SWEET JAMMERS' BIOS

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MARK McFADDEN – 
SONGWRITER / GUITARIST / VOCALS 
Mark learned to play the guitar at age 14 and played in Surf Bands in the early 1960's during the height of Surf musics' popularity. Mark played in various blues and rock bands until 1992 when he joined “Wellspring” playing original "Spirit Rock" at various venues around Santa Cruz, Monterey and throughout Northern California. He played lead guitar and shared in some of the songs' compositions and was with the band for approximately 10 years. After spending about 2 years writing new songs after the loss of his significant other, Nadine, he was introduced to Catherine Lewis who began doing the vocals on all of the songs he had been writing. Their music connection was immediate and after about 6 months, they decided to record their first CD, “We Are One".

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CATHERINE LEWIS -
VOCALS / RECORDERS / NATIVE INDIAN FLUTE 
Catherine was born in Toronto, Canada and lived in that area until she moved to British Columbia in 1998. It was in BC that some special friends encouraged her to sing and play her recorders to a variety of styles of music and perform at the local coffeehouses. Since then she has played and recorded with some very accomplished musicians in BC and Santa Cruz, including Jim & Sharon Cameron (Wham Go the Ducks - a theatrical musical group), Larry MacKenzie ("In Our Eyes" - LM Records), Rory Koshlaychuk ("Fallen Kisses" & "Fly On" - Grandpa Records) Jerry Miller (Moby Grape), Terry Haggerty (Sons of Champlin), plus the Sweet Jam debut CD, "We Are One" and their newest CD entitled, "Familiar Faces". The new CD, as well as the debut CD, are both on the Global Recording Artists label).

Catherine is also in an acoustic duo with Hannah Smalltree called the Seaside Sisters playing fun and quirky covers of popular songs spanning genres and decades.

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ART PITTS – 
BASS / VOCALS / GUITAR 
Art was born into a musical family in Santa Barbara, California and began performing in grammar school. His education focused on music and he was able to tour many of the U.S. western states, parts of Canada and most of western Europe as a member of choral groups from the schools he attended. After graduation Art moved to the San Francisco Bay area and began writing songs and performing acoustic music in coffeehouses in Marin and Sonoma Counties and San Francisco. In 1978 Art co-founded the group SECRETS with his sister Laurel and two fellow musicians. Art toured the western United States and Alaska with SECRETS for over 10 years.  

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KEITH GRAVES – 
BASS / DRUMS / GUITAR 
Keith plays Bass with The Jerry Miller Band (Jerry Miller formerly of Moby Grape) and Terry Haggerty (Sons of Champlin) in a band that includes drummer, Fuzzy John Oxendine (Sons of Champlin). Keith has also toured with Jefferson Starship, Quicksilver Messenger Service and It's A Beautiful Day. As well, he has worked with the Bay area’s Kevin Cadogan, former songwriter/guitarist for Third Eye Blind playing drums in the studio recording and playing live gigs. Keith also regularly works and records with Prairie Prince (The Tubes,Todd Rundgren, Jefferson Starship), as well as Jim Thomas, writer and guitarist of The Mermen at The Mermen Studio, as well as Keith's LEROX Studio in Santa Cruz, CA. 

Keith's newest band project is playing drums under the alias of "Rattlin Jack Graves" with Northern California's Best and Most Infamous Celtic Pirate Rock Band called O'Craven!