. Maher called her after hearing a work tape of her self-written tunes and took her to lunch. By that summer, she was singing demos at Maher’s studio and finding music for her own project while working as a lifeguard at the exclusive Richland Country Club. After graduation, she recorded her first demo with Maher and was introduced to hit songwriters, Mark Selby and Tia Sillers. While working with Selby and Sillers, Bates began to gain more confidence in her own songwriting abilities and realized that she needed to hone in more on her unique country style.

A few months after her demo was recorded, a family friend walked it over to his neighbor’s house. That neighbor was super star country music manager, Dale Morris who manages Kenny Chesney, Gretchen Wilson, and Big & Rich. Morris was floored by her beautiful voice and by the strength of the songs. He scheduled an audition for her at Sony Nashville with then A&R VP Mark Wright. With songwriters Mark Selby and Curtis Wright backing her up on guitars, Bates scored an artist development deal. Though, before she had a chance to make the project her own, Sony Nashville was beginning the merge with BMG. Caught in the midst of chaos, Bates’ half-finished project wasn’t even given to A&R. Wright asked her to come back in a year. Shocked and confused, the artist did what she was told. However, before the time came to go back, she was told that Mark Wright was ending his contract with Sony.

Over the past year and a half, Bates continued writing every day, married her college sweet heart and guitar player, Glenn Ziser, and moved to Las Vegas, Nevada. Writing over 200+ songs and fronting a country show band in Sin City gave the artist a new- found confidence. In January, they moved back to Nashville and began writing for television. Bates is also currently writing for her new project.

Check out some of her music at www.myspace.com/erinnbates and feel free to send a message!