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Rockapella
Rockapella is an American a cappella musical group formed in 1986 in New York City. The group's name is an amalgam of "rock" and "a cappella". Rockapella sings original vocal music and a cappella covers of pop and rock songs; and over time, their sound has evolved from high-energy pop and world music toward a more R&B-style sound. Rockapella initially found their biggest success in Japan throughout their career. They are also known for their role as a vocal house band and resident comedy troupe on the PBS children's geography game show '' Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?'', based on the educational computer game of the same name developed and published by Broderbund. Rockapella has released 19 albums in both Japan and the United States, and three compilation albums in Japan. The text "All sounds provided by the voices and appendages of Rockapella", the central idea of the band, has appeared on all of their CDs since the addition of their vocal percussionist. Band history ...
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Jeff Thacher
Jeffrey Thomas Thacher (born December 23, 1967) is an American musician, best known as a member of the vocal group Rockapella. A professional vocal percussionist (a practice also referred to as " mouth drumming" and related to the hip hop-derived beatboxing) and singer who emerged on the early contemporary a cappella scene in 1991, Jeff Thacher co-founded the Boston-based a cappella group Five O'Clock Shadow (aka FOCS) that year and went on to join Rockapella in 1993 as their full-time mouth-drummer. Thacher was a 1990 graduate of Berklee College of Music's Music Production & Engineering program, and afterward spent several years in television & radio production when not performing Vocal percussion, as a full-time occupation amidst a band or ensemble, was a fairly new idea in 1991, and Thacher performed as a tenor in Five O'Clock Shadow when not mouth-drumming. At that time, Rockapella was halfway through their stint on the children's television geography gameshow '' Wher ...
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Barry Carl
Barry Strauss Carl (born April 20, 1950) is an American voice-over actor and musician best known as the bass of the a cappella vocal band Rockapella while the group was house band on the PBS children's geography game show '' Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?''. He was a member of Rockapella from 1988 until he left the group in 2002. Carl is known for his signature deep voice, which he used during his years with the band to create an almost instrumental sounding bass. As a voice-over artist, Carl has done hundreds of television and radio commercials for such companies as Taco Bell, Charmin, Mounds/Almond Joy, Doritos, and Volkswagen; promos for Syfy, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, The Discovery Channel, and PBS; theatrical trailers; industrial narrations; books on tape; public service announcements; internet commercials; and voices for animated characters in anime, video games, and commercials. Early life Born in Portland, Oregon to a father who was a jazz musician and a mot ...
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Scott Leonard
Charles Scott Leonard IV (born October 11, 1965) is an American singer and a member of the cappella group Rockapella, the former house band on the PBS children's geography game show '' Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?'' Biography Leonard was born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana, and attended Lawrence North High School, where he sang in a barbershop–doo wop group. Leonard attended the University of Tampa on a baseball scholarship while studying as a voice major. After graduating in 1987, he got a job singing at Walt Disney World Resort that would also led to a similar singing job at Tokyo Disneyland in Japan for two years, where he led the Japanese electronic rock band Horizon, released a solo album, and became fluent in Japanese. Leonard returned to the United States looking for a singing job in 1990. Having seen an ad in a New York performing arts newspaper, he auditioned to be the high tenor for Rockapella and got the position in 1991, moving to New York City ...
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Sean Altman
Sean Altman (born May 9, 1961) is an American musician and songwriter. He is a founder and former lead singer (tenor) of the a capella musical group Rockapella and a pioneer of the modern a cappella movement. He was a member of Rockapella from its inception in 1986 until he left the group in 1997 to launch a solo career. As a founding member of Rockapella, Altman is best remembered for his role on the PBS children's geography game show '' Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?'', as the band served as the house vocal band and comedy troupe. Altman and his childhood friend David Yazbek co-wrote the show's theme song, which is recognized as one of the best-known television themes in history. Rockapella released seven albums in Japan and two in the United States during Altman's eleven-year tenure. As a subsequent solo artist, Altman has released four solo albums on the independent Chow Fun Records: ''seanDEMOnium'' (1997), ''alt.mania'' (2002), ''Losing Streak'' (2005), and ''SALT ...
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George Baldi III
George William Baldi III (born August 29, 1970) is an American singer best known as the bass singer of the a cappella singing group Rockapella from 2002 to 2014, and then returned to the group since 2022. Early life Baldi grew up in Philadelphia. He discovered his musical and performing talents at a young age by singing and dancing in the jam sessions his family would have at his aunt's house after having Sunday dinner at his grandmother's. Baldi attended the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts, where he majored in vocal music. While a student at CAPA, Baldi was a founding member of Unique Attraction, a group that later evolved into Boyz II Men. Baldi left Unique Attraction upon graduating in 1988, at which time he continued his musical education at Morris Brown College as a vocal performance major, receiving a BA in Music in 1993. Musical career Baldi auditioned for a job at Walt Disney World after graduating from college, and in 1994 began perfor ...
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Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego? (game Show)
''Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?'' was an American half-hour children's television game show based on the Carmen Sandiego computer game series created by Broderbund. The show was hosted by Greg Lee, who was joined by Lynne Thigpen, and the a cappella vocal group Rockapella, who served as the show's house band and comedy troupe. The series was videotaped in New York City at Chelsea Studios and Kaufman Astoria Studios and co-produced by WQED and WGBH-TV, and aired on PBS stations from September 30, 1991, to December 22, 1995, with reruns continuing to air until May 31, 1996. A total of 295 episodes over five seasons were recorded. The show won seven Daytime Emmys and a 1992 Peabody Award. In 2001, ''TV Guide'' ranked the show at No. 47 on its list of 50 Greatest Game Shows of All Time. The show was created partially in response to the results of a National Geographic survey that indicated Americans had alarmingly little knowledge of geography, with one in four being una ...
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Steven Dorian
Steven Dorian (born November 15, 1977) is an American singer best known as a tenor in the a cappella group Rockapella from 2010 to 2016. Early life Born in Northbridge, Massachusetts, Northbridge, Massachusetts to parents who were both teachers and musically involved, his father playing saxophone and clarinet and his mother a singer, Dorian has always been surrounded by music, and began playing the guitar at age 13. His first gig was at a Bar (establishment), pub his high school science teacher owned, playing a duo show with his brother, Greg Asadoorian. Over the next 6 years, Dorian and his brother continued to play shows both by themselves and with various bands on through their college years. Dorian credits this to be the experience that taught him how to sing lead and harmonies. "I owe most of my musical knowledge to my brother during those years. He taught me so much, and still does to this day." In high school, however, music always took a backseat to Dorian's interest in s ...
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Jumbie Jamberee
"Jumbie Jamberee" is a calypso song credited to Conrad Eugene Mauge, Jr. In 1953 Lord Intruder released the song as the B-side to "Disaster With Police". The song is also known as "Zombie Jamboree" and "Back to Back". The introduction to the Kingston Trio's version humorously credits "Lord Invader and his Twelve Penetrators" with authorship of the song instead of Lord Intruder. The oldest versions of the song refer to a jumbee jamboree. Jumbies are evil spirits who were thought to cause wild dancing in their victims. The song's references to Carnival also suggest a connection to the Moko jumbie, a protective spirit figure represented during Carnival on Trinidad by stilt walkers and dancers. The switch to "Zombie Jamboree" occurred very early with King Flash's version with those lyrics coming out in 1956, only three years after "Jumbie Jamboree" first appeared. Like many "folk" songs, there is unclear copyright in the song and many lines are variable between versions. While many ...
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A Cappella
''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato musical styles. In the 19th century, a renewed interest in Renaissance polyphony, coupled with an ignorance of the fact that vocal parts were often doubled by instrumentalists, led to the term coming to mean unaccompanied vocal music. The term is also used, rarely, as a synonym for ''alla breve''. Early history A cappella could be as old as humanity itself. Research suggests that singing and vocables may have been what early humans used to communicate before the invention of language. The earliest piece of sheet music is thought to have originated from times as early as 2000 B.C. while the earliest that has survived in its entirety is from the first century A.D.: a piece from Greece called the ...
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A Cappella
''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato musical styles. In the 19th century, a renewed interest in Renaissance polyphony, coupled with an ignorance of the fact that vocal parts were often doubled by instrumentalists, led to the term coming to mean unaccompanied vocal music. The term is also used, rarely, as a synonym for ''alla breve''. Early history A cappella could be as old as humanity itself. Research suggests that singing and vocables may have been what early humans used to communicate before the invention of language. The earliest piece of sheet music is thought to have originated from times as early as 2000 B.C. while the earliest that has survived in its entirety is from the first century A.D.: a piece from Greece called the ...
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The Persuasions
The Persuasions are an American a cappella group that began singing together in Brooklyn, New York in the mid-1960s. The Persuasions were formed in Brooklyn in 1962, singing a cappella under corner streetlights and in subway corridors. Their style combined gospel, soul, early rock and jazz into melodic five-part harmonies. Since being discovered by Frank Zappa, The Persuasions have recorded 23 albums to date. Career The Persuasions appeared on such public affairs television shows as ''Inside Bedford-Stuyvesant'' on WNEW-TV and '' Like It Is'' on WABC-TV in 1968. Frank Zappa was responsible for The Persuasions' first LP, ''Acappella''. He heard The Persuasions singing over the phone from a New Jersey record shop known as Stan's Square Records. The store's owner, Stan Krause, was the group's manager. Before that time, The Persuasions had recorded several a cappella tracks for Krause's record label, Catamount Records. Zappa appreciated soul and street corner style singing, and a ...
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The GrooveBarbers
The GrooveBarbers are an American a cappella musical group formed in 1997 in New York City. The band consists of Sean Altman, Steve Keyes, Charlie Evett, Kevin Weist, and Johnny Ryan, the first three of whom are former members of Rockapella. Inna Dukach, Altman's wife, also appears as a regular opera singing diva. Discography * 2005: ''Glory'' * 2010: ''Guts'' * 2014: ''Warning: Barbershop!'' * 2016: ''Zombie Jamboree'' Filmography * In 2006 and 2007, the GrooveBarbers appeared in two commercials for Astelin. They were dubbed "The Astelins". * The GrooveBarbers were all contestants on the game show ''Eastern Expedition''. * The GrooveBarbers also made an appearance on ''Full Frontal with Samantha Bee ''Full Frontal with Samantha Bee'' is an American late-night talk and news satire television program that aired on TBS from 2016 to 2022. The show was hosted by comedian Samantha Bee, a former correspondent on ''The Daily Show''. In July 202 ...'' in 2017. References ...
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