Take 6 is an American a cappella

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

sextet formed in 1980 on the campus of

Oakwood College Oakwood University is a private university, private, historically black Seventh-day Adventist Church, Seventh-day Adventist university in Huntsville, Alabama. It is the only Historically black colleges and universities, HBCU owned and operated by ...

Huntsville, Alabama Huntsville is a city in Madison County, Limestone County, and Morgan County, Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Madison County. Located in the Appalachian region of northern Alabama, Huntsville is the most populous city in t ...

. The group integrates

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

with spiritual and inspirational lyrics. Take 6 has received several

Grammy Awards The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

as well as

Dove Award A Dove Award is an accolade by the Gospel Music Association (GMA) of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the Christian music industry. The awards are presented annually. Formerly held in Nashville, Tennessee, the Dove Awards ...

s, a

Soul Train Award The Soul Train Music Awards is an annual music awards show which previously aired in national broadcast syndication, and honors the best in African-American culture, music and entertainment. It is produced by the makers of '' Soul Train'', the ...

and nominations for the

NAACP Image Award The NAACP Image Awards is an annual awards ceremony presented by the U.S.-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to honor outstanding performances in film, television, theatre, music, and literature. Similar to ...

. The band has worked with

Ray Charles Ray Charles Robinson Sr. (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential singers in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Ge ...

Nnenna Freelon Nnenna Freelon (born July 28, 1954) is an American jazz singer, composer, producer, and arranger. Early life and education Freelon was born Chinyere Nnenna Pierce to Charles and Frances Pierce in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she was raised. ...

, Gordon Goodwin,

Don Henley Donald Hugh Henley (born July 22, 1947) is an American musician and a founding member of the rock band Eagles. He is the drummer and one of the lead singers for the Eagles. Henley sang the lead vocals on Eagles hits such as "Witchy Woman", "Despe ...

Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress. Nicknamed "The Voice", she is one of the bestselling music artists of all time, with sales of over 200 million records worldwide. Houston in ...

Al Jarreau Alwin Lopez Jarreau (March 12, 1940 – February 12, 2017) was an American singer and musician. His 1981 album '' Breakin' Away'' spent two years on the ''Billboard'' 200 and is considered one of the finest examples of the Los Angeles pop and R ...

, Quincy Jones,

k.d. lang Kathryn Dawn Lang (born November 2, 1961), known by her stage name k.d. lang, is a Canadian pop (music), pop and country music, country singer-songwriter and occasional actress. Lang has won Juno Awards and Grammy Awards for her musical perfor ...

Queen Latifah Dana Elaine Owens (born March 18, 1970), known professionally as Queen Latifah, is an American rapper, actress, and singer. Born in Newark, New Jersey, she signed with Tommy Boy Records in 1989 and released her debut album ''All Hail the Que ...

The Manhattan Transfer The Manhattan Transfer is a Grammy award–winning vocal group founded in 1969 that has explored a cappella, vocalese, swing, standards, Brazilian jazz, rhythm and blues, and pop music. There have been two editions of the Manhattan Transfer, ...

Johnny Mathis John Royce Mathis (born September 30, 1935) is an American singer of popular music. Starting his career with singles of standard music, he became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum s ...

, Brian McKnight,

Luis Miguel Luis Miguel Gallego Basteri (born 19 April 1970) is a Puerto Rican-born Mexican singer, often referred to as ''El Sol de México'' (The Sun of Mexico), which is the nickname his mother gave him as a child—"mi sol". Luis Miguel has sung in mu ...

Marcus Miller William Henry Marcus Miller Jr. (born June 14, 1959) is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for his work as a bassist. He has worked with trumpeter Miles Davis, pianist Herbie Hancock, singer Luther Vandros ...

, Joe Sample, Ben Tankard,

Randy Travis Randy Bruce Traywick (born May 4, 1959), known professionally as Randy Travis, is an American country music and gospel music singer, songwriter, guitarist, and actor. Active from 1978 until being incapacitated by a stroke in 2013, he has recor ...

, CeCe Winans,

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop musi ...

and

Jacob Collier Jacob Collier (; né Moriarty; born 2 August 1994) is an English singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. His music incorporates a combination of jazz with elements from many other musical genres, and often features extensive use of reha ...

. All original members grew up in the

Seventh-day Adventist Church The Seventh-day Adventist Church is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabbath, and ...

Biography

Oakwood College years

In 1980, Claude McKnight, older brother of R&B musician Brian McKnight, formed an a cappella quartet, The Gentlemen's Estates Quartet, at Oakwood College (now Oakwood University), a

Seventh-day Adventist The Seventh-day Adventist Church is an Adventism, Adventist Protestantism, Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the Names of the days of the week#Numbered days of the week, seventh day of the ...

university in Huntsville, Alabama, where he was a freshman. He auditioned students for the group. While rehearsing in a campus bathroom to prepare for a performance, Mark Kibble heard them singing. He joined the harmonizing, adding a fifth part with them onstage that night. Kibble invited Mervyn Warren to join the group, which performed under the name Alliance. Alliance performed in local churches and on campus with a changing roster of members. In 1985, the lower half of the group (bass, baritone, and second tenor) left after graduating. Alvin Chea, Cedric Dent, and David Thomas joined.

Career

The band signed a contract with

Warner Alliance Warner Alliance was a contemporary Christian record label and a division of Warner Music Group. It was founded in 1989 with headquarters located in San Francisco, California. Artists on the label included Steve Taylor, Kim Boyce, Michael English, ...

in 1987 and changed its name to Take 6 after a search revealed the name "Alliance" was in use. Their self-titled debut album (1988) won Grammy Awards in the gospel and jazz categories and three Dove Awards. They contributed to the film ''

Do the Right Thing ''Do the Right Thing'' is a 1989 American comedy-drama film produced, written, and directed by Spike Lee. It stars Lee, Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson, Giancarlo Esposito, Bill Nunn, John Turturro, and Samuel L. Jackson, a ...

'' and sang on the album '' Back on the Block'' by Quincy Jones. They also appeared on ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) a ...

'' and '' Spike Lee & Company: Do It a Cappella''. The band's second album, ''So Much 2 Say'' (1990) appeared on the gospel, jazz, and R&B charts of ''Billboard'' magazine. The band then signed with Reprise. In 1991, after the release of ''So Much 2 Say'', Mervyn Warren left the group to pursue a career as a record producer and was replaced by Joey Kibble, Mark Kibble's younger brother. The group added instrumentation to their a cappella sound on the album ''He Is Christmas''. In 2006, the group started the label Take 6 Records; ''Feels Good'', the first album on their new label, was released the same year. In 2007, they recorded with

Eros Ramazzotti Eros Walter Luciano Ramazzotti (; born 28 October 1963) is an Italian pop singer, musician and songwriter. He is popular in Italy and most European countries, and throughout the Spanish-speaking world, as he has released most of his albums in bo ...

for his album ''

E² "E²" (pronounced "E-Squared") is the seventy-third episode of the American science fiction television series '' Star Trek: Enterprise'', the twenty-first episode of season three. It first aired on May 5, 2004, on the UPN network in the Unite ...

''. A year later Take 6 released ''The Standard'', which ventured into more traditional jazz territory. ''Believe'' (Sono, 2016), produced by Claude Villani and Ross Vannelli, charted in six categories on ''Billboard'' in its first two weeks of release. ''Iconic'' (Sono, 2018), produced and arranged by the band, was its first album to chart at No. 1 on the ''Billboard'' Contemporary Jazz Chart. The first single was a cover version of " Change the World" by

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list of ...

and debuted on the Contemporary Jazz Song chart in the top 30. The second single, "

Sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (land yacht) over a chosen cour ...

", is a cover of the

Christopher Cross Christopher Cross (born Christopher Charles Geppert; May 3, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter from San Antonio, Texas. He won five Grammy Awards for his eponymous debut album released in 1979. The singles "Sailing" (1980), and "Arthur's T ...

classic.

Members

* Claude V. McKnight III – first

tenor A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...

or first voice (1980–present) * Mark Kibble – second tenor or second voice (1980–present) * David Thomas – third tenor or fourth voice (former), third voice (today) (1985–present) * Joey Kibble – fourth tenor or third voice (former), fourth voice (today) (1991–present) * Khristian Dentley –

baritone A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the r ...

or fifth voice (2011–present) * Alvin Chea – vocal bass or sixth voice (1985–present)

Former

* Mervyn Warren – third tenor or third voice/first tenor or first voice (song/section dependent) (1980–1991) * Cedric Dent – baritone or fifth voice (1985–2011)

Discography

Albums

Live albums

Singles

* 1988: "Spread Love" (Reprise) * 1988: "David & Goliath" (Reprise) * 1988: "Milky-White Way" (Reprise) * 1988: "Gold Mine" (Take 6) * 1988: "A Quiet Place" * 1990: "I L-O-V-E U" (Reprise) (No. 19 Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks) * 1990: " God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" (Reprise) * 1990: "Ridin' the Rails"

& Take 6) (Sire) * 1991: "Where Do the Children Play" * 1991: "I Believe" * 1994: "

Biggest Part of Me "Biggest Part of Me" is a song by American band Ambrosia, from the album '' One Eighty''. Released as a single in 1980, the song reached number one on the ''Radio & Records'' chart and number 3 on both the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and Adult Cont ...

" (No. 36 Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks) * 1994: "All I Need (Is a Chance)" * 1995: "You Can Never Ask Too Much" * 1997: "You Don't Have to Be Afraid" * 1999: "One and the Same (featuring CeCe Winans)" (Reprise) * 2002: " Takin' It to the Streets" * 2006: "Come On" (Take 6) * 2006: "More Than Ever" (Take 6) * 2006: "Comes Love" with Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band ('' XXL'') * 2006: "It's Alright With Me" with Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band (''XXL'') * 2006: "It Was a Very Good Year" with Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band (''

The Phat Pack ''The Phat Pack'' is the third studio album by the jazz ensemble Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band. Goodwin received a Grammy Award nomination for Grammy Award for Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella, Best Instrumental Arrangement for the so ...

'') * 2011: "Never Enough" with Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band (''That's How We Roll'') * 2012: "(It Only Takes) One" * 2015: "When Angels Cry" * 2018: "Sailing"

Video releases

Awards and nominations

Grammy Awards

GMA Dove Award wins

References

External links

*
Take 6 at Encyclopedia.com

NAMM Oral History Interview with Alvin Chea
January 25, 2013
NAMM Oral History Interview with Claude McKnight
(2013)
NAMM Oral History Interview with David Thomas
(2013)
NAMM Oral History Interview with Joey Kibble
January 25, 2013
NAMM Oral History interview with Mark Kibble
January 25, 2013
NAMM Oral History Interview with Khristian Dentley
(2013) {{Authority control American gospel musical groups American jazz ensembles American Seventh-day Adventists African-American musical groups Grammy Award winners Musical groups established in 1980 Professional a cappella groups Reprise Records artists Smooth jazz ensembles Vocal jazz ensembles