Category: All Champions

2019 Signature

Signature

Tenor: Paul Saca
Lead: Daniel Cochran
Bass: Dan Walz
Bari: Will Rodriguez

Signature took home the gold medal after a week of incredible performances in Salt Lake City in July 2019. Based out of south Florida, Signature has grown to be a crowd favorite with their world-class sound and their heartfelt and soulful deliveries of timeless classics like Dance With My Father, Proud Mary, Blame It on the Boogie, Think, and many other more “modern” songs you may never have thought could possibly be brought to life in the barbershop style.

The road to winning gold was certainly a journey and an exercise in perseverance for Signature, having won bronze in 2016, silver in 2017, silver again in 2018, then finally gold in 2019. But through it all, Signature has had the good fortune to travel all across the world wowing audiences with their particular brand of barbershop they call “Barbersoul”, and it’s guaranteed to make you want to dance, laugh, cry, maybe all at the same time.

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2018 After Hours

Ater Hours Creates Magic in Orlando

Tenor: Tim Beutel
Lead: Drew Ochoa
Bass: Dan Wessler
Bari: Bryan Ziegler

After Hours began at Bradley University in Peoria, IL in 2007. Peoria natives Tim Beutel (tenor) and Dan Wessler (bass) sang in a quartet with two college friends, and proceeded to capture the 2010 ILL District Quartet Championship. Over the proceeding years, as they began to excel in the BHS International Quartet Contest, their membership changed, as they picked up Wisconsin native Bryan Ziegler (baritone) and Ohio native Drew Ochoa (lead). They have since placed in the top ten in the International Quartet Contest multiple times, most recently winning the 3rd Place Bronze Medal in the 2017 International Quartet Contest. After Hours has performed for a variety of barbershop an non-barbershop shows all across the United States, and strives to simply bring joy to all types of audiences through their music.

Tim Beutel (Tenor) started barbershopping in high school, when he formed a quartet inspired by the Gas House Gang. His quartet was together for several years, but they went their separate ways in college. Beginning at Bradley University as an engineering major, Tim soon found that his true passions lay in the music world, and he graduated with a degree in Music Education in 2009. He later finished a Masters degree in 2015. Tim now teaches choir and general music for the Morton, IL school district. Tim enjoys grilling out, sports, activities with his church, recording learning tracks, and mostly spending time with his family of four!

Drew Ochoa (Lead) was introduced to the barbershop style in his senior year of high school and immediately fell in love. His decision to attended Bowling Green State University was strongly influenced by the school’s deep-seeded roots to barbershop singing. Here he formed a quartet and earned a gold medal with the 2011 International Collegiate Quartet Champions, Prestige. Drew has a Bachelor’s in Choral Music Education and finished his Master’s in Voice Performance from Roosevelt University in 2014. He currently lives in Orlando, FL where he works at Disney World as a member of The Voices of Liberty. Drew enjoys reading out loud, cycling around Orlando, and eating mangoes.

Dan Wessler (bass), a native of Peoria, IL, holds a degree in music education from Bradley University and a master’s degree in choral conducting from Western Illinois University. He currently directs the Freeport High School choral program in Freeport, IL. Dan is also the director of The New Tradition, an award-winning barbershop chorus based in Northbrook, IL. He has frequently acted as a clinician/boys’ choir director at Youth In Harmony events, which aim to introduce young people to the joys of lifelong singing. Dan is a skilled barbershop arranger, writing contest and non-contest music for After Hours and various other quartets and choruses around the midwest. His other interests include symphonic music, the Beatles, and the Monty Python Comedy Troupe.

Bryan Ziegler (Baritone) has barbershop in his blood. His father brought him to his first Midwest Vocal Express Chorus rehearsal when Bryan was nine. He was instantly hooked, and eventually made his way to the international contest stage. He has earned four collegiate quartet medals (2010-13) and three chorus medals (2002-03, 2012), including gold in 2012 with the Ambassadors of Harmony. Bryan graduated from the University of Missouri-St. Louis in 2012 with a BA in Music, and will graduate with an MA in Music Theory from the University of Minnesota in 2014. Bryan currently lives in St. Louis, MO, where he is pursuing a teacher’s certificate. He enjoys cooking with his beautiful wife, Lauren, and playing with his newborn son, Hank.

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2017 Main Street

Seventh Time’s A Charm For Main Street

Tenor: Roger Ross
Lead: Tony De Rosa
Bass: Myron Whittlesey
Bari: Mike McGee

In 2011 at the International Convention in Kansas City, a quartet based out of Florida named Main Street took the stage and immediately set themselves apart from the crowd. They took many combined years of experience singing together at Disney World, combined it with Vaudeville-style eyeroll-worthy joke-infused hilarity, threw in some smooth choreographed toe-tapping dance moves, and topped it off with a beautiful, rich, warm sound that wowed the audience and brought home a bronze medal in only their first contest.

The dapper gentlemen of Main Street certainly did paid their dues on the contest stage, however. They finished 5th in 2011, then 5th in 2012, then 4th in 2013, then 3rd in 2014, then 3rd in 2015. Then 3rd… AGAIN… in 2016, and finally gold in Vegas in 2017. While their winning contest sets in Vegas were magical for them and the audience, all their work on the contest stage in past years hasn’t gone unnoticed. Their “Pop Songs Medley” in 2015 in Pittsburgh, for example, struck a chord with the audience as well as the internet with their YouTube video going viral, quickly becoming one of the most popular barbershop videos of all time.

Congratulations to Main Street, a quartet with grace, charm, style, and a sound that will no doubt set them apart for years to come.

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2016 Forefront

Forefront Wins Championship

Tenor: Drew Wheaton
Lead: Kevin Hughes
Bass: Brian O’dell
Bari: Aaron Hughes

For the third year in a row, the newly crowned Barbershop Harmony Society International Quartet Champion contains a set of brothers, proving yet one more time that when it comes to lock and ring, family does indeed matter. These gentlemen finally took home the coveted prize after finishing 5th in 2013, 2nd in 2014, then 2nd again in 2015.

It was a championship forged in the fires of persistence and determination, showing that dedication to the craft truly pays off. In the past year particularly, their friendship with 2015 champ quartet Instant Classic had strengthened which lead to many artistic collaborations on concert stages and in the recording studio. Also critical to their success were the relationships they had formed with several coaches and mentors that helped an already magnificently fine-tuned quartet make even further strides in their singing technique and emotional vulnerability that brought more genuine emotion to the International stage for them than ever before.

It was a thrilling victory for Forefront after several years of coming in an extremely close second, and finally in Nashville at the Bridgestone Arena they hoisted the championship trophy as gold medalists.

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2015 Instant Classic

Instant Classic Makes Huge Leap to Win Championship

Tenor: David Zimmerman
Lead: Theo Hicks
Bass: Kyle Kitzmiller
Bari: Kohl Kitzmiller

In one of the biggest leaps in ranking in recent memory, Instant Classic jumped from an 8th place finish in 2014 to winning it all in 2015. With a smooth, vibrant, and youthful sound, Instant Classic delivered consistently thrilling and heartfelt performances, winning the hearts and minds of the audience as well as earning the highest overall score by an esteemed panel of judges over three rounds during one of the most intense and closest quartet competitions seen in many years at International.

Bass clef brothers Kyle and Kohl Kitzmiller proved once again that family does matter when it comes to achieving world-class lock and ring, and David Zimmerman put a virtuosic tenor flare on top of it all while the incomparable lead Theo Hicks executed powerfully emotional and electric performances that moved every member of the audience in attendance.

The top finishers were, in order:

1. Instant Classic, 8343 points, 92.7%
2. Forefront, 8332 points, 92.6%
3. Main Street, 8313 points, 92.4%
4. Lemon Squeezy, 8219 points, 91.3%
5. Throwback, 8074 points, 89.7%

To capture the crown, the new champs sang through a wide repertoire that included the songs I Won’t Send Roses, This Could Be The Start Of Something Big, Spend My Life With You, ‘Til I Hear You Sing, How Could I Ever Know?, and Love Me Or Leave Me.

Instant Classic began as a collegiate quartet in 2009, finishing as high as silver medalists in the Harmony Foundation International Collegiate Barbershop Quartet Contest in 2012 behind Lemon Squeezy, and then placing 16th in 2013 Toronto, 8th in 2014 Las Vegas, then first in 2015 Pittsburgh.

It’s widely felt by everyone who hears Instant Classic perform that this is indeed the Start Of Something Big for this young foursome.

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1956 – The Confederates

Tenor: George Evans
Lead: Dave LaBonte
Bass: Buzz Busby
Bari: Wally Singleton”Save your Confederate money, boys, the South shall rise again!” That song by the Confederates, 1956 International Champions, was to go down in history, and the quartet went on to become a true legend within the Society over the next 13 years.

Organized at a Memphis Chapter party in September 1953, the Confederates were a popular quartet even before they won the championship. Composed of George Evans, tenor; Dave LaBonte, lead; Bill “Buz” Busby, bari; and Wally Singleton, bass, the foursome appeared in authentic-looking Confederate officer uniforms, complete with dress swords, or as white-haired, frock-coated Southern “colonels.”

But it was the songs they sang, the arrangements they introduced, and the way they sang them that contributed even more to their fame. Chloe, Red Head, Down Where the South Begins, and A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square are only a few of the songs still identified with the Confederates. In their first International contest in 1954 they finished 31st.

But the next year, in Miami, they leaped to second place, and in 1956 in Minneapolis they won the gold. Buz was seriously injured in an auto accident in about 1960, and the quartet laid out of the show circuit for about a year. Except for that period, however, they continued entertaining audiences throughout the country until 1969

2014 – Musical Island Boys

Musical Island Boys WIN… finally!!

Tenor: Jeff Hunkin
Lead: Marcellus Washburn
Bass: Matt Gifford
Bari: Will Hunkin

The North American tradition of barbershop harmony became still more global last week in Las Vegas, as two offshore quartets placed in the top five of the world championships.

After three consecutive 2nd place Silver Medalists placements Musical Island Boys of New Zealand became only the second non-North American quartet to win the gold medals, while Lemon Squeezy placed fifth at the annual competition of the Barbershop Harmony Society.

The top finishers were, in order:

1. Musical Island Boys, 8058 points, 89.5%
2. Forefront, 8021 points, 89.1%
3. Main Street, 8015 points, 89.1%
4. A Mighty Wind, 7976 points, 88.6%
5. Lemon Squeezy, 7918 points, 88%

To capture the crown, the new champs sang through a wide repertoire that included songs from “The Lion King,” Michael Jackson, Motown, and a touching simple song of parting “Now Is The Hour.”

The Musical Island Boys add championship medals to chests already decorated with gold as collegiate champions in 2006, New Zealand national champions in 2007, 5th place medals in world competition in 2010, and silver medals in world competition in 2011, 2012, and 2013.

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2013 – Masterpiece

Masterpiece brings home GOLD

Tenor: Rob Menaker
Lead: Patrick Haedtler
Bass: Brett Littlefield
Bari: Alan Gordon

Three past-champion singers plus a hot young lead combined to bring MASTERPIECE the gold medals in Saturday’s world championship competition in Toronto.

Singing music ranging from Kathy Mattea’s “Where’ve You Been” to American classics “Tennessee Waltz” and “Sweet Lucy Brown,” the quartet emerged from a pack of fifty quartets at the contest, held at the 75th Anniversary Convention of the Barbershop Harmony Society.

Experienced singers bass Brett Littlefield and tenor Rob Menaker sang in 1996 champion Nightlife; baritone Alan Gordon sang in 2004 champ Gotcha!; and lead Patrick Haedtler previously sang in international competition with The Crush.

The top five finishers were, in order:
1. Masterpiece — 8041 points, 89.3%
2. Musical Island Boys — 8002 points, 88.9%
3. A Mighty Wind — 7924 points, 88%
4. Main Street — 7825 points, 86.9%
5. Forefront — 7758 points, 86.2%

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2012 – Ringmasters

Ringmasters Makes History

Tenor: Jakob Stenberg
Lead: Rasmus Krigström
Bass: Emanuel Roll
Bari: Martin Wahlgren

Ringmasters made history in Portland by becoming the very first quartet from a Society affiliate to win the coveted quartet gold medal. Travelling all the way from Stockholm, Sweden, Ringmasters combined virtuosic singing with championship-level entertainment and youthful energy to bring back a Gold medal for the Society of Nordic Barbershop Singers (SNOBS) Affiliate.

Ringmasters made their Society contest debut competing in the International Collegiate Quartet Contest first at the 2007 Denver International Convention, and then returning in 2008 to win the Collegiate gold medal in Nashville. They also competed in the International Quartet Contest that same year, finishing an impressive 17th place. In 2009 in Anaheim, they won a 4th place Bronze medal, and in 2010 in Philadelphia they won a 3rd place Bronze medal. After taking a year off in 2011, they returned triumphantly in 2012 to win the Gold medal in Portland.

Ringmasters is tenor Jakob Stenberg, lead Rasmus Krigström, baritone Emanuel Roll, and bass Martin Wahlgren.

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1975 – Happiness Emporium

Tenor: Bob Dowma
Lead: Rod Johnson
Bass: Jim Foy
Bari: Bob Spong

The Happiness Emporium, 1975 International quartet champions, is living proof that experience pays off.

The “Emporium” members averaged 37 years of age when they won gold medals. Their collective experience, even before they came together for the first time in 1972, included participation in 24 international contests and with three district champion quartets, plus four USO tours to the Pacific.

So they decided to put it all together and go for the gold. As The Harmonizer reported in January 1976, “It was a hand-picked quartet. They picked each other…” All from the Twin Cities of the Land O’ Lakes District, they were Bob Dowma, tenor; Rod Johnson, lead; Bob Spong, baritone; and Jim Foy, bass.

They recognized, of course, that know-how alone would not do the job. They dedicated themselves to their goal as probably few other quartets, before or since, have done. They scheduled rehearsals or performances at least three times, and often four or five times, a week. One stopped smoking. They took up jogging, aerobics and dieting.

They continued voice lessons under Jeanne Traun, one of the top vocal teachers in the country, and began working with noted quartet coach Don Clause.

At the same time, they never gave up the fun. As audiences throughout the nation learned, the Happiness Emporium was one of the most aptly named quartets around, spreading laughter and happiness wherever they appeared.

Seven months after formation they placed 24th at the contest in Portland. The next year they were 9th, and in Indianapolis in 1975 they leaped to the gold.

When Bob Spong retired from the quartet in 1983, Dick Treptow sang with them until 1987, and then Rick Andersonreplaced Dick on bari.

They continue singing today and are one of the most active of our gold medals champs. They also perform as The Good News! Gospel Quartet, have released several popular CDs and host an outstanding Gospel Sing at every BHS International convention.

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1974 – The Regents

Tenor: Harry Williamson
Lead: Joe Mazzone
Bass: Hal Kauffman
Bari: Ron Knickerbocker

When the Regents won the international quartet championship at Kansas City’s 1974 contest, it may have seemed to some that they had an easy road to the gold. It was their fifth international contest, and they had placed third on two previous tries, in 1972 and 1973.

But collectively tenor Harry Williamson, lead Joe Mazzone, bari Ron Knickerbocker and bass Hal Kauffman had logged 44 years of experience in nearly 25 different quartets. They lived in four different (albeit small and neighboring) states. And they comprised a quartet that had evolved through four editions since it was formed in the mid-1960s.

Harry was the only member who lasted through all four versions. In 1970 he teamed up with Ron (then a lead), Hal and Dave Reed as bari. When Joe left his previous quartet, the Exclusives, in 1971, to take the lead spot, Ron moved to bari.

Interestingly, Hal had been a tenor (and even, at one time, a boy soprano) until a few years before, when Harry persuaded him to switch to bass of a previous quartet so that he, Harry, could sing tenor.

The combination, complete with the various part switches, proved the winning one, as the Regents made their “rapid” climb to the gold.

 

1973 – Dealer's Choice

Tenor: Al Kvanli
Lead: Bill Thornton
Bass: Gary Parker
Bari: Brian Beck

In 1973 four dedicated, determined young men from Dallas, with two years of grueling, almost daily work behind them, “came out of nowhere” in Portland to win the international title on their first try.

The Dealer’s Choice thus became the first quartet in 21 years (since the Four Teens in 1952) to collect the gold in its first international competition (a feat also duplicated by Acoustixin 1990). They were (from top to bottom) Al Kvanli, Bill Thornton, Brian Beck, and Gary Parker.

The championship was the goal they had set for themselves in 1971, and with one change of personnel (Bill moved from bari to lead, replacing Louie Mullican, when Brian arrived), they made it in less than two years.

Ten weeks after Brian joined the quartet it placed fifth – out of the money – in the 1972 international prelims. It was the last contest the D.C. would fail to win. They passed up the international contest in Atlanta that year to attend a Society HEP (Harmony Education Program) school in Racine, WI.

They came back raving about the talents of Harlan Wilson, Don Clause and other faculty members, and with 54 hours of cassette tapes of their training sessions. Rehearsing over and over the HEP school techniques, they won the Southwestern District contest in October 1972 and the international prelims in March. Then the work intensified – a minimum of one rehearsal each day of the contest songs, each run-through timed by stopwatch. They lived with their contest material 24 hours a day.

In Portland they “followed the book” – bypassing the fun and late hours, rehearsing steadily, keeping their voices in shape (and drawing curious glances from other contestants) by speaking seldom and humming constantly into small hand towels.

It all paid off, as the retiring champs, the Golden Staters, hung gold medals around the necks of the “unknown” Dealer’s Choice.

 

1972 – Golden Staters

Tenor: Gary Harding
Lead: Milt Christensen
Bass: Mike Senter
Bari: Jack Harding

The long road to the gold by southern California’s Golden Staters, 1972 quartet champions, was marked by a number of “firsts”.

They were the first foursome ever to win all five medals (although the Boston Common later duplicated this feat), the only one to place in every position from seventh to first, and certainly the only quartet to compile this enviable record with three different leads: Jim Meehan,Ken Ludwick and finally Milt Christensen.

Organized in 1960, the original quartet consisted of tenor Jack Lang, lead Joe Rook, bari Buddy Yarnell and bass Mike Senter.

Through dozens of personnel changes over the next few years, Mike was the only member who remained, and all the others freely acknowledged him as the leader, composer-arranger, musical director and in-house coach of the Golden Staters.

The composition of the quartet stabilized somewhat in late 1961 with the return of brothers Gary and Jack Harding (their second “tour of duty”) as tenor and bari, respectively. But it was 1970 before Milt Christensen was transferred by his company from Salt Lake City to California, and he became the final GS lead. Milt had been lead of the Salt Flats, one of the nation’s most popular comedy quartets, which decided early in 1970 to retire the pitch pipe.

Milt was the lead in New Orleans in 1971 when the Golden Staters placed third (for the second time), and he was on hand the next year in Atlanta to help them win the gold.

 

1970 – Oriole Four

Tenor: Bob Welzenbach
Lead: Jim Grant
Bass: Don Stratton
Bari: Fred King

The real beginning of the Oriole Four, 1970 International champion quartet, was in 1951 outside a Baltimore high school – although no one, of course, knew it at the time. That’s when students Fred King and Jim Grant first met, discovered they had a mutual fondness for harmony and sang an impromptu duet. They joined the Society a couple of years later, found two other students who liked to harmonize and formed the Deacon Four, with Jim on lead and Fred on baritone.

The quartet, with occasional personnel changes, was still getting together now and then after its members had graduated, and in 1956 the name was changed to the Oriole Four. Bass Don Stratton came along in 1957; tenor Bob Welzenbach joined the others in 1958, and a winning combination was solidified.

All were members of the Dundalk, Maryland chapter, and three weeks after their first rehearsal they won the Dundalk Open and later the Chesapeake Bay Open. It was in 1958 also that they met Bob Loose, who was to become their permanent coach and close friend. After working with him for only three months, they won the Mid-Atlantic District championship.

But then the hills got steeper. Although they placed eighth in their first international competition in 1959, it would be 1965 before they again reached the finals and ’69, in St. Louis, before they won their first medal, a fourth-place bronze. But the next year, in Atlantic City, 12 years of work and dedication paid off, and the Oriole Four were the new champs.

 

1969 – Mark IV

Tenor: Franklin Spears
Lead: Al Koberstein
Bass: Morris “Mo” Rector
Bari: Dale Deiser

Luck and the US Government – combined, of course, with the well-known Rector talent – won Morris “Mo” Rector his second International gold quartet medal in 1969.

San Antonio’s Mark IV was the champion that year, and C.O. Crawford had been the bass of the quartet from its beginning. He sang along side tenor Franklin Spears, lead Al Koberstein, and bari Dale Deiser when they placed third in Los Angeles in 1967. Although he barely made it, C.O. sang with the quartet when they won the Silver Medals in Cincinnati in 1968.

You see, C.O. was a U.S. State Department employee, subject to being sent on short notice to the Mideast or some other trouble spot for a few weeks or a few years. Mo, who had won his first medal with the 1958 champs, Gaynotes, usually filled in for C.O. on shows while he was gone.

In 1968 C.O. made it back from Jordan just one day before the Southwestern District prelims contest, qualified with the quartet, and went on to win a silver medal in Cincinnati. A week later Uncle Sam called again. The message this time: “Two years in Morocco!”

So Mo was the bass at the 1969 prelims and again when the Mark IV won the championship in St. Louis in July.

C.O. later returned, Mo left, and the quartet filled engagements for several years before disbanding. Most of the guys went on to sing in other quartets or to even greater accomplishments – especially Franklin Spears, who became Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court.

 

1968 – The Western Continentals

Tenor: Al Mau
Lead: Ted Bradshaw
Bass: Phil Foote
Bari: Paul Graham

A funny thing happened to the Western Continentals on their way to the 1968 International championship. In 1965, only a year after they first got together, Dr. Curt Kimball, Ted Bradshaw, Paul Graham and Terry Diedrich placed eighth in the International competition.

Shortly thereafter Curt, the tenor, was called to service in the Vietnam war, and was replaced by Al Mau. They dropped to 21st in 1966.

The quartet traveled to the Society’s Annual Convention in Los Angeles in 1967, not only with Al, but with a new bass, Phil Foote, replacing Terry. They won the 2nd place silver medals. The next year, in Cincinnati, they captured the GOLD.

If a native Arizonan still lived in Phoenix in the 1960’s, he certainly wasn’t a member of the Continentals. Al was from Wisconsin, Ted from Ohio, Paul from Michigan, and Phil from Detroit (by way of El Paso, thanks to the Air Force).

The quartet was “on again, off again” for a decade after winning the championship. Al moved to California in 1971 and was replaced by Frank Friedemann, but they disbanded in 1972. Phil had also left, but by 1973 both he and Al were back, and the Continentals resumed shows until a job transfer took Phil away once again. He returned a second time in 1977. The the quartet hung up the pitch pipe for good in 1979.

 

1967 – The Four Statesmen

Tenor: Frank Lanza
Lead: Dick Chacos
Bass: Don Beinema
Bari: Richard “Doc” Sause

It’s not unusual, with today’s modern highways and plane connections, for members of a quartet to live some distance apart. But in the mid-1960s, when the Four Statesmen were working their way toward the 1967 International championship, it was almost unbelievable that a quartet could live in four different states.

Yet such was the case for tenor Frank Lanza, Providence, Rhode Island; lead Dick Chacos, Nashua, New Hampshire; bari Richard “Doc” Sause, Meriden, Connecticut; and bass Don Beinema, Worcester, Massachusetts.

Twice weekly they drove a total of 800 miles to rehearse. What’s more, they continued the long distance harmonizing from the time the quartet was organized in 1963 until it disbanded at the end of 1978 – a total of more than 15 years.

The Statesmen were all “old pros” in the barbershopping world when they first got together. Frank had been a member for 17 years and had sung in four quartets from three chapters. Dick Chacos, a 14 year veteran, had made the International finals five straight years, 1959 through 1963 with his quartet, the Merry Notes. Doc Sause had been a member for 22 years and had sung in both chorus and quartet competition on the International stage – in the latter case with the Connecticut Yankees. And Don had been a member of three different quartets in his 12 years with the Society before joining the Statesmen.

 

1966 – The Auto Towners

Tenor: Al Rehkop
Lead: Glenn Van Tassel
Bass: Carl Dahlke
Bari: Clint Bostick

Several famous foursomes, and even a barbershop quartet among them have gone on to have distinguished professional careers (the Hi-Lo’s, Four Freshmen and Osmond Brothers, for example). The Auto Towners, 1966 International champions from the Detroit area, decided they would seek out at least one of their members from a professional singing group.

Baritone Clint Bostick in the early 1950s was with the “Spellbinders,” a mixed quintet that sang for two years on the Patty Paige television show, appeared for 13 weeks each on the Vic Damone and Tony Bennett shows and sang for 17 weeks with Judy Garland at the Palace Theater in New York City. Female soloist of the Spellbinders was Renee Craig. Clint introduced his wife, Bobbie to Renee and they soon formed the Cracker Jills, who would claim the 1957 Sweet Adelines quartet championship. Thus Clint and Bobbie became the first husband and wife team to win gold medals in both the men’s and women’s organizations.

Don Bagley became the second when Don’s quartet, the Chiefs of Staff, won in 1988. In 1985, Don’s wife, Carol Ann won her crown with the 1985 Sweet Adeline Queens, Jubilation.

It was two other members of the quartet, however – lead Glenn Van Tassel and tenor Al Rehkop who would go on to make further headlines in the barbershop world. Both won their second gold medals as members of the Gentlemen’s Agreement, 1971 champions.

Rounding out the Auto Towners was bass Carl Dahlke, an 11-year barbershopper who had sung in several quartets and directed the Chordomatic Chorus to the Pioneer District championship in 1965. The Auto Towners continued to thrill audiences throughout the nation until their retirement at the end of 1969.

 

1965 – The Four Renegades

Tenor: Warren ‘Buzz’ Haeger
Lead: Ben Williams
Bass: Tom Felgen
Bari: Jim Foley

Every gold medal quartet crowned by the Society in its 50-plus year history has been a great one. A handful – the Schmitt Brothers, Confederates, Suntones and a few others – went on to become legends. The Four Renegades, 1965 champions, was one of the legends.

Organized in 1957 for the Illinois District contest, the Renegades originally consisted of Jim Foley, bari; Joe Sullivan, lead; Warren “Buzz” Haeger, tenor; and Tom Felgen, bass. Joe left the quartet in 1963 and was replaced by Ben Williams. For the next 14 years, by personal appearances, radio, TV and records, they would bring pleasure literally to millions.

In their climb to the top they had paid their dues: Ninth in Dallas in 1960, seventh in ’61, third in ’62 and ’63, second in ’64. Finally, in 1965 in Boston, The Renegades heard the announcement they had worked so hard to earn – gold medalist.

1964 – The Sidewinders

Tenor: Jerry Fairchild
Lead: Joe Daniels
Bass: Jay Wright
Bari: Gene Boyd

Saturday, June 27, 1964, undoubtedly was the happiest day in the history of the Riverside, CA chapter. On that day the Riverside Citrus Belterschorus won 5th place bronze medals in its first International competition. And four chapter leaders, a group known as the Sidewinders, became the new International quartet champions.

Some championship quartets, by necessity or by choice, have not always been strong members of the chapters to which they belonged. Not the Sidewinders. Tenor Jerry Fairchild had long been the Chorus Director. Lead Joe Daniels had been Chapter President and was about to be named to that post again. Bass Jay Wright was three-term Chapter Secretary. Bari Gene Boyd was past Chapter Membership Vice President, Show Chairman, and perennial committee member.

The Sidewinders immediately became popular ambassadors of the Society. They made two major network appearances two days after winning the gold medals. A crowd of 2,000 greeted them at their first engagement as champions in California. For the next eight years they sang from coast to coast and from Maine to Mexico.

The Sidewinders stopped accepting engagements as of June 1969, but they emphasized they would continue to sing together from time to time “for our own amusement and amazement.”.

1963 – The Town and Country Four

Tenor: Leo Sisk
Lead: Larry Autenreith
Bass: Ralph Anderson
Bari: Jack Elder

After winning the 1958 Johnny Appleseed District Quartet Championship and a third-place International bronze medal in 1959, the Town & Country Four distinguished itself as the first Barbershop Harmony Society-quartet to go on to win its gold medals after having won three consecutive silver (second-place) medals in the years 1960, ’61 and ‘62.

That means the quartet placed in the top three medalist positions five times; more than any other Society-quartet to date. The T&C4 was also the first champion to win “internationally,” since the 1963 convention was held in Toronto, Canada for the first time in the history of the Society. The Society’s first Champion-quartet was “crowned” in 1939, so the T&C4 coincidentally became the Society’s twenty-five-year Silver Anniversary Champions; serendipitous after having won three consecutive silver medals. One of the quartet-greats of the early 1960s, the Town and Country Four’s trademark Larry Autenreith arrangements gave the quartet its identity in competition with its contemporaries; other great quartets like the Suntones, Gala Lads, Sidewinders, and Four Renegades. In 2013, we celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the quartet’s 1963 International Championship at the Society’s seventy-fifth International Convention in Toronto, Canada, the same city where the quartet won the gold.

After the original foursome disbanded at the end of 1964, they tried several different combinations – between Leo Sisk and Ralph Anderson, and between Larry Autenreith and Jack Elder – until the beginning of 1966, and then retired the T&C4 name altogether. However, the Society would see a continuation of various Johnny Appleseed District Quartet Champions and international representatives in succeeding years. Prior to the Town and Country Four, Leo and Jack had sung together in the early 1950s combinations of the Maestros and Gateway Four; both JAD quartets.

After the retirement of the Town and Country Four, tenor Leo Sisk went on to become a JAD Quartet Champion in the 1968 Point Four, 1975 Road Show, and 1983 Harmony Partners. Those quartets, along with the Golden Touch totaled eleven trips to international competition, including two top twenty finishes. In 1987, one of those included Leo’s son, Mike, lead of the Harmony Partners. Leo also sang in The Alumni; JAD Seniors Quartet Champs from 1991 through ’97, a three –time International Seniors Silver medalist. Leo passed away January 2nd of 2003.

Lead Larry Autentreith was credited as a genius-arranger, and he went on to become a JAD Quartet Champ in the 1967 Travelers and 1975 Road Show quartets. Both foursomes had finished in the top twenty, earning semi-finalist rank (Travelers 1967-68 and Road Show 1976), and Larry earned quarter-finalist rank in the Golden Touch. After moving out west in 1976, he directed the Tucson Sunshine Chorus, and sang in a competing quartet in the FWD. Larry passed away July 8th of 1992.

Baritone Jack Elder was first inspired by his father, Pete Elder, baritone of the prestigious medalist quartet from the 1940s, the Westinghouse Quartet, which had earned every one of the top five medals except gold. Jack was the spokesman for the T&C4, and was known for his joke-telling. He went on to sing with a later formation of the champion Pittsburghers, renamed “The Pittsburgh Four” from the late 1960s until the late 1970s. Jack passed away November 18th, 1986.

In the early 1950s, Bass Ralph Anderson began singing barbershop harmony after being introduced to the Pittsburgh Chapter by Bill Conway bass of the 1948 International Champion Pittsburghers. He was quickly approached by Leo, Larry and Jack to be their bass singer. Known for his huge, resonant, deep voice, Ralph was featured on several T&C4 solos, including Old Man River, Johnny Appleseed, Lucky Old Son, and Wanderin’. Once the Town and Country Four had officially retired the use of the name in 1966, Ralph retired from barbershop singing altogether. He passed away February 27, 1976.

 

1961 – Suntones

Tenor: Gene Cokeroft
Lead: Bob Franklin
Bass: Bill Cain
Bari: Harlan Wilson

A young Florida quartet crowned as International champion in Philadelphia in 1961 was destined to become one of the most popular, active and long-lived in the Society’s history: the Suntones. Formed less than three years earlier, the quartet sang for over 25 years, averaging 40 annual shows – more than 1,000 performances. It produced ten record albums and pioneered such show-business touches as individual microphones and a tall stool for each singer. 

Original members of the quartet were Gene Cokeroft, tenor; Bob Franklin, lead; Bill Wyatt, bari; and Bill Cain, bass. Harlan Wilson replaced Wyatt before they won the championship, and that foursome stayed together until Drayton Justus, former lead of the Gentlemen’s Agreement, took over the lead slot when Bob retired in 1980. 

Next to the Buffalo Bills of The Music Man fame, the Suntones probably were the Society’s best-known quartet, thanks mainly to their long run on Jackie Gleason’s television show of the ’60s. The quartet made numerous appearances and worked behind the scenes, providing background music and other services, for as long as the show originated from Miami.

1940 – The Flat Foot Four

Tenor: Johnny Whalen
Lead: Britt Stegal
Bass: Sam Barnes
Bari: Red Elliott

The Flat Foot Four was organized in the Oklahoma City Police Department by the Mayor, O. A. Cargill, in 1923. The quartet’s personnel changed many times over the years, but Johnny Whalen was always the tenor.

The original foursome was Whalen, lead Frank Sheppard, Roland Cargill, the mayor’s brother, on baritone, and bass Bill Parrish. The quartet made their first public appearance at a meeting of the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce.

Losing and replacing an average of one man per year, the quartet was still functioning in 1939 when Whalen, with Britt Stegal, lead, baritone Granville Scanland, and bass Sam Barnes competed against some 20 quartets at the first SPEBSQSA national contest in Tulsa and came in third.

In the summer of 1940 at the New York World’s Fair, with Red Elliott in the baritone spot, the Flat Foot Four copped the championship from a field of 200 entrants.

 

1939 – Bartlesville Barflies

Tenor: George McCaslin
Lead: Harry Hall
Bass: Herman Kaiser
Bari: Bob Durand

In 1937 the American Legion in Bartlesville, Oklahoma decided to put on a minstrel show. New in town, a wiry little man by the name of Harry Hall who was born and raised in England, had produced a minstrel show in Pawhuska, OK so he got the job of putting this show together.

All the men in town were invited to participate and sing. Having some experience with singing close harmony, George McCaslin was appointed as committee of one to come up with a quartet. Just like that – abracadabra.

McCaslin listened around and discovered that one of the minstrel end men, Herman Kaiser, was doing a good job of putting the bass to the choral songs. Harry Hall volunteered to sing tenor but as chairman of the quartet committee, McCaslin made Hall sing the lead part and took the tenor for himself. Someone suggested that there was a young, just-out-of-college baritone down at the First National Bank.

With the usual skepticism of a quartet man searching for a good baritone, McCaslin dropped in to have a look at Bob Durand and invited him to a quartet rehearsal. Their first session sounded good; the resulting Bartlesville American Legion Minstrel Quartet was the hit of the show.

The following year, O. C. Cash was looking for a quartet to sing at the state teacher’s convention in Tulsa and asked McCaslin if his quartet was available. They were willing to sing and O. C. informed the local newspaper. Cash told a reporter covering the story that the quartet was called the Bartlesville Barflies.

Owen Cash not only founded the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America, but he named what would turn out to be its first championship quartet.

 

1960 – The Evans Quartet

Tenor: Turk Evans
Lead: Pres Evans
Bass: Jack Evans
Bari: Gene Smith

Trivia question: What quartet sang Lindy, Lucky Lindy for Charles A. Lindbergh in 1927 and, with a couple of personnel changes, was still singing as an International champion 50 years later? Answer: the Evans Quartet of Salt Lake City, the 1960 gold medal winners.

The song was delivered to Lindberg as he was making a triumphal tour of the country flying his “Spirit of St. Louis.” During the parade in Salt Lake City, when his motorcade passed by, four young brothers, ages 7, 9, 11, and 13, stepped out from the curb to sing, in full barbershop harmony, the popular song. Lindbergh ordered the car stopped, listened to the song, thanked them and shook their hands.

The brothers were Turk, Pres, George, and Clarence Evans. Thirty-three years later, when the Evans Quartet won the gold in Dallas, the quartet was composed of Turk, tenor; Pres, lead; younger brother Jack, bass; and Gene “Smitty” Smith, baritone.

Jack at age nine had ousted big brother Clarence, and Turk, Pres, George and Jack continued to sing as a quartet until 1940. Then Al Nielsen stepped in for George to sing bass through the 1957 International contest in Los Angeles. When he left, the brothers switched voice parts (Jack from lead to bass and Pres from bari to lead) and brought in Smitty as bari.

With a couple interruptions, the quartet continued active for the next ten years. Bob Evans (a cousin) replaced Smitty in 1971. The same combination (Turk, Pres, Bob and Jack) got together again later for a production of The Music Man in Salt Lake City. That was in 1980 – just 53 years after Turk and Pres had sung for “Lucky Lindy”

1959 – The Four Pitchikers

Tenor: Larry Hedgepeth
Lead: Keith Keltner
Bass: Joe Delzell
Bari: Keith Young

From a high school in the heart of the Missouri Ozarks to the winners’ circle onstage of the Civic Opera House in Chicago is an even longer trip than the miles indicate. The Four Pitchikers made it, though, in 1959, to become International quartet champions. But they might never have arrived if it hadn’t been for a chance, once-in-a-lifetime involvement with a man who was to become one of the Society’s leading arrangers and coaches.

The original Pitchikers, natives of two tiny farming communities in southwest Missouri, were high school students; Larry Hedgepeth, Keith Keltner, Keith Young and Johnny Marriott. Bitten by the barbershop bug, they joined the Heart of the Ozarks chapter and competed at a couple of district contests while still in school. They called themselves the Teen Tuners.

At about that time (around 1950) another chapter member with a lot of musical talent was trying his hand at writing barbershop arrangements. But he couldn’t find a combination of voices that “played back” the songs to his satisfaction. The arranger’s name was S. K. Grundy. The Teen Tuners graduated, and Johnny left to take a job elsewhere.

It occurred to S. K. that the two Keiths and Larry, plus an experienced bass, might prove the combination he was seeking. He coaxed Joe Delzell from another quartet to join what then became the Pitchikers. The rest is history.

With Grundy’s coaching and arrangements, the Pitchikers won bronze medals in 1956 and ’57, took the silver in ’58, and the gold in 1959. S. K. Grundy went on to coach other quartets and became on of the Society’s best-known, most prolific and most respected arrangers

1957 – Lads of Enchantment

Tenor: Don Pitts
Lead: Dan Aycock
Bass: Gil Wallace
Bari: Carl Wright

While some quartets continue singing for years as International Champions, others are forced, for one reason or another, to “hang up the pitch pipe” soon after winning the gold. The Lads of Enchantment, 1957 winners, was one of the latter.

And yet tenor Don Pitts, lead Dan Aycock, bari Carl Wright and bass Gil Wallace, all from Albuquerque, left their mark in some areas as indelibly as did the Suntones.

How many quartets since then, for example, have sung Hal Staab’s There’s a Rose on Your Cheek or Ro-Ro-Rollin’ Along, borrowed from the Sweet Adelines’ Big Four Quartet and arranged by Floyd Connett? The “Lads” introduced both songs. When they sang what they thought was Frank Thorne’s version of Love Me and the World is Mine, Frank asked THEM for the arrangement.

They proved, also, that at least for two successive years, they were the best in their league. In the 1956 International preliminary contest, they qualified although losing to Lou Laurel’s Desertaires.

In Minneapolis they won third-place medals, while the Desertaires placed ninth. The following year the Gaynotes beat them in the prelims. But in Los Angeles the Lads took the gold, and the Gaynotes had to wait until 1958.

Don Pitts dropped out of the quartet after its championship year, and the others decided to disband

1954 – The Orphans

Tenor: Bud Bingham
Lead: Bob Groom
Bass: Jay Bond
Bari: Pete Tyree

“We probably had the shortest reign on record,” laughed Pete Tyree, baritone of the 1954 international champion quartet, the Orphans of Wichita, Kansas. But during their championship year – and especially in the 24 hours following their winning of the Landino Trophy – they may have made as many Americans aware of barbershop harmony as any quartet in history.

On Sunday evening, June 13, 1954, they appeared on Ed Sullivan’s famed Toast of the Town television show in New York City. An estimated 24 million viewers watched tenor Bud Bingham, lead Bob Groom, bass Jay Bond, and Pete Tyree. They heard Sullivan say the other performers – the dance team of Mata and Hari, Janis Paige, Johnny Rait, and Victor Borge – were applauding vigorously in the wings.

The quartet, organized in the early 1950s, made only one change of personnel, when Pete replaced the original bari in August 1953. Although they had competed once before at the international level, they did not make the semi-finals.

But in 1954 they zoomed from obscurity to the championship. Like all champions, the Orphans made numerous appearances during the year following their victory, but they broke up in the winter of 1955.

Jay moved to North Carolina and then back to Wichita, where he sang with the Cavaliers. Pete went to Colorado Springs, where he directed the Pike’s Peak chapter chorus for many years and sang with a quartet called the Pusillanimous Posse. Bud and Bob also left Wichita.

1953 – The Vikings

Tenor: Bob Maurus
Lead: Bruce Conover
Bass: Bob Livesay
Bari: Bob Lindley

Bob Lindley, baritone; Bob Maurus, tenor; Bruce Conover, lead; and Carl Stuhr, bass were all ex-service men who liked to do a little harmonizing. All four were attending Augustana College in Rock Island, IL on the GI Bill. The year was 1946. They decided to form a quartet and made their first public performance at the college the following spring. Soon they were singing for churches and PTA meetings as well as at college gatherings.

They joined the Rock Island chapter of the barbershop harmony society in 1947 and sang in their first district contest that fall, placing third. With $25 donated by the mayor, another $25 from a local radio station, and $50 from various friends, the quartet was able to attend the international convention in Buffalo in 1949.

Bob Livesay joined the quartet as bass in 1951 when Stuhr moved out of the area and the foursome became Illinois District Champions. Livesay had sung as a high school student in Moline and was an experienced quartetter.

The following year, the Vikings placed second in international competition. The quartet won the championship in Detroit in 1953 after having sung seven songs in competition. They were asked to sing an extra song after a hail storm falling on a metal auditorium roof made it impossible for the judges to hear the quartet.

The Vikings made appearances at New York’s Carnegie Hall, the Chicago Opera House, and Philadelphia’s Academy of Music in addition to many chapter shows. At one point, the quartet had its own airplane.

They disbanded in 1955 when Conover returned to active duty in the Air Force. Livesay later sang with Max Lauser, tenor, and Jack Moore, lead, and Maurus moving down to bari. That foursome, the Vi-Counts, became Illinois District Champion in 1958 and placed in the top ten in international competition in 1959.

 

1952 – The Four Teens

Tenor: John Steinmetz
Lead: Jim Chinnock
Bass: Don Cahall
Bari: Don Lamont

The Four Teens originated in the Eau Claire, WI Chapter in September 1949. Three members – Jim Chinnock, lead; Don Lamont, baritone; and Gene Rehberg, bass, were high school students; the fourth, tenor John Steinmetz, had graduated the previous year.

On January 8, 1950 the four young men plus a friend, Mike Egan, enlisted in the Air Force. They had decided to try to keep the quartet together and enlist as a group. The five were sent to Lackland Air Force Base near San Antonio, Texas for boot camp. There, bass Gene was found to have a foot problem and was given a medical discharge.

It looked like curtains for the quartet. They were scheduled to appear on a show built around Bob Hope and on the night before the show they found a new bass, Don Cahall from Cincinnati. They sang on the show and came to the attention of Dr. Norman Rathert, who had served as the Society’s third international president in 1941. Rathert, from St. Louis, was helping one of the generals at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois stage shows for military entertainment. At Rathert’s request the Four Teens were assigned to Special Services at Scott, making it possible for them to rehearse six to eight hours each day.

The quartet entered the Central States District contest in 1951 as representatives of the St. Louis Chapter, and won. Requests began for performances on chapter shows and at other Air Force bases. In June 1952, the four were crowned Society champions in Kansas City.

They were the second successive quartet to win its first international contest and the youngest quartet ever to reach the top spot; Chinnock was 19 and the other three were 20. As military personnel, the quartet would not ordinarily have been allowed to leave to appear on chapter shows. However, an agreement was reached between the Air Force and the Society to allow bookings on chapter and military shows, with arrangements to be handled by the quartet’s ” business agent, bodyguard, nursemaid, and general factotum,” Mike Egan.

After their championship year, the Four Teens toured military posts throughout the world with an all-Air Force show called Tops in Blue. They also made an appearance on Arthur Godfrey’s television show. All four quartet members were discharged in 1955.

1951 – The Schmitt Brothers

Tenor: Joe Schmitt
Lead: Fran Schmitt
Bass: Jim Schmitt
Bari: Paul Schmitt

Joe, Jim, Paul, and Fran Schmitt began singing together as a quartet in September, 1949 at their mother’s home in Two Rivers, WI. Two months later a local businessman and international president of the Barbershop Harmony Society, O.H. “King” Cole, heard them singing and invited them to visit the nearby Manitowoc chapter.

The brothers soon became members. The quartet received a great deal of help from two men in the chapter. Milt Detgen, the chorus director, arranged many of their songs and John Means, later to become president of the Society, became one of their coaches. In 1950 the quartet became Land O’ Lakes District champion. The brothers had made only about five public performances at the time.

While preparing for the international preliminary contest the following spring, they met Rudy Hart, another man who assisted them for many years as coach and arranger. Selected as one of four quartets to represent the district at the international contest in Toledo, the Schmitts began rehearsing at least once each day, met with Means three days per week, and learned two more songs.

In the semifinal contest round they sang in last position and earned a standing ovation. They won the international contest and the hearts of the audience.

Being a new quartet, they were in need of a repertoire. They went home and learned 20 songs before their first barbershop show in September. During their championship year the Schmitt Brothers sang 110 performances including the Ed Sullivan network television show and the Arthur Godfrey show.

In 1952 they made a two-week USO tour of military installations in Alaska.

In 1956 the Schmitts were featured in a color filmstrip explaining the Voice Expression judging category, produced by the Society. The production received an award as the best instructional film of the year.

Each year the quartet sang on a show produced by the Society’s Association of International Champions (AIC).

At the 1966 convention in Chicago the four brothers rented a bus and loaded their wives and 32 children aboard. All 40 of them appeared on stage at the AIC show.

The quartet became active as teachers at district and international schools and clinics. In 1980 the Schmitts received an award from the Wisconsin Music Educator’s Conference for outstanding service to school music.

The Schmitt Brothers from Two Rivers entertained barbershop audiences for 34 years, traveling more than two million miles and appearing on nearly 3,000 shows.

 

1950 – The Buffalo Bills

Tenor: Vern Reed
Lead: Al Shea
Bass: Bill Spangenberg
Bari: Dick Grapes

In 1945 a quartet called the Barber Shop Four had a radio program that aired every Sunday at 12:45 in Buffalo, NY. Al Shea sang lead; the other quartet members were Bill Delfield, tenor; Ross Davis, bari; and Ralph Bone, bass. The group made many appearances at USO shows and war bond drives in the area. Two years later, Shea and baritone Hershel Smith were ready to start a new quartet. They invited tenor Vern Reed and bass Bill Spangenberg to Smith’s house to do some singing. Reed and Spangenberg were not Society members at the time.

As an unnamed foursome they began singing for community groups. During an appearance at the Buffalo Quarterback Club they were introduced as the Buffalo Bills and the name stuck.

The quartet had an inauspicious beginning in international competition, placing 16th at Oklahoma City in 1948. However, they became district champions that fall and moved up to sixth place the following year. At that point Smith left the quartet and was replaced by Dick Grapes.

In Omaha in 1950 the gold medals were hung around their necks and a new era of barbershop harmony began. There was something different about the Buffalo Bills; their big sound, combined with the work of Phil Embry and other talented arrangers, kept them busy singing on barbershop shows and gave them a popularity no other Society quartet had achieved.

The Society’s Armed Forces Collaboration Program brought requests for them to sing before military audiences. Soon they were touring military posts in Germany, France, Austria, Japan, Korea, and other far-flung places.

In 1957 a famous conductor and radio personality, Meredith Willson, wrote a stage musical about his home town of Mason City, Iowa. His plot included a quartet. Willson had heard the Bills’ records and suggested they come to New York and audition for the role of the Iowa quartet.

They were immediately accepted but joining the musical meant leaving their jobs and moving to New York City. Dick Grapes decided to stay behind and Wayne “Scotty” Ward, former tenor of the international finalist Great Scots quartet of Steubenville, Ohio joined them for the adventure. The move to New York brought them television and radio appearances, including the Arthur Godfrey show, where they met Walter Latzko, a CBS staff music arranger. Latzko, who later became well-known throughout the Society, provided much of the quartet’s show material during the next ten years.

The Music Man was a great success and ran for many years on Broadway. A motion picture was made, featuring the Bills in the same roles. In 1962, after filming was completed, illness forced Bill Spangenberg to leave the quartet. He died the following year. Spangenberg was replaced by another Ohioan, Jim Jones, bass of the Sta-Laters, Johnny Appleseed District champs. The quartet made personal appearances for another five years and were featured on almost every kind of stage. They continued to sing on the Arthur Godfrey radio program.

When the final curtain rang down on the Buffalo Bills, they left behind a record that may never be topped in the world of barbershopping – 1,510 performances on Broadway, 728 concerts, 675 radio shows, 672 night club and hotel appearances, 626 conventions, 216 television shows, 137 state fair performances, and a major motion picture. Their fifteen record albums are another permanent record of their great singing.

The Buffalo Bills sang their last show at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York on May 24, 1967.

1949 – The Mid-States Four

Tenor: Bob Mack
Lead: Marty Mendro
Bass: Art Gracey
Bari: Forry Haynes

A quartet was organized by four employees at the Bell & Howell Company. Marty Mendro, lead; Forry Haynes, baritone; and Bob Corbett, bass. Haynes had been a member of a quartet that was one of the last to appear on the Keith road show circuit on stage and radio.

Mendro, a soloist in church choirs during his younger years, was introduced to barbershop harmony at Bell & Howell during World War II. The foursome became 6th place international finalists in 1945 and 1946 and were Illinois District champions in 1946.

When three of the quartet members left Bell & Howell, the group changed its name to the Mid-States Four. The president of the Mid States Insurance Company had taken an interest in the quartet and offered to sponsor them, providing uniforms and expenses in return for jobs done for his firm if they would use the corporate name.

Art Gracey, formerly with the Fort Dearborn Four of Illinois, joined the quartet replacing Corbett, who was forced to give up singing with the group due to the pressure of business obligations.

The quartet finished third at the international contest in Milwaukee in 1947 with Bob Rodriguez singing tenor. Rodriguez, later known as Bob Mack, had studied voice in Chicago.

The Mid-States Four were second at Oklahoma City in 1948 and became the Society’s eleventh quartet champion in Buffalo in 1949.

The quartet became famous for its ability to combine smooth styling of currently popular songs with madcap comedy and serious barbershop ballads. They were featured on barbershop chapter shows throughout the United States and Canada and appeared with many big-name entertainers on commercial shows.

In 1950, during the Korean conflict, the Mid-States Four traveled more than 24,000 miles, doing a total of 33 shows for more than 52,000 United Nations troops. Their schedule took them to the front lines as well as to recreational areas and hospitals in Korea and Japan.

They left the show circuit around 1966 but came out of retirement in 1982 with Phil Hansen replacing Art Gracey who had died. They performed in the Association of International Champions show at the 1983 international convention in Seattle. Hansen came from a singing family and was a veteran of several quartets, among them the Memories and Madness Quartet.

Tenor Bob Mack died in the spring of 1988. The quartet made a cameo appearance on the golden anniversary Association of International Champions show with Don Barnick of the 1979 Champion Grandma’s Boys and 1992 Champion Keepsake filling in as tenor.

1948 – The Pittsburghers

Tenor: Harry Conte
Lead: Tom Palamone
Bass: Bill Conway
Bari: John “Jiggs” Ward

Anthony “Zebo” DiPerro first instilled a love for barbershop harmony in Tom Palamone. The two were part of a quartet that rattled the walls in the back room of Zebo’s Pittsburgh grocery store in 1938. Palamone sang lead, Harry “Chummy” Conte was tenor, Zebo sang baritone, and “Turp” Marcanello was the bass. Zebo knew hundreds of songs and quite a few parodies that he taught the quartet.

They never used a pitchpipe; the lead would hang out a note and off the quartet would go, woodshedding the harmony.

In 1946 the quartet, then known as the Allen Club Four, went downtown to the Fort Pitt Hotel and joined the Pittsburgh Chapter of SPEBSQSA. The quartet attracted the attention of Maurice “Molly” Reagan, founder of the chapter, who was an accomplished arranger of quartet music.

After a month under Reagan’s coaching, the Allen Club Four decided to take a shot at the 1946 international quartet competition in Cleveland, Ohio. They placed a respectable sixth.

Zebo sang with the group a few months more, then the demands of his business compelled him to reluctantly part from the quartet. He was replaced by John “Jiggs” Ward who had sung bari with Bob Holbrook, lead of the 1941 champion Chord Busters, in the Serenaders quartet in the 5th Marine Corps Division during the final years of World War II.

Bill Conway took over the bass spot when Marcanello left Pittsburgh to sing with a band in New Jersey. Eighteen months later, still under the tutelage of Reagan, the quartet, renamed the Pittsburghers, won the gold medal at the 1948 international competition in Oklahoma City.

The quartet continued singing for three more decades and underwent a number of personnel changes. In 1955 Tom O’Malley moved into the lead spot and Palamone moved up to tenor when Conte dropped out. O’Malley had sung lead in the 1952 Johnny Appleseed District Champion Four Maldehydes. By the end of the decade, Conway was replaced by Dutch Miller at bass. In 1963, Nick Kason, who had sung with the Selectones, took over the bass part.

Two years later, the name Pittsburghers was retired when Jiggs Ward decided to withdraw, leaving Palamone as the only remaining member of the championship foursome. With Jack Elder, formerly of the Town and Country Four, singing bari, the group continued to do show dates as the Pittsburgh Four.

The Pittsburgh Four was active until the 1980’s when Tom O’Malley died.

 

1947 – The Doctors of Harmony

Tenor: H.H. “Jumbo” Smith
Lead: Max “Junior” Cripe
Bass: Lee “Reverend” Kidder
Bari: Elton “Butch” Hummel

When the Elkhart, Indiana chapter of SPEBSQSA was formed in September 1943, Ron Younce, lead; Lee “Reverend” Kidder, bass; and Elton “Butch” Hummel, bari were already looking for a tenor they could push around. They found H.H. “Jumbo” Smith, standing five feet tall in his socks and weighing 125 pounds.

Kidder and Hummel had sung together in a high school quartet; Smith had sung as a baritone with two professional quartets and had been an acrobatic performer on the vaudeville stage. Younce went into the Navy and was replaced by Max “Junior” Cripe in the spring of 1944.

The Doctors of Harmony became the first Indiana state quartet champion at a contest held in January, 1945. Thirteen quartets competed. The quartet entered international competition in 1945 and placed fifth. The following year, they finished third place and in 1947 they won the international championship.

According to the Doctors, a prescription of hard work earned them the gold medals. One of the songs they sang in competition was a new tune entitled Mississippi Moon, written by Jumbo Smith, ending a rumor that judges only liked familiar songs.

The quartet disbanded in 1950. Kidder sang bass in the 1953 Cardinal District champion Clef Chefs, a quartet that became an international semifinalist in 1953 and 1954.

 

1946 – The Garden State Quartet

Tenor: Ted Rau
Lead: Bob Freeland
Bass: Jack Briody
Bari: Jimmy Verdick

The Garden State Quartet came to life in 1941. Jimmy Verdick, bari, and Ted Rau, tenor, worked together at Western Electric. Jim knew a lead singer named Bob Freeland in Newark and the three of them met at Ted’s house in Jersey City with Joe Marrese, bass.

These four sang together for about a year, then Verdick enlisted in the Navy. The search for a fourth part began and in May of 1943, the trio found Jack Briody, who had recently been discharged from the Army. Rau was a former nightclub entertainer and Freeland had been a member of a tumbling and singing act in vaudeville during the 1920s. He had also appeared in Irving Berlin’s Broadway show, Yip, Yip, Yaphank. Briody had sung on the radio and in nightclubs with the Garden State Trio and Marrese was a glee club baritone until he began singing with the quartet.

The quartet became New Jersey State champion in 1943 and 1944. They entered international competition in 1944 wearing bathing suits and finished in fifth place.

They dropped down to finalist ranking in 1945 but, with hard work, were able to take the championship at the convention in Cleveland in June, 1946.

 

1945 – The Misfits

Tenor: Joe Murrin
Lead: Art Bielan
Bass: Pete Buckley
Bari: E.V. Perkins

Art Bielan, lead, Joe Murrin, tenor, and E.V. “Cy” Perkins, bari, formed three legs of a quartet on a train en route to the national SPEBSQSA convention in July 1941. They shanghaied Pete Buckley to sing bass. All were members of the Chicago No. 1 Chapter. Lacking a name and a costume, they exchanged coats and christened themselves the Misfits. They placed seventh.

Tenor Joe “Moose” Murrin had sung in a quartet while in the Navy during World War I and he sang with the Chicago Police Octet for nine years. Art Bielan, lead, had sung with a number of quartets, including the Suberpa Four, the State Four, and the Forges Post quartet, the latter group being an American Legion foursome. Cy “You’re Wrong” Perkins, who had sung baritone for a quarter century, was happy to point out other fellows’ mistakes, thereby endearing himself to many barbershoppers. Pete “Butch” Buckley had previously contributed his resonant bass voice to the P&O Quartet and the Variety Four.

The Misfits placed fifth at the national contest in 1942, and did not compete the following year due to the absence of Buckley, who spent nine months in Mississippi helping Uncle Sam build ships, but in 1944 the group finished in second place.

To comply with regulations of the War Committee on Conventions, the preliminary round of competition in 1945 was held in four different cities: New York, Cleveland, Chicago, and Kansas City.

The top fifteen quartets then competed in the final round at the Detroit Masonic Auditorium in June where the Misfits won top ranking.

 

1944 – The Harmony Halls

Tenor: Ed Gaikema
Lead: Bob Hazenberg
Bass: Gordon Hall
Bari: Ray Hall

The Harmony Halls came from a background of quartet singing that dated back two generations. Grandpa Hall sang bass in a quartet during Abraham Lincoln’s presidency. Pop Hall, his son, was a choir and quartet singer at the turn of the century and when O. C. Cash founded the Society. It was only natural that some of the six Hall brothers would become barbershoppers.

Harold, Ray, and Gordon Hall, singing lead, bari, and bass respectively, formed the Hall Brothers quartet with tenor John “Slim” Peterson. At the 1942 national contest in Grand Rapids, the quartet made the finals with Frank Clark as tenor.

In March of 1943 the quartet was reorganized; Ray, who was known among barbershoppers as “Curley”, and Gordon Hall sang with Bob Hazenberg, lead, and Ed Gaikema, tenor. That year, the Harmony Halls placed fifth. During a year of intensive work, they became Michigan champions the following spring, then entered the international contest in Detroit and won first place.

 

1943 – The Four Harmonizers

Tenor: Charles Schwab
Lead: Leo Ives
Bass: Fred Stein
Bari: Huck Sinclair

The Four Harmonizers, a Chicago quartet, competed in the 1941 and 1942 national contests and finished just out of the medalist class. They were considered a top-flight foursome, composed of Charles Schwab, tenor; Leo Ives, lead; Ed Young, baritone; and Fred Stein, bass.

In March 1943, just a few months before the Chicago contest at which they won the national championship, a new baritone, Huck Sinclair joined the group. Sinclair had grown up in a harmonious family. His mother sang lead, his sisters took the tenor and bari parts, and Huck sang bass. He had sung in quartets in high school and college and, before joining the Four Harmonizers, he was a member of the Capital City Four of Topeka, Kansas.

Bass Fred Stein began singing at the age of three and he won a prize as the best alto of his eighth grade class. He began singing in quartets at the age of seventeen and for eight years toured the vaudeville circuit with the Troy Comedy 4 and other groups. Leo Ives, lead, sang in a quartet called the Ives 4 with three of his children. Charles Schwab had sung with the Music Box Four for seven years.

The Four Harmonizers claimed that none of the arrangements they sang were written down; all four quartet members participated in woodshedding their numbers.

 

1942 – The Elastic Four

Tenor: Herman Struble
Lead: Roy Frisby
Bass: Frank Thorne
Bari: Jimmy Doyle

Roy Frisby enjoyed singing as a young man and made some extra money as a professional singer while attending high school and college. He studied voice at the Indianapolis Conservatory of Music.

After college, Frisby worked in the development division of a bank. In 1940 one of his accounts was National Aluminum Corporation, where Frank Thorne was vice president and director. One evening in October 1941 Thorne invited Frisby, Jimmy Doyle and Herman Struble to his home for dinner. Frisby was hopeful of drumming up some bank business, but Thorne wanted him to sing in his quartet.

The Elastic Four was organized that night in Thorne’s parlor with Frisby singing lead. Struble had won scholarships at Valparaiso University and DePaul as a tenor soloist and sang with the American Opera Company for three years. Doyle was also a tenor and sang for two years with a foursome known as the Trevette Quartet.

He then sang lead in the Old Oak Four, a traveling vaudeville quartet, before being enlisted as baritone for the Elastic Four. Thorne was an accomplished instrumental musician but enjoyed quartet singing. Once described as a lyric bass, he confessed that he did not know what that meant. He sang in the Plow City Four in Canton, IL and wrote many Elastic Four arrangements.

The quartet rehearsed about eight hours a week in 1942 to prepare for that year’s SPEBSQSA national contest in Grand Rapids, MI. Sixty quartets competed; there was no preliminary round of competition. The quartet appeared in straw hats, canes, suits, and spats; some quartets objected to their “fancy attire”.

The Elastic Four were named winners and their picture appeared on the back page of the Chicago Herald – right next to a photo of a girl who had killed her grandmother.

 

1941 – The Chord Busters

Tenor: Norman T. “Doc” Enmier
Lead: Bob Holbrook
Bass: Tom Masengale
Bari: Bobby Greer

The 1941 national champions were organized in Tulsa, OK in the spring of 1940 with Virgil Dow, tenor; Bob Holbrook, lead; Bobby Greer, baritone; and Tom Masengale, bass. The next year, Norman T. “Doc” Enmeier replaced Dow, who had moved to another city.

The quartet set a goal of placing high in the SPEBSQSA national quartet contest. To meet that goal, they met on an average of four nights per week, singing from three to five hours per night.

At the 1941 contest in St. Louis, after two afternoons of elimination, eleven quartets were selected to face the audience on the night of July 5. When the final scores were totaled, the Chord Busters were selected as national champions.

The Chord Busters were invited to compete again in 1942 but declined. They agreed to attend the convention in Grand Rapids as non-competitors to receive recognition as champions and “sing up a storm” in hotel lobbies.

They firmly established a tradition for, since that time, a quartet champion, once crowned, was never to compete again and therefore, was never to be dethroned.

2011 – Old School

Old School wins big in Kansas City

Tenor: Kipp Buckner
Lead: Joe Connelly
Bass: Joe Krones
Bari: Jack Pinto

The mighty awesome and talented Old School won the coveted Gold Medal at the Barbershop Harmony Society’s 2011 International quartet contest Saturday evening at the Sprint Center in downtown Kansas City. The competition was fierce and the energy high among the 50 quartets participating in the Society’s 73rd Annual International Convention.

Old School’s members are tenor Kipp Buckner (tenor of 1987 champion Interstate Rivals and 1993 champion Gas House Gang) from Sellersburg IN, bass Joe “Beast” Krones of Hurst TX, lead Joe Connelly (lead of 1987 champion Interstate Rivals, 1992 champion Keepsake, and 2000 champion Platinum) of Falls Church VA, and baritone Jack Pinto of Hamilton NJ. The group placed fifth in international barbershop competition in 2008, second in 2009, and second again in 2010. Old School stood out in the contest with their special attention to “old school” song choices and a huge energetic sound to go along with it.

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2010 – Storm Front

Storm Front brings down the house in Philly

Tenor: Jeff Selano
Lead: Jim Clark
Bass: Syd Libsack
Bari: Darin Drown

The comedy quartet Storm Front created plenty of thunderous applause and light-hearted laughter as they won the coveted Gold Medal at the Barbershop Harmony Society’s 2010 International quartet contest Saturday evening at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. The competition was fierce and the energy high among the 51 quartets participating in the Society’s 72nd Annual International Convention.

Storm Front’s members are tenor Jeff Selano and bass Syd Libsack of Atlanta, GA and lead Jim Clark and baritone Darin Drown of Denver, CO. The group placed third in international barbershop competition in 2007, sixth in 2008, and third again in 2009, which prompted them to write and perform the parody “We’ve Grown Accustomed to 3rd Place”. They also performed a medley entitled “Car Song”. Storm Front stood out in the humor category amidst mostly traditional and several contemporary barbershop quartets.

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2009 – Crossroads

Tenor: Fred Farrell
Lead: Michael Slamka
Bass: Jim Henry
Bari: Brandon Guyton

Our 2009 champs are men who have won the gold medals once before. They won in convincing fashion in Anaheim, California July 4th week during the 71st International Convention and Contests of the Barbershop Harmony Society. Their total score was 93.7% and 213 points above the second place quartet.

Fred Farrell (tenor) sang with Second Edition during their gold medal win in 1989. This win makes Fred one of the 18 multiple champs with the longest span between wins (20 years). Mike Slamka (lead) won his first gold with Power Play in 2003. Baritone Brandon Guyton won his first with Four Voices in 2002. Dr. Jim Henry (bass) won his first championship with Gas House Gang in 1993. He also holds a historic distinction by also directing his chorus, The Ambassadors of Harmony, to a Chorus Championship in the same year as they also won in Anaheim.

Crossroads considers their family to be an important part of the quartet. They boast 15 kids and one grandkid between them. Following the win they ALL spent the next day at Disneyland (all 24 of ’em).

You can hear their first studio recording project via their website. Its a true representation of this foursome’s talent and love of singing together.

They plan to spend the next year performing and continuing their quest for vocal musical perfection.

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2008 – OC Times

Tenor: Shawn York
Lead: Sean Devine
Bass: Cory Hunt
Bari: Patrick Claypool

Joy, Relief, Pride, Exuberance, Nervousness, Bliss, Apprehension, Release, Elation, Humility, Liberation, Anxiety, Delight, Gratification, Honor

What is it like to win International? The 2008 champion OC Times felt ALL these emotions and more.

Shawn York (Tenor), Sean Devine (Lead), Patrick Claypool (Baritone), and Cory Hunt (Bass) for winning the coveted gold medals in Nashville during the Barbershop Harmony Society’s 70th annual convention and contests.

They performed three consistent contest sets to win by 51 points (2700 / 2690 / 2684 = 8074). After placing 18th, 5th, 3rd, and 2nd the previous four years, OC Times had been inching closer to their goal with each attempt. Their song selections had been unique and contributed to their rapid growth and popularity.

They competed with“Don’t Be a Baby, Baby”, “Oh, Look At Me Now”. “I Want You, I Need You, I Love You”, “You’re Sixteen”, “You Belong To Me” and “Drivin’ Me Crazy”. Competing with these songs made popular by the likes of Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Ringo Starr, and Patti Page expanded the barbershop realm to the delight of most.

They call Orange County, California home and are active members of the Masters of Harmony chorus, seven time international chorus champion. They are ALSO active members of Westminster, the 2007 international chorus champion. With their win of quartet gold medals they become only the third quartet to win CHORUS gold medals the same year.

OC Times formed in the spring of 2003. Shawn, Sean and Patrick are the original members. Their original bass was Drew Harrah. He won the FWD title with them and placed 18th in Louisville in 2004. In January 2005 Cory joined the group. The rest is, of course, history.

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2007 – MaxQ

Tenor: Greg Clancy
Lead: Tony De Rosa
Bass: Jeff Oxley
Bari: Gary Lewis

Max Q were finally crowned 2007 International Quartet Champs. They won the championship with the second highest score and by the second highest margin of victory ever.

Max Q began in 2002 and after toying with the idea of a quartet. At their first official meeting the sound was special and exciting. It’s no wonder. All four were experienced singers.

Greg Clancy (tenor) started as a 12 year old kid on the front row of the young Vocal Majority with his dad up front directing. He has been a part of all eleven VM championships. He sang with several quartets through the years like Class of the 80’s (Dan Bell, Jason January,Todd Wilson). Gatsby (Bill Thornton, Jason January, Gary Parker) and a re-united Dealer’s Choice. Greg is said to now have the most gold medals of anyone in the Society (12).

Tony De Rosa (lead) is also a second generation Barbershopper, starting at the age of seven with his dad, Papa Joe. An active quartetter, he first appeared on the International stage with Cypress Chord Club at the age of 12 in 1985. He sang with One Shot Deal, became the youngest gold medalist as bari of Keepsake (1992) and won his second gold medal with Platinum (2000).

Gary Lewis (bari) studied at Bowling Green State University where he formed his first quartet, Which Wayz Up? He was the tenor of The Real Deal and winners of the Society’s MBNA Collegiate Quartet Contest in 1994. Gary moved to Orlando FL in 1996 and sang as a replacement bass singer for the 1992 Champion Keepsake. In 1998, Gary switched voice parts again, and moved to tenor to sing with Platinum. With Joe Connelly singing lead, Tony De Rosa on baritone, and Kevin Miles singing bass, Platinum captured the gold in Kansas City in 2000. Gary was the first person to win a collegiate gold medal and go on to win SPEBSQSA International gold. He is also the only tenor/baritone double gold medalist.

Jeff Oxley (bass) is a product of Bowling Green State University in Ohio where barbershop music was very popular. That inspired the formation of The Rapscallions(Dave Smotzer – tenor, Dave Wallace – lead, and Tim Frye- bari) and their entry into the 1982 International contest and a surprising 9th place finish. They began working harder and moved up to 6th place in 1983 and won it all in 1984. In 1986 he moved to Dallas and later joined Class of the 80s who placed 14th at International in 1989. After a new lead and a name change, Acoustix won the gold in 1990, his second. As an active coach, section leader and featured soloist with the Vocal Majority, Jeff has won seven chorus gold medals. In late 1997 he took on the challenge of Music Director in California with the International chorus champion Masters Of Harmony. He led them to their 1999 win and has become the only man in BHS history to have won 3 quartet golds and directed a chorus to the championship.

Although Max Q were hindered by distances (two in Dallas, one in Florida and one back in Ohio) they managed to learn their music via weekends together and learning CDs, and rehearsed as often as possible. Max Q’s first appearance was as a cameo on a Vocal Majority chorus show.

Their work in the studio has produced two outstanding CDs with one being a ground breaking collection of children’s songs – For the Children.

By their fourth year of competition and being second three years in a row (a major accomplishment for ANY quartet) they introduced a new song, Here’s To The Losers with special lyrics developed and arranged by quartet coach Clay Hine (FRED bari).

Some of the lyrics include:

Here’s to those who go for high notes even when they’ve past their prime. (bass solo) Here’s to every bass who has an ego half as big as mine.

Here’s to the Nighthawks and the Pacificaires we love that Sundowners sound To the Vagabonds and all of the greats that never won the crown

Here’s to the Losers – bless us all

Their Losers set received the largest audience reaction of the week and perhaps their career. It was a highlight for the boys. After being the first to congratulate Gotcha! , Realtime & Vocal Spectrum before they ran up the stairs to proudly accept their silver they finally got to hear their name announced as the champs in Denver 2007.

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2006 – Vocal Spectrum

Tenor: Tim Waurick
Lead: Eric Dalbey
Bass: Chris Hallam
Bari: Jonny MoroniIn the closest win in the Society’s 68 year competition history Vocal Spectrum took home the big trophy by singing flawlessly and earning the best score on two of the three sets. Still it was only SIX little itty-bitty points that separated them from the future champion and three time silver medalists Max Q.The youth movement in the Society now has an extraordinary benchmark with these four guys winning the College Quartet Championship (2004) and the International Quartet Championship (2006) after only THREE years as a group.Vocal Spectrum first sang as a one-time educational quartet for a workshop with Francis Howell North High School Men’s Ensembles on January 5th, way back in 2002. They liked what they heard and continued singing after that chance grouping.

They hail from St. Charles, Missouri where all were majoring in different fields of study at Lindenwood University and come from various musical backgrounds, from classical vocal training to jammin’ in rock-n-roll bands.

Tim Waurick (tenor) is the newest member of VS joining in September 2003 replacing original tenor David Cassel. Tim sang in Good Times at International in 2001 and 2003

Eric Dalbey (lead) has sung in many quartets throughout his high school career and became an original member of Vocal Spectrum in 2002.

Jonny Moroni (bari) discovered barbershop through a local public access channel and soon joined the Ambassadors of Harmony (St. Charles, MO) He has gone on to win a total of 5 International Medals with the chorus.

Chris Hallam (bass) sang in select ensembles throughout high school and joined the Ambassadors of Harmony (2004 International Chorus Champions) and has competed at the International contest with them three times.

In addition to performing all over the U.S. as well as singing in Germany, Holland, Sweden, Russia and England, the foursome gets a special kick out of being part of Youth In Harmony Workshops and teaching high school students about barbershop harmony.

They follow in the recent footsteps of Four Voices who won the college gold medals in 1996 and the quartet gold in 2002. Vocal Spectrum is the FIRST quartet to win THREE of the possible 4 gold medals (Collegiate Quartet, Men’s Quartet, and Chorus Medal).

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2005 – Realtime

Tenor: Tim Broersma
Lead: John Newell
Bass: Tom Metzger
Bari: Mark MetzgerThe Realtime quartet story is an ordinary one. Four guys who love to sing being drawn together by fate. But this story has an extraordinary ending.

It all began in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada as two brothers Mark (bari) & Tom Metzger (bass) grew up singing together following in their father’s footsteps,Charlie. They were a matched set in every quartet thru the years; The Edge, Sonic Boom and Counterpoint.

Around the same time there was a barbershopper in Australia, John Newell (lead), perfecting his craft. John is a two time AAMBS (Australian Association of Men’s Barbershop Singers) quartet champion (1999 / 2001) withSouthern Cross (lead). He is also the first Society affiliate Barbershopper (off continent) gold medalist.

A few years later young tenor Tim Broersma was also singing on the International contest stage with Doug, his father. He won his first district quartet championship in 1993 with Milky Way (age 14). He was also active inStudio One, Counterpoint and Bachelor Party.

They would all cross paths and decide to travel this road together as four brothers.

They are not sure who came up with their quartet name. The name Realtime reflects their desire to be “in the moment” when performing. For this group, it appears to be most appropriate.

They held their first rehearsal in March of 2003 and performed for their first show with their home chapter (Greater Vancouver / Gentlemen of Fortune) in May. In 2004 they represented the Evergreen District in Louisville and placed 7th at their first International together. After winning their district championship they went on the Salt Lake City and won gold in only their second International.

Well, even though the contest part of their story ended they continue to produce top-notch CDs and entertain audiences worldwide.

2004 – Gotcha!

Tenor: Garry Texeira
Lead: Chris Vaughn
Bass: Jim Kline
Bari: Alan Gordon

At an afterglow in September of 1996, four members of the Masters of Harmony chorus decided to sing a song. Three hours later, Garry Texeira, Chris Vaughn, Alan Gordon, and Scott Wilson exhausted the entire repertoire from three choruses and a few international championship quartets! Shortly after the 1996 Far Western District contest, Gotcha! became a registered quartet and bought matching socks.

The quartet spent 1997 moving through the competition ranks, including sweeping the Grand Championship at the Buckeye Invitational. Riding high from first year successes, Gotcha! qualified for their first International Quartet Contest for 1998, and were encouraged with their 20th place finish in Atlanta.

Upon returning, they immediately turned their focus to the 1998 Far Western District Contest in Phoenix, where they came home as the 1998 FWD Quartet Champs. They placed 12th in 1999 and 8th in 2000. They changed basses before the 2001 contest with the addition of Jim Kline (formerly of Buck Thirty-Nine and 139th Street Quartet).

The quartet climbed through 8th, 6th, and 2nd in the world before capturing the International Championship in Louisville, KY, in July of 2004. This made Jimmy’s 30th appearance on the International stage beginning in 1970.

Gotcha! has performed hundreds of shows across the U.S., Canada and Ireland – on stage, radio, and television and has produced three outstanding recordings.

2003 – Power Play

Tenor: Don Slamka
Lead: Michael Slamka
Bass: Jack Slamka
Bari: Mark Slamka

Nothing can compare with the Power of family. Power Play consists of a father, his two sons, and his nephew.

Jack Slamka, the father, sings bass and is a 30-year member of the Society. Michael, his son, sings lead and is a 20-year member of the Society. Don, the nephew, sings tenor and is a 17-year member of the Society. Mark, the other son, sings baritone and is a 15-year member of the Society.

Power Play was formed in 1988, and won the Pioneer (Michigan) District quartet championship in the fall of 1989.

They competed in international competition a dozen times (six in the top 10) and finally won in 2003 in Montreal.

This quartet proves that the family that Plays together stays together.

 

2002 – Four Voices

Tenor: Lester Rector
Lead: Chad Guyton
Bass: Jayson VanHook
Bari: Brandon Guyton

When Chad (lead) and Brandon Guyton (bari) attended a Harmony Explosion presentation in 1993, they had no idea what lay ahead.

A few years later, they recruited two fellow Lee Universitymusicians, Lester Rector (tenor) and Jayson Van Hook(bass), to form Four Voices. Contrary to popular belief, the name was not inspired from the obvious; a requirement to fulfill the prerequisites of a quartet.

Actually, these young men met in the Voices of Lee, a 16-member vocal orchestra group at Lee University, where they contributed four of the eight men’s voices to make a unique, harmonious sound that has gained national recognition. The Four Voices decided to enter the 1996 MBNA Collegiate Barbershop Quartet Contest in Salt Lake City and were fortunate enough to come away with the championship.

In 1999, the quartet agreed that it was time to take a shot at the big leagues and entered the Dixie District Contest. They were thrilled to come away with the championship, but they were not finished yet.

They set a goal to qualify for International in 2000 and reached this dream by qualifying at the Dixie District preliminary contest. In their first time out, Kansas City brought Four Voices an International Semi-Finalist award. In Nashville in 2001, Four Voices made a huge jump in the standings, bringing home the 3rd place Bronze medal.

They won in 2002 in Portland and became the first college champ to win the BHS gold medal title. Their recordings are considered some of the best examples of the style.

 

2001 – Michigan Jake

Tenor: Drew Kirkman
Lead: Mark Hale
Bass: Greg Hollander
Bari: Joel Wilson

In 1983 Mark Hale and Greg Hollander joined the Barbershop Harmony Society. They quickly became friends and started singing in a quartet together. This quartet, theSound System, started with Mark on tenor and Greg on baritone, but soon Greg moved to bass and Mark moved to baritone. Along with b>Phil Kinser, lead, and Mike Wheeley, tenor, they sang together for about five years, winning a district championship and competing at the International Competition in 1988. They retired in 1990.

By 1992 Mark had moved to Louisville and, with David Harrington, formed the Louisville Times Chorus. David’s quartet, the Second Edition, had just recently retired and there was a lot of excitement over starting something new. As the chorus began to build steam a new quartet was in the works with David on lead, Mark on baritone, Greg on bass, and Mark Bowman from Cincinnati on tenor.

The quartet became known as A Few Good Men and won the right to compete at the International Competition in Pittsburgh in 1994. As luck would have it, David and the otherHarrington Brothers were immediately offered a job performing on a professional show in Myrtle Beach, so the quartet was forced to disband after being together only about six weeks.

The desire to start another quartet hit again around the summer of 1995. The Louisville Times had just competed at their first International Competition and were in full swing. The section leaders often would step forward and demonstrate various techniques for the chorus and it was discovered that they had quite a blend.

They were Mark on lead, Greg on bass, Gary Davis on baritone, and Mark’s brother Christopher Hale on tenor. Christopher had recently moved to Louisville to attend the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, pursuing a Masters in Church Music.

Shortly after the Miami convention the foursome started to rehearse with the Cardinal District Quartet Contest being their first short term goal. They chose the name Michigan Jake, a takeoff of the Warner Brothers singing frog, because it represented where they had first started to hear the old songs–on Bugs Bunny cartoons.

They went on to win the contest by a much larger score than they had imagined. The quartet placed tenth in their first International Competition in 1996 and then eighth the next year. By March of 1998 they found themselves in need of a new baritone and called upon their friend Joel Wilson.

Joel had started singing in the Louisville Times in 1993 when he was sixteen, and had grown accustomed to the singing techniques of Michigan Jake. This, and the fact that he’s so darned good, made it easy for him to slip effortlessly into the Michigan Jake sound.

With just inside of four months together, the quartet jumped to the second place silver medalist position in Atlanta that summer.

By a strange twist of fate, Christopher had stopped on his way to the Atlanta convention to interview with a church in South Carolina in need of a new Music Minister. He discovered in a message on his answering machine when he returned home that he had gotten the job. The other men of Michigan Jake didn’t want to stand in the way of Christopher’s career, but they were in a difficult situation. After considering a few options, they decided to call on Drew Kirkman of Terre Haute, Indiana, with Christopher making the initial contact. Drew had sung with several quartets through the years, both on lead and tenor, but most recently with Flash Point, comprised of Drew and three members of the Times. They knew he had the ability if he had the time and desire to step in. With a single audition they could tell that they had made the right choice.

At the 1999 convention in Anaheim Michigan Jake took the third place bronze medal behind crowd favorite FRED, and in 2000 they earned another silver medal with Platinumwinning the gold. Finally in July of 2001 in the city of Nashville, Tennessee, Michigan Jake won the coveted gold medals besting a field of fifty competitors by a margin of 256 points.

Mark Hale went on to direct the powerhouse Master’s Of Harmony chorus in California and lead them to two (2005, 2002) of their six chorus championships. Drew is busy singing with the Dapper Dans of Disney World.

 

2000 – Platinum

Tenor: Gary Lewis
Lead: Joe Connelly
Bass: Kevin Miles
Bari: Tony De Rosa

Platinum first organized in 1998 and soon won the 2000 SPEBSQSA International Quartet Championship in Kansas City.

Lead Joe Connelly became the first THREE TIME Gold Medalist with this win having won in 1987 (Interstate Rivals) and 1992 (Keepsake). He learned from many outstanding quarteters including his dad Mike who sang baritone with theRoaring 20s.

Baritone Tony De Rosa was also a member of the 1992 champs Keepsake making this is second gold medal. Tony would go on to win his third in 2007 with Max Q singing lead. He first appeared on the International Contest stage at the young and talented age of 12 with his dad Joe as chorus director of the Tampa Heralds of Harmony. Tony would later go on to direct them as well.

Tenor Gary Lewis first earned gold with The Real Deal, 1994 Collegiate Quartet Champs. With PLATINUM, he became the first collegiate champion to win an international gold medal. He would go on to win his second international gold medal in 2007 with Max Q, singing baritone. Gary came fromBowling Green State University, home of an outstanding music program and several gold medal champions.

Bass Kevin Miles has been a longtime member of The Dapper Dans of Disney World (4 years), the popular “Americana” 8-part a cappella group, Voices of Liberty (21 years) and is almost as well known as “the voice” of Walt Disney World greeting the public and reminding you to “watch your step”.

Platinum is famous for their “lock and ring” as well as long posts. A good example is adaptation of the songs Be Our Guest and Auld Lang Syne, which are the titles of their two popular CDs.

They were helped by some outstanding arrangers such asEd Waesche, Greg Volk, Walter Latzko and Clay Hine and coaches including Jim Casey, Randy Loos, and Gary Wulf.

They are now officially retired but do accept shows on very rare occasions.

Joe is working on becoming the first to win four times with his new quartet, Old School, having placed 5th at International in 2008 on their first attempt.

Tony and Gary are still actively singing, touring and recording with Max Q.

Kevin, successfully recovering from “carrying” Joe and being the quartet’s chick magnet for all those years, is still active with the Dans and occasionally singing with the VOL. He and his wife are involved in a company that offers singing opportunities for people who desire to perform in a chorus in large and exciting venues (www.singliveusa.com).

 

1999 – FRED

Tenor: Fred Carlson
Lead: Fred LaRosa
Bass: Fred Clay
Bari: Fred Hine

FRED is anything but your typical barbershop quartet. In fact, from their distinctive sound and unique sense of humor to the speed in which they have risen to the top of the craft, very little about FRED is normal.

FRED (Jared “Pookie” Carlson, tenor; Rick LaRosa, lead;Clay Hine, bari; Joe Clay, bass) was less than one year old as a quartet when they won the 1991 Dixie District Quartet Championship.

As members of the Marietta, Georgia chapter they gained a huge following in International quartet competition between 1992 and 1999 with their creative and off the wall sense of humor with parodies and poking fun at the audience, judges and themselves.

To the delight of their fans FRED won the barbershop quartet gold medals in 1999. They have gone on to entertain extensively across the United States and around the entire world for a wide variety of corporate and public audiences and have produced several top selling CDs.

Clay has been a popular coach and director taking the Big Chicken Chorus to International competition several times and more recently, and a new chorus, The Atlanta Vocal Project.

As they openly admit, a quartet by any other name would be another quartet.

1998 – Revival

Tenor: Royce Ferguson
Lead: Mike Spencer
Bass: Bill Myers
Bari: Mike Lawton

The men of Revival represent over 85 years of harmonizing experience.

They earned the title of 1997-98 Far Western District Quartet Champions and were crowned the 1998 BHS Champs at the competition held in Atlanta, Georgia on the 4th of July. This was only their third try with a 15th place and a 9th place finish the two years before.

The quartet represents the Foothills Cities & San Diego, California chapters and consists of Royce Ferguson (tenor),Mike Spencer (lead), Mike Lawton (bari) and Bill Myers(bass).

After winning they performed lots of shows and with notable appearances on CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN and BBC (London) radio & television affiliates, with the San Diego Symphonyand on stages in over 38 states and 5 countries, including tours of Ireland and Russia.

Bill served the Barbershop Society as a popular field representative and Royce went on to direct the Westminster Chorus to a gold medal in 2007.

1997 – Yesteryear

Tenor: Dan Trakas
Lead: Mark Blake
Bass: Randy Baughman
Bari: Rod Nixon

Representing the Maumee Valley (Toledo) and Elyria (near Cleveland), Ohio chapters and the Johnny Appleseed DistrictYesteryear is well known as a talented and entertaining show quartet.

The original version of the quartet was formed in February of 1984. Over the years there were three personnel changes (and one part change) leading to the gold medal version of the foursome. Along the way they won the Johnny Appleseed District (1993) contest

Dan Trakas (tenor), Mark Blake (lead), Rod Nixon (bari) andRandy “Beef” Baughman (bass) won gold in Indianapolis, Indiana.

The guys placed 17th in 1992 on their second Int’l contest appearance and jumped up to eighth in 1992. They moved up the ranks starting in 1994 placing 3rd, 2nd, 2nd and then the ultimate quartet goal

Dan is a two-time JAD quartet champion having won with theMatinee Idols in 1976 and Yesteryear.

Mark, a graduate of Bowling Green State University and Ashland Theological Seminary, is a past president of the Maumee Valley Chapter (Toledo, OH). He sang with the popular Varsity Lettermen, a college quartet in the JAD from 1985 to 1988.

Rod has sung in three other JAD champion quartets. He was the lead of the Matinee Idols (1976) and Sound Syndicate (1979), and tenor of Sound Advice (1972). Rod is a past president and director of the Elyria Cascade Chordsmen.

Beef is a former director of the Maumee Valley Seaway Commanders Chorus in Toledo and also sang with Mark in the Varsity Lettermen. A graduate of Bowling Green State University he is well known as a member of a high school 50’s group called Melvin and the Nuclear Turnips. He is currently active in the International contest favorite and popular show quartet, Hot Air Buffoons.

1996 – Nightlife

Tenor: Rob Menaker
Lead: John Sasine
Bass: Brett Littlefield
Bari: Jeff Baker

Nightlife, from Southern California, is only the second quartet in barbershop singing history to win gold medals as both international quartet champions and as members of the winning barbershop chorus on the same day! This is truly a fitting achievement for four individuals who have spent most of their lives singing and performing for others.

Rob Menaker (tenor), John Sasine (lead), Jeff Baker (bari) and Brett Littlefield (bass) have more than 80 years of barbershop experience – something that clearly shows itself in their superb interpretation of songs and enjoyable entertainment package.

Nightlife first got together in November 1990, and in the fall of 1991 won the Far Western District Quartet Championship.

In the International competitions which followed, the quartet quickly achieved success as well, winning two bronze medals and a silver. But, in July, 1996, Nightlife reached the pinnacle of success by being declared the new International Quartet Champion.

1995 – Marquis

Tenor: Dale Fetick
Lead: Randy Chisholm
Bass: Jay Hawkins
Bari: Paul Gilman

Marquis won the 1995 International Quartet Championship at Miami Beach representing the gold medal rich Johnny Appleseed District. They credit their win to having the right attitude.

Each member had sung in successful quartets before and brought that experience with them to the group.

Jay Hawkins previously sang with The Coalition (1977 JAD Champs), The Naturals and Interstate Rivals and later won the Society’s “Music Man Quartet” championship with Great Honk.

Paul Gilman sang with Class Notes, Brand New Gang,Ricochet (1992 JAD Champs) and the Interstate Rivals.

Dale Fetick sang with Uncle Sam’s Music Review, The Last National Prank, Bustin’ Loose and Ricochet.

Randy Chisholm sang with The Halton County Roadshow(1980 ONT District Champs), Act IV (JAD Champs) and theNaturals (JAD Champs and 4-time Int’l Medalist).

Marquis won the 1994 Johnny Appleseed District championship and placed fourth in their first International together.

They received help with selecting the right music from arrangers Don Gray, Walter Latzko, Ed Waesche, Rob Hopkins, Bill Mitchell and their primary coaches, Jim Millerand Ken Buckner.

Randy was an iconic, standout lead with a powerful voice and a master of song interpretation. He managed to hold back enough to create the perfect blend in Marquis.

Originally a baritone, Jay adjusted his championship bass voice from his 1987 Interstate Rivals gold medal to blend with his new lead. Paul also had to adjust and adapt from his baritone in IR.

They managed to sing lots of shows and hold many productive rehearsals despite the fact that Randy was living in Ohio, Paul and Dale in Cincinnati and Jay in Louisville.

Marquis was also very active in the music leadership of theCincinnati Southern Gateway Chorus and served the chapter in many ways. Paul went on to direct the chorus and led them to six appearances at Int’l with a 9th place finish in 2005.

The 1995 Marquis win completed the double gold medal effort by all four members of the 1987 Interstate Rivalsadding Jay Hawkins and Paul Gilman (IR Lead Joe Connellywon his second in 1992 – IR Tenor Kipp Buckner won his second in 1994).

Marquis first recording was In The Wee Small Hoursfollowed by Diamond Cuts. Their most popular songs were Lulu’s Back in Town, When That Midnight Choo Choo Leaves For Alabam’, I Found A Million Dollar Baby and Randy’s special treatment of What Kind Of Fool Am I.

Sadly, Randy Chisholm died unexpectedly in August 3, 1997 from complications following a staph infection in Mid-July.

1994 – Joker’s Wild

Tenor: Steve Iannacchione
Lead: Mark Green
Bass: Dave Kindinger
Bari: Steve Legters

Marquis won the 1995 International Quartet Championship at Miami Beach representing the gold medal rich Johnny Appleseed District. They creJoker’s Wild was formed in August of 1990 when the original four members met informally at the Buckeye Invitational in Columbus, Ohio and harmonized together. The sound and enthusiasm of the evening convinced them to form a quartet to showcase their natural blend.

After winning the Johnny Appleseed District (JAD) Quartet Championship in October of 1990, Joker’s Wild went on to represent JAD at the 1991 International contest in Louisville, Kentucky. In their first appearance on the international stage, Joker’s Wild placed 10th. The next year they moved up to 5th place Bronze Medalists. In Calgary Alberta, Canada they became the 1993 2nd place silver medalists.

And finally, in July 1994 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, they reached the ultimate goal of most barbershop quartet singers by becoming the 1994 International Champions.

Since winning the International Championship, Steve Iannacchione (tenor), Mark Green (lead), Steve Legters(bari) and Dave Kindinger (bass) have been featured on shows and concerts throughout the world. They have entertained audiences in the United States, Canada, Germany, Italy, France, and Spain. The quartet has also performed on national television, including Good Morning America, and radio spots across the United States.

1993 – The Gas House Gang

Tenor: Kipp Buckner
Lead: Rich Knight
Bass: Jim Henry
Bari: Rob Henry

In the 1930’s The St. Louis Cardinals baseball team was nicknamed “The Gas House Gang” to describe the players’ fiery attitude toward the game and their fun-loving style of play. In 1987 a barbershop quartet from the St. Louis area chose the name to match its own personality. Since that time the energetic singing style and diverse repertoire of Kipp Buckner (tenor), Rich Knight (lead), Rob Henry (bari) and Jim Henry (bass) has proven the appropriateness of the title to people across North America and Europe.

After winning the 1988 Central States District Competition in their first attempt, they began a steady climb up the International Competition ladder which culminated in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, where they were awarded the 1993 International Quartet Championship.

The group has performed in 48 states and have sung in such diverse locales as Russia, Hawaii, England, Ireland, Sweden, Holland, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, New York City’s Carnegie Hall and The Grand Ole Opry.

They have been seen nationwide on the PBS special, “Voices in Harmony,” and on NBC’s Today Show. They have also been heard worldwide on BBC radio. Performers with whom they have shared the stage include such distinguished musicians as The Four Freshmen, The Swingle Singers, Rockapella, The Persuasions, The Chordettes, The King’s Singers, The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Victor Borge, Porter Wagner, GLAD and the Grammy award winning group Chanticleer. The Gang made its theatrical debut in front of over 70,000 people as the barbershop quartet in ” The Music Man” at The Muny, one of the world’s largest outdoor theaters.

They produced five recordings which are consistently been top sellers and were awarded nominations by the Contemporary A Cappella Society of America (CASA), including Best Barbershop Song, Studio Album of the Year, Artist of the Year, Best Christmas Album, and Best Christmas Song.

The GHG retired in 2005 after losing their baritone Rob Henry to cancer in 2003.

1992 – Keepsake

Tenor: Roger Ross
Lead: Joe Connelly
Bass: Don Barnick
Bari: Tony DeRosa

Keepsake of Polk County, Orlando and Winter Park, Florida won the gold in 1992 in New Orleans.

Keepsake was a quartet with the ability to reach across the footlights and grabs the hearts of the audience with their music. Their expressive song selection included charts written and arranged by Lou Perry, Renee Craig, Bob Disney, Greg Volk, and Clay Hine. Roses of Picardy was a popular song choice during their winning year and considered as the unofficial song of the contest in the Superdome. They reached the top with the help of top coaches like Larry Ajer, Jim Casey, Dave LaBar, and Paul Gallagher.

They were a popular quartet and booked on many chapter shows across the country as well as travels to Italy and the French Riviera. They produced three fine recordings, The Entertainer, Once Upon A Time, and Without A Song.

Roger Ross started singing barbershop at age 10 in Terre Haute, Indiana. After relocating to Florida in 1972, he sang in his first quartet on baritone with his dad in the quartet Elements of Harmony, then Center of Attraction (1980, with brother, Rusty). This was Roger’s first taste of the International contest stage and subsequently made nine more trips to the Int’l stage singing three different parts and with several quartets who also won the Sunshine District quartet championship: Popular Choice (1982-tenor), Cheerful Noise (1985-lead), and One Shot Deal (1988-lead, w/ Tony De Rosa and Keepsake (1991-tenor). Roger is one of three members to have won FOUR Sunshine District Championships: Sean Milligan (5) and Tony De Rosa (4).

Roger was also director of Orlando’s Orange Blossom Chorus. He later led Winter Park’s Sunshine Jubilee Chorusto a district championship in 1988 and directed the Tampa Bay Heralds of Harmony in International competition in Salt Lake City in 2004. He has been a permanent “sub” with the famous Dapper Dans of Disney World since 1978, is former Dean of Sunshine Sizzle HEP school, was SUN District Barbershopper of the Year in 1987, is a SUN HOF inductee and served as President of the Association of International Champions (AIC). He’s working up a new quartet and plans to be on the contest stage again soon.

This was Joe Connelly’s second of three gold medals. At the age of 13, young Joe wasn’t yet awesome but joined theSouthern Gateway Cincinnati chapter and learned at the knee of his dad (Mike – bari of the Roaring 20’s). He won gold in 1987 with Interstate Rivals. “Awesome Joe” moved to Florida and directing the Orlando Orange Blossomchorus to a repeat district championship in 1989. A certified Interpretation judge, Joe also served on the Harmony College Faculty many years.

He has been an active and popular coach of men’s and women’s quartets and choruses. One of his quartets wasShowtime (1993 International Queens of Harmony). Three weeks after winning his gold in New Orleans, Joe married Showtime’s outstanding lead, Debbie. He continues his quest for gold with Old School having placed 5th at International in 2008 on their first attempt.

Don Barnick is the only two-time gold medalist to win on both tenor and bass. In seventh grade he got hooked on barbershop and formed his first foursome, The Tuneagers. At 18 he began directing the SAI Lake Erie Seaway (SAI) and later directed the Lakewood Gold Coast Chorus. In 1973 he moved to Florida and sang in Brush and Lather 4, American Tradition and Phase IV quartets. Don also sang with theOrange Blossom Chorus and the Tin Types quartet (withDick Kneeland at that time, a Dapper Dans’ Lead singer, Bill Wood, and Chuck Pritchett).

Barnick moved to Chicago and joined the Grandma’s Boyswho won gold in 1979. They retired in 1985 and he moved back to Florida and sang baritone with SideKicks placing top ten three times at International. Don is also a three-part sub for the Dapper Dans of Disney World and sings in a fun quartet with his wife Ellen called 3 Flirts and a Skirt.

This win made Tony De Rosa (19) the youngest member to win the gold. Tony grew up in a barbershop family and started at the age of 7 with his dad, Joe, director of theChorus of the Genesee in Rochester, New York. In 1981 they moved to Florida where Papa Joe directed the Pride of the Polk chorus. The family is total barbershop with Mom, a Harmony Inc. Champion (1979) and sister, Chris, singing with Toast of Tampa Sweet Ads. Tony started singing with a quartet at age 10 with Cypress Chord Club, 1984 district champion and 1985 International competitor. He joined Roger in One Shot Deal. He went on to win with Platinum in 2000 and Max Q in 2007.

1991 – The Ritz

Tenor: Jim Shisler
Lead: Doug Nichol
Bass: Ben Ayling
Bari: D.J. Hi
The Ritz is a unique quartet in that it is comprised of four vocal music teachers, each from a different school district. Tenor Jim Shisler, lead Doug Nichol, bari D.J. Hiner and bass Ben Ayling.

When the quartet won the Pioneer District Quartet Championship in 1984, The Ritz decided to enter all future BHS competitions. In Louisville, KY, in July of 1991, they became the international champions while representing the Johnny Appleseed District.

During the quartet’s active career The Ritz focused on having great concert performances and producing studio recordings. They produced nine exciting and successful releases.

The quartet regularly performed throughout the United States and Canada and were the featured entertainment aboard Caribbean, Alaskan and Hawaiian cruise ships. Their concert tours took them to Great Britain, Russia, New Zealand and Australia.

In the fall of 1994 they were featured on the nationally broadcasted PBS special, “Keep America Singing” and again in March of 1996 on the “World’s Largest Concert.”

1990 – Acoustix

Tenor: Todd Wilson
Lead: Rick Middaugh
Bass: Jeff Oxley
Bari: Jason January

Acoustix formed in January of 1990, and in a very short time realized that the blending of their vocal talents produced a sound that has eluded many performers.

The Texas foursome skyrocketed straight up the competition ladder. In a record-setting six months, Todd Wilson (tenor),Rick Middaugh (lead), Jason January (baritone) and Jeff Oxley (bass), won on their first attempt.

This dynamic foursome has been electrifying audiences around the world for over 20 years. ACOUSTIX has appeared on CNN, NBC’s “Today Show,” TNN’s “The Statler Brothers Show,” and two PBS specials. At the turn of the 21st century, ACOUSTIX performed for a global audience of 175 million viewers on “ABC 2000,” hosted by Peter Jennings.

In 1998, Joel T. Rutherford moved to Texas from Toronto Canada to replace Jeff Oxley.

Their most recent national television appearances included performing the Star Spangled Banner for game five of the 2011 NBA Finals, and game six of the 2006 NBA Finals. ACOUSTIX has shared the stage with many talented acts, including The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, LeAnn Rimes, The Dixie Chicks, The King’s Singers, Mitch Miller, Isaac Stern, Pete Fountain, Victor Borge, The Four Freshmen, The Gatlins, The Canadian Brass, The Dallas Wind Symphony, and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

ACOUSTIX recently contributed their talents to two new Bill Gaither Homecoming video projects, Amazing Grace, released in August of 2007 and Rock of Ages, released in April of 2008. Some of the other artists involved included Randy Owen, the Oak Ridge Boys, Ernie Haase & Signature Sound, the Gaither Vocal Band, the Isaacs and Brenda Lee.

The quartet has made close to 1000 appearances in 47 states of the USA and six provinces of Canada. Bookings outside North America have taken the quartet to Japan, Great Britain, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Germany, Australia, Saudi Arabia and Switzerland. Traveling to well over 300 cities around the globe, from Carnegie Hall in New York, Roy Thompson Hall in Toronto to Muse Arc Hall in Tokyo, ACOUSTIX has performed in some of the greatest concert venues in the world.

ACOUSTIX predominantly a cappella repertoire showcases a wide variety of musical styles including Vocal Jazz, Gospel, Sacred, Doo-Wop, Contemporary Christian, Patriotic, Inspirational music and even a bit of Barbershop Harmony. From a standard like “Bye-Bye Blackbird” to “I Get Around” from the Beach Boys, to a collection of hits from Simon & Garfunkel, to John Philip Sousa’s “Stars & Stripes Forever,” ACOUSTIX sings a broad variety of musical selections that appeal to audiences of all ages.

The quartet has collaborated with some of the greatest vocal arrangers in the business, including Gene Puerling, Dr. Kirby Shaw and Mervyn Warren, to name a few.

ACOUSTIX has produced five CD projects since 1991 and appeared on another 21 audio and video releases. Their latest disc, “O Worship The King” continues their tradition of exploring different musical genres. Two of their releases, “Cool Yule” and “Jazz, Jazz, Jazz,” have garnered a combined three nominations for a CARA (Contemporary A Cappella Recording Award) in three different categories. Cuts from their first two discs “Stars & Stripes” and “The New Science of Sound” have been included in American Airlines “in-flight” audio programming.

Todd Wilson, Jason January, Rick Middaugh, and Joel T. Rutherford share a combined 100+ years of stage and studio vocal experience. Their emphasis on ENTERTAINMENT has helped create a loyal group of fans. Some of these folks have been known to fly or drive 1000+ miles to see ACOUSTIX perform “live.” In 2000, the quartet received an A cappella Community Award for Favorite Barbershop Group from the Contemporary A cappella Society of America.

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1989 – Second Edition

Tenor: Fred Farrell
Lead: David Harrington
Bass: Jamie Meyer
Bari: Doug Harrington

Second Edition, from Louisville Kentucky, won the 1989 International Competition held in Kansas City. They had been singing together since 1986 and one of the youngest quartets to win with the oldest only 25.

Some consider The Second Edition to actually be one of the last versions of The Harrington Brothers (David, Doug, Jamie Meyer and Allen Hatton of the 1978 champions Bluegrass Student Union). When that quartet disbanded, David, Doug and Jamie found tenor Fred Farrell in December of 1986.

Second Edition placed second in their first International competition in Hartford Connecticut in 1987, and repeated as silver medalist in 1988 in San Antonio.

David started singing barbershop at age 11 encouraged by his mother Lois and grandmother Lee.

Doug was the youngest of the Harrington Brothers (w/Mike, Jeff and David) and grew up singing on stage. The brothers were members of the Columbus Ohio Singing Buckeyes and joined when Doug was only 10 years old. In 1984 the Harringtons were the youngest quartet to win a medal at Int’l.

In middle school, Jamie formed his first quartet called the Derby City Four. They sang for a Louisville Thoroughbreds rehearsal and were very well received and encouraged. He joined them in 1982. He also sang with the Men of Accord and Class of ’84 quartets.

Fred began in Iowa with the Happiness Express Chorus of the Denison, IA chapter thanks to his dad, Don (founder and director) and his mother, Katie, Sweet Adeline, arranger and songwriter. There Fred sang in a quartet named The Iowa Supreme Chord. After a move to Chicago and joining the West Town Chapter he joined a pick-up quartet with Ken Jordahl (Four Henchmen), Buzz Haeger (Four Renegades) and Dick Kingdon (Chiefs of Staff). They placed second at the Illinois District fall contest almost winning the championship.

Second Edition traveled extensively appearing on shows in 30 states as well as England, Scandinavia and New Zealand. They were often booked on shows with their Sweet Adeline counterparts, the 1989 Queens, Growing Girls, of Sweden. This spawned some successful relationships professionally and personally. As it turned out the bass of Second Edition (Jamie) married the bass of Growing Girls (Naima) and the baritone of Second Edition (Doug) married to the lead of Growing Girls (Suzanne). Both couples now live in Sweden.

The quartet produced only one LP entitled Second Edition I. It is a ground breaking recording and reflective of the monster talent of these four young men. The quartet didn’t stay together long after winning, and retired in the mid 1990s.

All quartet members are still active in barbershopping. David sang in other quartets like A Few Good Men and continues to arrange music for quartets and choruses.

Fred went on to win a second gold medal with the 2009 Champions Crossroads. This great foursome includes three other past champs, Mike Slamka, lead; Brandon Guyton, bari; and Jim Henry, bass).

Doug coaches various top music groups around the world such as The Real Group and Vocal Six. He is also the director and founder of a new chorus called Zero8 with several talented, young and energetic singers in Stockholm, Sweden. They qualified for a couple of trips to the BHS International Chorus competition. Also now singing with zero8 is a tried and true bass named Jamie Meyer.

1988 – Chiefs of Staff

Tenor: Tim McShane
Lead: Chuck Sisson
Bass: Don Bagley
Bari: Dick Kingdon

The Chiefs of Staff won the championship on July 4th of 1988 in San Antonio during the Society’s 50th anniversary convention. They were the last recipients of the original International Quartet (Landino) Trophy.

It began during a picnic in the fall of 1983. Don Bagley got the quartet bug again during the Seattle Int’l and approached Chuck Sisson. They found southside Irishman tenor Tim McShane was available and then sang a few tags with lead, soon to be bari, Dick Kingdon in the Illinois District hospitality room at the 1984 St Louis Int’l. The foursome was set.

They decided that the sound was pretty good and stage presence help was needed. They worked with George Gipp (Cincinnati Kids and Chicago Chord of Trade). They also enlisted the help of sound and interpretation coaches Jay Giallombardo and Ken Buckner, and used the top arrangers of the day, David Wright, Greg Lyne, and Buzz Haeger. Musically the foundation was strong.

Non-singing mic time was assigned to Don, a natural storyteller. They worked on sharing the emotions of the song with their audience and succeeded adding to their popularity as a top quartet.

The Chiefs won the 1984 Illinois District Championship and moved up the ladder at the International quartet competition – 12th in 1985, 5th in 1986, 3rd in 1987 and finally FIRST in ’88.

Bass Don Bagley was a member of the Arlington Heights, ILL Arlingtones chapter. He started singing barbershop in 1961 while in the Northeastern District in quartets such as The B-Sharps.

He and his wife, CarolAnn, were a perfect “barbershop couple“. They met in 1966 at the Int’l convention there while Don was stationed in the Army in San Antonio and directing the Chordsman Chorus. She was from Oklahoma and working for the Sweet Adelines International Headquarters in Tulsa.

Don was in two other top quartets, Soundtracks (1971) and Tin Pan Allies (1981) who were both ILL district champs. He won his first medal (5th) with the Soundtracks in 1974.

CarolAnn sang lead with Jubilation in 1985 to win the Sweet Adeline Crown beating him to the championship by three years. They are only the third husband and wife couple to win both organization’s top honor.

Don has also served as president of the Association of Int’l Champs (AIC). He and CarolAnn now live in Florida.

Lead Chuck Sisson joined the Society in 1982 and came to barbershop as a church choir, folk trio, gospel trio singer with musical theatre experience. He starred his senior year of high school as Billy Bigelow in Carousel. Within weeks of joining the Arlingtones he was in a quartet called Four on the Floor. His strong voice and heartfelt presentations as lead were major contributing factor to the big sound of this quartet. Chuck still lives in the Chicago area and has worked in local theatre in recent years. As successful graphic designer, Chuck designed the new quartet trophy (the Hugh Ingram Trophy) that was presented the champs the following year.

Tenor Tim McShane is a native Chicagoan, was president of his HS glee-club and member of the All-City Choir. He formed his first quartet after seeing The Music Man on TV. In 1970 he joined the Southwest Suburban / Oaklawn chapter His first Society quartet, The Melody Four had only been together a year when they auditioned for a production of The Music Man – they got the part. Prior to the Chiefs he sang with Soundfitters Union (1976) and Daily Favorites (1983) and placed in the finals of the ILL district contests.

Bari Dick Kingdon hailed from South Dakota and recalls lots of singing at family gatherings not realizing the harmonizing was based on barbershopping. He started, as most, in high school and church choirs and glee clubs. He joined the Society in 1976 (Lombard) and was an international semi-finalist with Friends in 1980, 1981 and 1982. He sang LEAD with the 1987 International Chorus Champion West Towns and served as their lead section leader although he sang bari with the Chiefs. He’s now singing with a senior quartet, Take Note.

The produced three LPs Tribute, Solid Gold and Memories. They were best know for their renditions of Sam The Accordion Man, Ma, She’s Makin’ Eyes At Me, Brother Can You Spare a Dime, It’s a Great Day For the Irish (from their ground-breaking Leprechaun set at Int’l) Kiss Me One More Time, Lonesome, That’s All and What Kind of Fool Am I?

1987 – Interstate Rivals

Tenor: Kipp Buckner
Lead: Joe Connelly
Bass: Jay Hawkins
Bari: Paul Gilman

The original four members of Interstate Rivals – Kipp Buckner, Joe Connelly, Geoff Mucha, and Jay Hawkins – were all second-generation barbershoppers. Paul Gilman, who replaced Geoff as baritone in 1986, had been introduced to barbershopping by his uncle in 1980.

Geoff and Joe, members of Cincinnati’s Southern Gateway Chorus teamed up with Kipp and Jay, members of the Louisville Thoroughbreds, in 1982. In 1983, the foursome finished in the top ten at their first international contest.

They placed sixth in 1984, third in ’85, and moved to second in 1986. That year, Geoff’s postal service promotion forced him to move to another city. The remaining three drafted Paul from Cincinnati, and he had the rare thrill of winning a gold medal in his first international contest in 1987 at Hartford, Conn.

Despite their youth (they were the second youngest quartet ever to win the championship), the original Rivals combined 45 years of barbershop experience. Kipp’s father had sung in an international finalist quartet, Joe’s dad was an international quartet medalist, Geoff’s father had directed choruses to two bronze medals, and Jay’s father had sung for many years in Dayton, Ohio’s chorus.

In a display of individual musicianship, and unprecedented in teh Barbershop Harmony Society, each member of “The Rivals” went on to claim another quartet championship – Joe with Keepsake in 1992, Kipp with Gas House Gang in 1993, and Jay and Paul with Marquis in 1995. A couple of years later Joe laid claim to a third gold medal with Platinum in 2000. Still not satisfied, Joe and his partner in crime, Kipp, garned yet another gold medal with 2011 Champs Old School.

1986 – Rural Route 4

Tenor: Don Kahl
Lead: Calvin Yoder
Bass: Willard Yoder
Bari: Jim Bagby

When the Rural Route 4 won the international quartet championship in 1986, they did not exactly qualify as an overnight sensation.

Organized in 1971 by four residents of Cass County, Missouri, the quartet would not win the gold until 15 years and two personnel changes later. Along the way were dozens of contests, from the chapter to international level, and years of hard work. But there was fun too, as the RR4 gradually built a reputation as on of the most entertaining show quartets around.

Brothers Calvin and Willard Yoder, lead and bass respectively, and the owners of a dairy farm, plus bari Rufus Kenagy, also a farmer, and tenor Everett Roth, a carpenter, were the original members of the group.

They qualified for their first international contest in 1976 in San Francisco, finishing in 21st place. The next eight years were a roller coaster – in the top ten three times, out of the top ten twice and laying out three years when the wives proclaimed, “We’re not spending this vacation at a contest!”

Meanwhile, Rufus had dropped out in 1977 and was replaced by Jim Bagby, an Associated Press newsman from Kansas City who had coached the quartet since 1972. Everett was replaced by Don Kahl, a respiratory therapist in 1983.

Finally in 1985 at the Minneapolis convention, the RR4 earned fifth-place bronze medals. The following year, to their own surprise more than anyone else”s, they jumped to the number one spot.

Shortly thereafter Don moved to Dallas Texas, and son/nephew Wesley Yoder stepped in for several more shows.

1985 – The New Tradition

Tenor: John Sherburn
Lead: Dan Jordan
Bass: John Miller
Bari: Bob Gray, Jr.

The New Tradition – perhaps better known to thousands of barbershoppers as the Marx Brothers’ clones – won the gold in 1985. All are experienced international competitors and medalists: tenor John Sherburn (Zeppo in their famous impersonation), lead Dan Jordan (Chico), bari Bob Gray Jr. (Harpo), and bass John Miller (Groucho).

The quartet is in a sense a spin-off of The Grand Tradition, international bronze medalists in 1980, ’82, and ’83, of which Dan and Bob were members.

John Miller had won the gold in 1979 as bass of Grandma’s Boys, and John Sherburn sang with the Crown City Good Time Music Co. , five time semi-finalists, and the Dapper Dans of Disneyland, among other quartets.

Although the Marx Brothers routine is their best known, the always-entertaining foursome has appeared as leading characters of Star Trek, and as Charlie Chaplin, W. C. Fields and Laurel and Hardy, and other roles.

The quartet retired in 1989, when Sherburn replaced Larry Wright as lead of the 139th Street Quartet. Bobby Gray continued singing as bari of the popular and perennial top ten quartet Saturday Evening Post. Dan Jordan went on to sing for several years as lead of the popular show foursome, The Perfect Gentlemen.

 

 

 

1984 – The Rapscallions

Tenor: Dave Smotzer
Lead: David Wallace
Bass: Jeff Oxley
Bari: Tim Frye

The Rapscallions, formed just four years earlier by four Bowling Green State University students, amazed the barbershop world when they won the 1984 international quartet championship in St. Louis.

The quartet, in fact, placed in the top ten internationally each of the three years they competed: 9th in 1982, 6th in ’83, and first in 1984.

Tenor Dave Smotzer, lead Dave Wallace, bari Tim Frye, and bass Jeff Oxley formed the quartet in 1980 while working summer jobs in Cedar Point, Ohio to earn money to return to Bowling Green U.

All were members of the A Cappella Choir and the Men’s Chorus at the school and had other musical training. Jeff had sung lead roles in campus productions of Man of LaMancha and The Marriage of Figaro and was studying for an operatic career.

Graduating in 1982, most of the foursome had moved on to business careers by the time they won the gold. Both Smotzer and Wallace were insurance agents and Smotzer was directing Cincinatti’s Southern Gateway Chorus. Tim was a school teacher and music director in Wayne County, Ohio, and Jeff was continuing his musical training at the Cincinnati School of Music. He would go on to win two more gold medals (Acoustix, 1990 and Max Q, 2007).

 

 

1983 – Side Street Ramblers

Tenor: Keith Houts
Lead: Brian Beck
Bass: Earl Hagn
Bari: Dennis Malone

When the Side Street Ramblers of Dallas captured the 1983 international championship in Seattle, lead Brian Beck collected his second gold quartet medal. Bass Earl Hagn, however, was singing in his first quartet.

Discrepancies in experience and height (Earl was 6’5 while Brian was 5′ barely) seem to typify the quartet’s ups and downs, ins and outs, and backs and forths on their long road to the gold.

Tenor Keith Houts, bari Dennis Malone, and then-lead Jim Law were seeking a bass in 1975 when Dennis’ company suddenly transferred him to California, with only a slight chance he would return.

The other three found Earl (a guest at a Vocal Majority Chorus rehearsal. Dennis did return, and the Ramblers won the 1976 Southwestern District Contest. They placed 28th at the 1977 convention, qualified for the 1978 contest – and then Jim Law moved away. Because Jim had moved, they had to skip the competition in Cincinnati.

Their coach, Bill Thornton, who with Brian had won a gold medal in Dealer’s Choice, stepped into the lead slot, and the Ramblers jumped to 7th place in 1979, repeating that finish in 1980. Bill then moved to Oklahoma City, and Brian became the Ramblers’ third lead. The results were third-place bronze medals in both 1981 and 1982, and finally, in 1983, the gold.

 

 

1982 – Classic Collection

Tenor: Curt Hutchison
Lead: Larry Wilson
Bass: Terry Heltne
Bari: George Davidson

The story of the 1982 International Quartet Champion Classic Collection is pretty unique in many respects.

It all began in Hastings Nebraska in 1968. Original baritone, and long-time barbershop enthusiast, “Papa Joe” Heltne, and his son Terry invited two aspiring singers, one a natural tenor and the other an operatic vocal major from the Hastings College choir, to join them for an evening of singing. Before it was over, Larry Wilson, a lead, and Curt Hutchison, a tenor, agreed that this foursome, originally called “Three Lads and a Dad,” should stay together. They worked hard and rose in the ranks of the Central States District. After a short hiatus due to Larry’s four year stint in the Navy, they changed their name to “Classic Collection”, and eventually found themselves the winners of the 1975 Central States District Quartet Championship.

A Unique “Transplant” to Colorado
Greater economic opportunities in nearby Denver, Colorado would beckon the three younger men in October of 1975. All three eventually moved from Hastings to Denver and soon found themselves members of the Denver Mile-Hi barbershop chapter. From previous Central States District quartet contests, they were already acquainted with young tenor, George Davidson. Over the next months, they became good friends as George made the necessary adjustments to learn to sing a “mean” baritone, filling in for the “woodshedding” trio, itching to “bust one” after chapter meetings. Eventually the distance and an unfortunate bout with cancer made it necessary for Joe (who was still living in Hastings) to retire. With his unqualified blessing, George replaced the ailing Papa Joe in October, 1976. Thus began another unique chapter in the history of their barbershop lives.

A Unique “Double” Quartet Championship
In 1977 Classic Collection won another district contest and became the first quartet champion of the newly created Rocky Mountain District. By achieving the fledgling district’s highest honor at its very first convention, they became the ONLY Society quartet ever to have captured the championship in TWO different districts.

Unique Dedication and Perseverance Pays Off
Harkening back to their early quartet days, this hardworking, conscientious quartet strived each year to hone their skills, and dramatically improve their scores. After 6 years on the International contest stage, (rising through the ranks that started at 32nd place in 1976) they had stuck with it long enough and worked hard enough to realize their dream. In 1982 they achieved the coveted gold medal and lifetime honor of International Quartet Champion.

A Unique Record Breaking Win
They won the contest in GRAND style. They earned the largest winning margin (296 points) in the 43 year history of the competition — a proud mark that stood another 11 years (until 1993 when the Gas House Gang’s margin of victory was 5 points greater — 301 pts.).

A Unique Standard of Longevity
Not willing to rest on their laurels, the quartet’s unique style and sound , extraordinary musicianship, outstanding arrangements, showmanship and solid reputation for being not only committed Barbershoppers, but four great guys carried them through one of the longest active and uninterrupted singing careers of any international champion. With a very active schedule, they went on to thrill audiences around the US, Canada and Europe from 1982 to 2003, without stopping.

2007 not only marked their 25th anniversary of winning the gold medal but their 31st anniversary as a quartet – with the same personnel.

A Unique Friendship
While many of today’s quartets must travel across the country and even across national borders to get together – during the heyday of the Classic Collection they all lived within a 10 minute drive of each other in the Denver area. The Classic Collection has truly become a band of brothers in their time together.

Not only have they made great music and captivated many audiences worldwide, they very naturally have become best friends. Although recently, opportunities have spread them geographically apart and into other parts of Colorado and neighboring states, these four guys still get together whenever there is an opportunity, much to the delight of their audiences, friends and family. Not surprisingly, the “magic” is still there.

The Quartet Today — Where Are They Now?
Terry, George and Curt still live in the Denver area. George, the baritone, retired after 34 years with the premier Denver area school district. Curt, tenor, retired from a long and distinguished career as an insurance underwriter. Larry now lives and works in Phoenix Arizona.

Their friendship and legacy lives on in current Society and Sweet Adeline contests with many of their arrangements sung still to this day on the International stage. Their sweet harmony, commitment to the craft and incredible personality not only as a quartet, but as individuals, may never be matched.

 

 

1981 – Chicago News

Tenor: Ray Henders
Lead: Butch Koth
Bass: Tom Felgen
Bari: Greg Wright

Chicago News, when they won the international championship in 1981, seemed to have come almost “out of the blue.”

True, they had placed second in 1980 and 8th in their first competition the year before, but compared to foursomes that struggled a dozen years to reach the gold, the “News” was a rash newcomer.

In fact, however, the 1981 victory gave tenor Ray Henders, lead Butch Koth, bari Greg Wright and bass Tom Felgen a total of 19 international medals – 7 bronze, 7 silver, and 5 gold – won in four different quartets. For Tom, bass of the 1965 champion Four Renegades, this would be his second gold.

Tom and Greg had been singing in quartets since they were about 10 years old, while Butch was a singer in high school. Ray, however, had been quartetting for “only” about 25 years.

Among the four of them they had performed with dozens of quartets. Ray’s quartets included the Midnight Oilers, one of the first groups to perform overseas for U.S. servicemen. Ray also sang with Soundtracks, bronze medalists in 1974. Greg and his brother Larry (then lead of 139th Street Quartet) sang together in the popular Sundowners, twice silver medalists, and later with a professional pop-singing group. Butch was lead of the Landmarks, Illinois District champs and international competitors.

With these experienced backgrounds, the Chicago News became an “overnight sensation” in 1981>.

1980 – The Boston Common

Tenor: Kent Martin
Lead: Rich Knapp
Bass: Terry Clarke
Bari: Larry Tully

Formed, quite literally by chance, at a mutual friend’s home in 1971, The Boston Common (Kent Martin, tenor; Rich Knapp, lead; Larry Tully, bari and Terry Clarke, bass) remained active through the mid 1990s, performing in 46 states and five foreign countries, on network radio and television shows (including NBC’s TODAY SHOW, the CBS AM AMERICA, Irish television, BBC-TV, Germany’s WDR, and Canada’s CBC-TV) and a host of regional radio and television programs.

In addition, the group was featured by UPI and numerous magazines and newspapers. They’ve appeared on some of the most renowned stages in North America such as Carnegie Hall, Rockefeller Center, and Canada’s National Arts Center. They’ve performed with the Boston Pops, thePortland Symphony, and on one occasion even sang as back-up for a major recording artist (Chip Taylor’s album “Some of Us,” Warner Brothers).

Key to the group’s popularity is their easy, musical style and stereo-like sound, which they developed in their early days of “woodshedding.” Encouraged by this sound the four literally took to the street, singing on Boston street corners for appreciative couples and students.

“You could say we took quartet harmony back to the streets where it flourished at the turn of the century and through the 1920’s in the United States”.

“Needless to say we were encouraged by the reaction we were getting from the people who enjoyed it.” Like any fledgling musical group, the quartet initially sang anywhere people would listen — in coffee houses, Harvard Square, outdoor malls, and other public gathering spots like historic Boston Common. Hence, their name.

During the years they competed, 1971-1980, the group did not help itself by openly criticizing the SPEBSQSA’s system of judging. It was (and remains) the practice for competition judges to serve as coaches for the very quartets they eventually critique for final scoring. Recognizing this practice to be a monumental hindrance to both impartiality on behalf of the judges and creativity among quartets (the trend eventually results in the judge-coached quartets to sound similar to one another), the bass of the quartet openly attacked the questionable practice.

The quartet went so far as to protest by NOT competing in the finals of the 1976 International competition. A move which many speculate prevented them from winning the Championship in ensuing years. Not that they cared, however, for the quartet sang primarily for their own enjoyment and for audiences who appreciated their efforts.

After receiving a silver in 1979, the members agreed that 1980 would mark the last year they as a quartet would compete in International competition. Imagine their surprise when, in Salt Lake City, Utah, they were finally awarded the highest honor a barbershop quartet can achieve: International Champions.

However they would not be able to enjoy their success for long. While on the way to work one morning in 1982, the lead Rich Knapp, was involved in a devastating automobile accident which not only left him totally deaf in one ear, but unable to tune.

The quartet then turned to Tommy Spirito, lead of the popular, two-time silver medalists Four Rascals and Knapp’s inspiration, to fill in. They performed on limited basis with Tommy. Eventually Rich recovered from his hearing loss enough to come back to sing lead again. The BC performed on the AIC Show in 2005 to mark the 25th anniversary of their historic win. They retired shortly thereafter.

1979 – Grandma’s Boys

Tenor: Don Barnick
Lead: Hank Brandt
Bass: John Miller
Bari: Jay Giallombardo

In the summer of 1968 a high school quartet from Wilmette and Glencoe, IL rode a Greyhound bus to Cincinnati, checked into the “Y,” sat in the back row at the international contest and listened in awe as quartets like the Western Continentals, Mark IV, and Golden Staters won the top medals. They had recently named the quartet, and 11 years later, when three of the original four ran onstage in Minneapolis to claim their own gold medals, it still bore the name Grandma’s Boys.

Jay Giallombardo (bari), Hank Brandt (lead), John Miller (bass), and Jeff Calhoun (tenor) were singing in three different high school quartets when they first got together in the spring of 1968.

Their determination to stick together was rigorously tested over the next few years. John and Jay went off to college (in Peoria and Kansas, respectively); a year later Hank and Jeff enrolled in Dartmouth in New Hampshire, spreading the quartet over 1,500 miles. Somehow they continued to rehearse and give shows (usually at the same time, Hank later admitted).

Then Jeff moved to Denver and was replaced by Jim Sikorski, and the quartet jumped from 10th place in international competition in 1974 to 3rd place in 1975. But Jim had to drop out, and Mac Huff, then a Society music man, recommended Don Barnick of Cleveland. After only a few weeks of rehearsals with a new tenor, Grandma’s Boys placed sixth in the next year’s contest. The combination proved the right one, however; in 1978 the quartet won the silver medals, and in ’79 they walked offstage with the Landino Trophy and title of International Champions.

1978 – Bluegrass Student Union

Tenor: Allen Hatton
Lead: Ken Hatton
Bass: Rick Staab
Bari: Dan Burgess

As teenagers, Allen Hatton, Ken Hatton, Dan Burgess and Rick Stabb began singing together as The Bluegrass Student Union quartet in December of 1973, They were active members of the International Champion Chorus, The Louisville Thoroughbreds. Their first year together resulted in a first place finish in the fall Cardinal District (Kentucky and Indiana) contest.

During this time, they also built a repertoire of arrangements “borrowed” from famous quartets of the time, such as the Citations, the Suntones, the Club House 4, et al. Singing with the perennial champion Thoroughbreds provided the fledging quartet plenty of encouragement, as well as opportunities to perform on “the big stage.”

In 1975, the “boys” first met their coach Don Clause, who recognized what he called “simpatico” within the group. Don introduced BSU to then unknown arranger and future International President of the Barbershop Harmony Society Ed Waesche, who provided the ensemble’s first original arrangements. BSU also enjoyed the benefit of Don’s technical knowledge and fine interpretive skills, which resulted in the quartet’s quick rise to the top of International Competition. The quartet finished fourth in 1976, sixth in 1977, and won it all in 1978 with its four singers ranging in age from 22 to 24.

After winning, the Bluegrass searched for a new mission and rediscovered the true joy of entertaining through concerts and recordings. The quartet subsequently became known as one of a very few champion quartets who did its best work after winning the gold. They innovated with adaptations of “Swing Era” music to the barbershop style, not only by Ed Waesche, but also by Walter Latzko, who had achieved fame through his arrangements for the famous professional quartets, the Buffalo Bills and The Chordettes. By focusing on all aspects of their performance, BSU’s “show package” became one of the most popular in the Society’s history. Also, with the help of their expert recording engineer, Bobby Ernspiker, BSU simply outperformed everybody else where quartet recordings are concerned.

For twenty years, even while spending so much time in the studio, the quartet continued to travel and perform, covering hundreds of thousands of miles in 46 states and several foreign countries and entertaining millions of quartet fans, including President Ronald Reagan at the White House. In 1992, the group decided to take a sabbatical, to focus on careers and families. After being contacted by members of the “Harmonet”, an internet barbershop harmony discussion group, the quartet was persuaded to re-release its recordings in a complete works 3-CD set, with extensive liner notes.

As a result, there was a strong resurgence of interest in live performances by the Bluegrass, and so they have been lured back to the boards. They recently retired again and released a DVD of performances and remain close friends – the same original foursome after over 25 years of “good close harmony”.

1977 – Most Happy Fellows

Tenor: Bob Hodge
Lead: Larry Hassler
Bass: Ken Hawkinson
Bari: Jack Lyon

Seven has to be the lucky number of the Most Happy Fellows, who were crowned international quartet champions in Philadelphia in 1977, one of only 18 quartets who won the gold the first time they medaled in international competition.

This edition of the quartet was seven months old; baritone Jack Lyon had only joined in January. In the three previous years, the “Haps” placed 21st, 14th, and 7th, all numbers divisible by 7. On the 7th day of the 7th month of the 77th year, they were the 7th contestant to appear in the finals – and won the gold. The plane that had brought them to Philadelphia was – what else – a Boeing 747 (of course).

Bass Ken Hawkinson was the only member of the original foursome by the time it reached the top. He had organized and named the group in 1967 with the only-half-prophetic comment that “this will be a fun quartet, not competitive!” Bob Hodge came along about a year later, replacing Harry Aldrich as lead. Bob moved to tenor when lead Larry Hassler joined in 1971.

In January 1977, Jack replaced baritone Bob Jones. One of the unusual strengths of the Haps was that Bob, Larry and Jack (and now Tom), all experienced barbershoppers, could (and did…and still do!) switch parts at will. After an early ’90s, three-year stint with Matt Rice on bass, the Haps’ configuration changed one more time, in 1996, when Tom Wilkie joined the group.

Although long an entertaining foursome, thanks in large part to Larry’s comedic talents, the Haps’ popularity soared after they became champions and introduced their best known personalities to the audience at the 1980 AIC Show: Dorothy, the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, and the Cowardly Lion from The Wizard of Oz.

In 1989, Most Happy Fellows, the first international medalists from the Evergreen District, were inducted into the Evergreen District Hall of Fame.

1976 – The Innsiders

Tenor: Mike Cox
Lead: John Devine
Bass: Tom Pearson
Bari: Guy McShan

The Innsiders of Houston, 1976 international quartet champions, may have more alumni than the University of Texas. In the Southwestern District they’re an institution older than the Vocal Majority Chorus.

Only four, of course, won the gold medals in San Francisco, but they figure they owe at least an occasional wearing of the medallions to a host of other guys – most of them tenors. Those four were Mike Cox, tenor; John Devine, lead; Guy McShan, bari; and Tom Pearson, bass. That particular combination first got together in September 1971 and six weeks later placed third in the district quartet contest. From that point it was a steady rise: 15th at the international contest in 1972, district champs in 1973, a quantum leap to 4th-place internationally in 1974, silver medals in 1975, and the top of the heap in 1976.

At that time Mike worked for an LTV subsidiary at the NASA Johnson Space Center; John was with Texaco, Guy with General Electric, and Tom had become an orthodontist. Only John and Guy, however, were original members of the Innsiders, which they formed shortly after John arrived in Houston in 1967. (By 1970 John also was director of the Tidelanders Chorus.) The first tenor and bass were John Wiggs and Dick Oury, respectively.

At a reunion of the “Innsiders Alumni Association” in 1982, it was figured that the history of the 1976 champs, both before and after winning the gold, covered eight different versions of the quartet.

 

1958 – The Gaynotes

Tenor: Harold Jones
Lead: Howard Rinkel
Bass: Morris “Mo” Rector
Bari: John Loots

The Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barbershop Harmony (SPEBSQSA) was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, so it was no surprise when Oklahoma quartets captured the first three International (then national) crowns. But it would be 20 years after the Society’s formation before the title returned to the Sooner state.

In 1958 in Columbus, Ohio, four Tulsa men called the Gaynotes won the gold medals as International champions. They were Harold Jones, tenor; Howard Rinkel, lead; John Loots, bari, and Morris “Mo” Rector, bass. Howard and John had sung in a couple of earlier quartets, including one sponsored by an ice cream company which required that they perform at least twice a week.

When the Gaynotes formed in 1953, Larry Stayer was tenor and Dick Galloway the bass.

Dick soon moved away and was replaced by Mo, who had started singing with quartets in high school. This combination won the Southwestern District championship in 1956, but Larry was visit page already planning to leave. The others contacted Harold Jones, a tenor in the Tulsa chorus, as a replacement. Although Harold had no quartet experience, he showed up at a rehearsal with a tape recorder, taped 13 songs and within two weeks had learned the tenor part to all of them.

It took the Gaynotes only three tries to win the gold; they placed third in 1957. They stayed together, with a two-year hiatus while Mo sang in a touring company of The Music Man, but disbanded when Mo moved to Texas in the mid-1960s

1955 – The Four Hearsemen

Tenor: Wendell Heiny
Lead: Deane Watson
Bass: Dick Gifford
Bari: Dwight Elliott

In 1934, members of the Blackburn-Shaw Quartet, sponsored by a funeral home in Amarillo, TX, were paid a dollar each for singing at funerals or on the firm’s Sunday radio program. Tenor Wendell Heiny joined the quartet in 1935 and was soon working full-time in the funeral business.

The quartet stayed together until World War II when three members went into the service. Heiny, along with lead Paul Ellis and bass Willard Grantham came home from the service in 1946 and started looking for a baritone. They found Dwight Elliott and in 1947 won a quartet contest sponsored by the American Legion. Two years later, Grantham dropped out of the group and was replaced by Jim Bob Nance.

A chapter of SPEBSQSA was started in Amarillo in cialis professional online 1948 and the Blackburn-Shaw Quartet became members. They entered international competition in Omaha in 1950 and began receiving invitations to be on chapter shows.

Because the name Blackburn-Shaw didn’t mean anything outside of Amarillo, the four men began thinking about a name change. They incorporated a funeral director routine in their act and became the Four Hearsemen, walking on stage carrying an imaginary casket. Paul Ellis withdrew from the quartet in 1951 and Al Autrey replaced him as lead.

In 1952 the Four Hearsemen were semifinalists at the international contest in Kansas City, but more personnel changes were in store. Autrey moved to Austin, TX and Nance entered a new business that made it impossible for him to participate. Survivors Elliott and Heiny “dug up” a new lead, Deane Watson, and a new bass, Dick Gifford. Nance continued to write arrangements for the quartet; he knew their voice ranges and routines.

In 1953 the Hearsemen were second in international competition. They won the Southwestern District Championship in 1954 and the following year became international champions at the convention held in Miami, FL

1971 – The Gentlemen's Agreement

Tenor: Al Rehkop
Lead: Drayton Justus
Bass: Bob Whitledge
Bari: Glenn Van Tassel

The Gentlemen’s Agreement, 1971 International champion, is one quartet that really was an “overnight success.” Almost, anyway.

Organized in December 1969, they qualified for the international contest in the spring, went to Atlantic City in July and came home with fourth-place medals. The following year, in New Orleans, the Detroit-area quartet won the whole ball of wax.

But why not? Two of its members (baritone Glenn Van Tassell and tenor Al Rehkop) claimed their second gold medals in New Orleans. They had been half of the Auto Towners, 1966 champions. And the other two, lead Drayton Justus and bass Bob Whitledge, were equally www.ismedicine.org talented, long-time barbershoppers, even though they didn’t have medals to show for it.

Glenn, Bob and Drayton had been directors or assistant directors of three different choruses. Al, an accomplished composer and arranger, was responsible for many of the quartet’s songs.

One week after winning the gold the G.A. accepted an invitation to make a 17-day tour of South Vietnam. From the decks of ships to forward-area bases to hospitals they entertained US servicemen, singing 41 shows in a little over two weeks. Greg Backwell, formerly of the Nighthawks, replaced Glenn in about 1973, and Drayton later joined the Suntones. The quartet retired, then reorganized two or three different times but finally shelved the pitch pipe in the mid-1980’s.

 

1962 – The Gala Lads

Tenor: Dave Panther
Lead: Tom Keehan
Bass: Gordie Lees
Bari: Bill Cockrell

“Experienced” – and proving it – might best describe the members of the 1962 International quartet champion, The Gala Lads from Alhambra, CA.

While a few gold medalists have been young and won while in their teens, the Gala Lads averaged 36 years of age when they won the championship. Tenor Dave Panther was 28, lead Tom Keehan 35, bari Gordie Lees 36, and bass Bill Cockrell 45.

What’s more, collectively they had sung in 16 quartets before getting together as the Gala Lads, and could count a total of 35 years of barbershopping experience.

One of Bill’s previous quartets was the West Coasters, 1957 viagra natural International silver medalists. For Dave, although the youngest of the group, the Gala Lads was his seventh quartet.

Although the foursome was organized in 1958, the winning combination did not get together until 1960. A year later, in its first International competition, it placed sixth, then jumped to the top of the heap the following year in Kansas City.

In 1964 Tom was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident, and California barbershoppers staged a benefit to raise $1,200 to help with medical expenses. By 1968 the Gala Lads were back in business with all the original members except Dave, who had been replaced by Joe May.