A batten is a thin strip of solid material, typically made from wood, plastic or metal. Battens are used in building construction and various other fields as both structural and purely cosmetic elements. In the steel industry, battens may also be referred to as "top hats", in reference to the profile of the metal.

Battens are used in building construction in various ways:

Jennifer Batten (born November 29, 1957) is an American guitarist, who has worked as both a session musician and solo artist. She has released three studio albums: her 1992 debut, Above Below and Beyond, was produced by former Stevie Wonder guitarist Michael Sembello. In 1997, she released the worldbeat-influenced Jennifer Batten's Tribal Rage: Momentum. Her third album, Whatever, was released in Japan in September 2007 and the U.S. on April 18, 2008.

Batten has appeared on recordings such as Jeff Beck's Who Else! (1999) and You Had It Coming (2001), Carmine Appice's Guitar Zeus (1995), Michael Sembello's Heavy Weather (1992), Carl Anderson's Sunlight Again (1994), Cindy Cruz's debut, Public Image bassist Bret Helm's "Doc Tahri" and the debut of The Immigrants. Her music video appearances include Jeff Beck, Michael Jackson, Natalie Cole and Sara Hickman and Miguel Mateos's "Obsesión".

Batten played lead and rhythm guitar on Michael Jackson's Bad (1987), Dangerous (1992) and HIStory (1996) world tours, as well as his 1993 Super Bowl half-time performance.

Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Often referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records. His contribution to music, dance, and fashion, along with a much-publicized personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture for over four decades. The seventh child of the Jackson family, he debuted on the professional music scene along with his brothers as a member of The Jackson 5 in 1964, and began his solo career in 1971.

In the early 1980s, Jackson became a dominant figure in popular music. The music videos for his songs, including those of "Beat It", "Billie Jean", and "Thriller", were credited with transforming the medium into an art form and a promotional tool, and the popularity of these videos helped to bring the relatively new television channel MTV to fame. Videos such as "Black or White" and "Scream" made him a staple on MTV in the 1990s. Through stage performances and music videos, Jackson popularized a number of complicated dance techniques, such as the robot and the moonwalk, to which he gave the name. His distinctive musical sound and vocal style influenced numerous hip hop, post-disco, contemporary R&B, pop and rock artists.

Gerard Joseph Batten (born 27 March 1954, London) is a Member of the European Parliament for London for the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP). He was first elected in 2004.

He sits as a member of the Independence and Democracy Group. He was a founder member of UKIP in September 1993. He was the first Party Secretary from 1994 to 1997. He has fought local elections, a by-election, a European election, and two general elections as a UKIP candidate. As well as his seat in the European Parliament he is a member of UKIP's National Executive Committee.^{[citation needed]}

Batten was appointed a member of the European Parliament's Subcommittee on Security and Defence in July 2004, and shortly afterwards was also appointed UKIP's official spokesman on Security and Defence. In this role, he has attacked the Labour government's plans to introduce Identity Cards.

Before becoming an MEP he was a salesman for British Telecom for 28 years. At the 2007 UK Independence Party conference, he was selected as the party's candidate to contest the London mayoral election, 2008. He stood in the 2009 UKIP leadership election, coming second.

Lester William Polsfuss (June 9, 1915 – August 13, 2009)—known as Les Paul—was an American jazz and country guitarist, songwriter and inventor. He was the inventor of the solid-body electric guitar which made the sound of rock and roll possible. He is credited with many recording innovations. Although he was not the first to use the technique, his early experiments with overdubbing (also known as sound on sound),delay effects such as tape delay, phasing effects and multitrack recording were among the first to attract widespread attention.

His innovative talents extended into his playing style, including licks, trills, chording sequences, fretting techniques and timing, which set him apart from his contemporaries and inspired many guitarists of the present day. He recorded with his wife Mary Ford in the 1950s, and they sold millions of records.

Among his many honors, Paul is one of a handful of artists with a permanent, stand-alone exhibit in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He is prominently named by the music museum on its website as an "architect" and a "key inductee" along with Sam Phillips and Alan Freed.