From backup to center stage (and back again)…
Once upon a time in a land far, far away a super duo was born.
Before Kingston & GreyStarr, there was Amy & Barbara; every bit as awesome, but not yet united. Their combined superpowers had yet to activate.
The Big Bang of the Glitterverse commenced the way many epic east coast rock and roll tales do … with a phone call from Keith Roth.
You see, rock legend Punky Meadows needed a backup singer, like yesterday…. Punky’s vocalist Jessie Wagner got a last minute call to join Lenny Kravitz on tour… and when Lenny calls…you pack your bags and go!
Barbara was on break from unicorn wrangling when she picked up the phone:
“Keith called and said “Hey we have this cool project we’re working on, Punky Meadows from the band Angel is putting out an album and needs a backup singer… are you interested?
He doesn’t tell me there’s a gig within the week!”
Barbara’s future counterpart Amy was one lone wolf behind the mic, unaware of her future bestie’s existence. After all, they were from two separate galaxies…
Brooklyn and New Jersey!
“Me and Amy do not know each other yet… I’m in a panic because I have seven days to learn fifteen songs. I’m listening to the music over and over again….”
After picking out the lower chorus harmony to “Straight Shooter” for the twenty seventh time, Barbara’s fears were laid to rest with a solitary ping of a cell phone.
“This guardian angel named Amy messages me: ‘I’m going to send you vocal notes for your back up parts.’ So I keep getting these text messages- it’s Amy who I still haven’t met… she did that for every song - her part and my part - so I would know the difference between the two. So when I arrived at Bob Pantella’s studio for the first rehearsal, I couldn’t wait to give her this huge hug ... because she saved my ass!”
At this point Barbara and Amy are just trying to get through the first rehearsal, unaware of the intergalactic rocket ride to SLAY-Town that lie ahead.
Now let’s hear it from Amy’s perspective - (insert iconic British accent here):
“I have just sent this random woman hundreds of voice memos of me crouched in my little apartment at midnight whispering bizarre harmonies which make me sound like I’m fucking Mary Poppins, because you can’t belt in your apartment at midnight, you will be thrown out. She looked so cool. She ran up to me and gave me this huge hug and exclaimed ‘Thank you!’ We went upstairs and she nailed every part. We sang seamlessly together. We started doing all our step touches without doing having any conversation about it… we were just in synch! It was perfect!"
Also Punky is an icon and he looks absolutely perfect…DRIPPING in turquoise jewelry. We literally just met in the parking lot…Couldn’t be more nervous…Then Punky looks at us and says “you girls sound really great”. “
A sigh of relief was heard all around Keyport, New Jersey, and a power duo was born.
After the show at The Trocodero in Philadelphia (RIP), it was on like Donkey Kong…a last minute frantic replacement for a gig lead to a well rehearsed tour.
“We really developed as a duo on the road. The fans took a liking to us together…that’s when drummer Bob Pantella said ‘You girls need stage names…you can’t be Barbara and Amy…you’re a thing now!”.
Bob took one look at Barbara dressed in grey with a star on her cheek and proclaimed, “I shall call you GreyStarr”. Amy’s “new” name was even more straightforward: Kingston was her middle name.
Kingston & GreyStarr was born!
“After we became Kingston & GreyStarr people really started noticing our synergy, especially Diana - who was tour managing the Punky Meadows tour. The next thing she asked us to do was the Eric Martin gig (of Mr. Big).
"We met Eric the day of the gig. After nailing the iconic “To Be With You” chorus, Eric took one look at us and said, 'What did you say your names were?
KingStone and AppleJar?' He was hilarious.
By the end of the night we were all friends and laughing up a storm."
Turns out the Punky Meadows tour was the gift that kept on giving…in the form of more backup singing jobs!
“Charlie, the keyboard player from Punky’s band, knew DD Verni (of Overkill) was asking around for backup singers for his new project and Charlie recommended us. Keith Roth called again, but this time for his own project Frankenstein 3000 - which involved a mini tour as a support band for Pete International Airport - the side project with guitarist Pete Holmström from the Dandy Warhols. That’s when we became Keith’s backup singers for life”
But it didn’t end there… Kieth had Kingston & Greystarr on speed dial at this point! This time with the supergroup studio album “Glamdemic” by Space Panther- consisting of Kieth Roth (Bass), Bob Pantella (drums) and frontman Bobby Acid with K&G on the mighty backup vox!
Somewhere between Punky Meadow’s tour and DD’s album, the girls knew they wanted to form a pop-rock group. Barbara still had some gigs with Lavender Steel - an eighties-centric cover band that celebrated the heavier side of the decade. This project was winding down, but she invited Amy to cross the Lavender finish line in the form of a Van Halen themed bar mitzvah.
“It all centered around Van Halen so we called it the Van Mitzvah. We figured ‘let’s just do it as us and see how it goes’. It was incredible to have the two of us center stage… we knew we could go even deeper musically with originals and unique interpretations of songs we love!”
While loading out the gear from the Van Mitzvah - a new rock and roll dream was born - the way many rock and dreams come to life - with an official pep talk from Kieth Roth.
He said “I really think you guys should do this. You should try and go in the way you’re going- follow your fucking dreams. That’s where they’re leading you”
Their dreams started with a music video for the underrated INXS song “Don’t Change”- which led to interpretations of “Psycho Killer”, “Just What I Needed” and “Big Balls”.
“At that time we were going to do a full record. And the initial idea was that there was going to be like Janus the God at the start of the year where he has two faces: One is looking back into the past and one is looking forward into the future. We were going to do interpretations of bands and artists who had inspired us and then write responses in our new music. We went in and did the covers…which is where we developed our sound via those interpretations. We also recorded Suffragette City for a David Bowie tribute album on Main Man Records."
Then Covid hit, so it was split into two EPs.
Amy: “So then we had the idea of ‘instead of standing here like frozen fish until the end of time, why don’t we put this out at an EP? We got it all mixed and mastered and Covered In Glitter was born during the lockdowns’.
The next EP, Back to the Glitterverse, came after the world opened up again…including new interpretations of Blur’s “Song 2”, Depeche Mode’s “Nothing” and three original songs: Parking Lot, Love Bomb and Stop Stalking Me Moby. Parking Lot dealt with themes of loss, Love Bomb was anthem of shutting down dudes who try way too hard at the beginning and Stop Stalking Me Moby was about…well running into Moby a lot.
Amy: “Barbara was so excited about Stop Stalking Me Moby - it was NOT what I was expecting. I loved the EDM-ness of it and how quirky it was. I couldn’t believe the song existed. I had these friends who ran into Moby all the time- they’d run into him at TEANY constantly. I started hearing from more people about Moby sightings… it was a thing. And with GreyStarr’s updated verse paying homage to TEANY, it was perfection.”
And while Kingston & GreyStarr continue to forge ahead with their own sound - they still balance it all by lending their vocals to other projects…
“We’re working with DD on his new album. We’re going back into the world of rock and roll swing music, and we even sang on an entire as of yet unreleased prog rock record with Dave from The Ronald Reagans!”
Want Kingston & GreyStarr to sing on YOUR project? Feel free to drop them a line or check out their new page on Vocalizr. Kingston & GreyStarr are going international- and can now work with anyone from around the globe!
And if you’re in New York City on May 23, 2024…be sure to check out K&G center stage at Berlin… with The Ritualists and Dirty Lover… presented by CrystalBlu!