Rock Artist Jack Pleasants, Once Pulled Onstage by Bono, Closes Debut Year With 'Moving On'
The Californer/10360759

SAN FRANCISCO - Californer -- Rock artist Jack Pleasants today closes his debut year with "Moving On," the twelfth and final single of a project that saw him release a new song every month and grow his audience from 0 to ~70,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. The soul-stirring blues rock track features gospel singers Sharnae Wallace and Treston Codrington, and lands one year after his first single in October 2025.

Pleasants says that the making of "Moving On" was 'actually really remarkable.' His friend and former colleague Treston Codrington, whom he studied and worked with at Yale, sings gospel – which brought Pleasants to Baltimore. Sharnae Wallace, whom Jack connected with through an online booking platform, joined them for the session.

"I just came in with the skeleton of the track, but really not knowing what would happen. Treston and Sharnae absolutely brought the song to life. Treston's vocals were above and beyond on their own. And then Sharnae brought the house down. It was a very emotional moment for us in that room. She sang an improvised one-take with such a raw spirit of unbridled freedom and abandon––words come short. We were all spellbound."

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The release caps a year that came full circle in Dublin last month. Over the summer, Stephen Browne, the organizer of the Welcome To The Northside U250 fan festival, found Pleasants on Instagram and invited him to play. So on September 25, fifty years to the day after U2 formed, Jack took the stage at Opium Live, and the next night at The Button Factory (IMRO's 2025 Dublin Venue of the Year).

For Pleasants, playing Dublin on U2's 50th closed a loop that started when he was two years old. Pondering what he wanted most, he wished for a "playdate with Bono." His Mom found a way to let him down easy.

But just before he turned 6, his family took him to see U2 live in Los Angeles, so he could be in the room with his favorite band. "It was already a thrill," Pleasants says. "And then by chance, or by fate, in the transition to 'City of Blinding Lights,' Bono pointed at me, and the next thing I knew I was with him on stage." "This is the beanstalk," Bono said. "Look up, Jack... look up!"



Over the next two decades, Pleasants brought that inspiration into learning piano, guitar, drums, bass and eventually to sing in the hours before and after school, and later, work. In late 2025, he started releasing music, and twelve songs later, the year ends with "Moving On" – available starting October 23rd on all major streaming platforms.

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About Jack Pleasants

Jack Pleasants is an alternative rock artist who left his corporate career following graduation from Yale to make music, as he says, "for the soul."

Listen: Spotify | Apple (https://music.apple.com/us/artist/jack-pleasant...) | YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecyWUlEfLcE&...) · Follow: Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/jackpleasantsmusic) | Linktree (http://linktree.com/jackpleasants) · Press photos: Folder (https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/10qJ4ytJ...)