Close Shave is one of Australia's longest serving male a cappella quartets. Based in
Hobart, the quartet delights audiences at conferences, dinners, weddings, and other public functions with its diverse repertoire. In addition to the traditional
Barbershop music
Barbershop vocal harmony, as codified during the barbershop revival era (1930s–present), is a style of a cappella close harmony, or unaccompanied vocal music, characterized by consonant four-part chords for every melody note in a primari ...
style, the quartet is known to mix in popular music, jazz, Gospel, sea shanties, swing, and even some comedy.
History
The quartet was formed in late 1983 by charter members Ben Oxley, Paul Oxley, Brian Sykes and Tim Begbie. Begdie's wife, Esther, is credited with coming up with the name Close Shave.
A member of
AAMBS, Close Shave has participated in seven conventions since the inaugural convention on the Gold Coast in 1991. In 1993, the quartet took bronze in
Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...
and then added a second bronze in 1995 in
Canberra. 1997 saw an inspired Close Shave win the silver medal in
Sydney.
The lineup pictured at right competed under the name "incognito" in the 2005
AAMBS Convention on the
Gold Coast
Gold Coast may refer to:
Places Africa
* Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana:
** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642)
** Dutch G ...
placing fifth.
In 1993, Close Shave planned to travel to the Perth Convention. This prompted baritone Tim Begbie to found
Hobart's only male barbershop chorus:
The Wellingtones.
Lineup
Current
* Simon Beswick –
tenor
A tenor is a type of classical male singing 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 low extreme for tenors is wide ...
* Jeames Bone –
lead
Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...
* Dominic Mackie –
bass
* Tim Begbie –
baritone
History
* Tenor
** Ben Oxley (1983–1985)
** Tony Hitske (1986–1991)
** Brian Yates (1991–1992)
** Phil Elphinstone (1992–1994)
** Daniel Beckitt (1994–1998)
** Jason Geeves (1998–2008)
** Simon Beswick (2002–present)
*Lead
** Paul Oxley (1983–1985)
** Ben Oxley (1985–1986)
** Ken Hunt (1987)
** Trevor Kean (1987)
** John Newell (1987–1996) – International Gold Medal Quartet:
Realtime
''RealTime'', also known as ''RealTime Arts'', was a free Australian arts magazine, published by Open City in print from 1994 until 2015 and online from 1996 to December 2017.
History
The free national arts magazine ''RealTime'', also known as ...
** Craig Wood (1996–1998)
** Geoff Green (1999–2001)
** Adam Purton (2001–2007)
** Chris Waterhouse (2007)
** Kristian Byrne (2008–2009)
** Tim Carolan (2010–2011)
** Jeames Bone (2012–present)
* Bass
** Brian Sykes (1983–1993)
** John Ballard (1993–2004)
** Jimmy Hoggett (2004–2007)
** Jeff Michel (2007–2010)
** Andrew Carolan (2010–2012)
** Dominic Mackie (2012–present)
* Baritone
** Tim Begbie (1983–present)
References
External links
*{{Official website, http://www.closeshave.net
(1) Australian Association of Mens Barbershop Singers(4) The Wellingtones - Hobart Male ChorusBarbershop Harmony Society (USA)
Barbershop quartets