Joe Connelly (born 1965) is a

barbershop quartet A barbershop quartet is a group of four singers who sing music in the barbershop style, characterized by four-part harmony without instrumental accompaniment, or a cappella. The four voices are: the lead, the vocal part which typically carries t ...

lead singer, competition judge, chorus director, and full-time coach for various barbershop quartets. Connelly is the first man ever to have become a

Barbershop Harmony Society The Barbershop Harmony Society, legally and historically named the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America, Inc. (SPEBSQSA), is the first of several organizations to promote and preserve barbershop ...

International Championship gold medalist four times, first with

Interstate Rivals The Interstate Rivals is the Barbershop quartet that won the 1987 SPEBSQSA international competition in Hartford, Connecticut. Formed in 1982, the Rivals won the Cardinal District championship that fall. The next summer at the international con ...

in 1987 at the age of 22, then with Keepsake in 1992, with

Platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Platinu ...

in 2000, and with Old School in 2011. In 2000, he had already become the first person to win the gold medal three times. Quartet-mate Tony DeRosa joined Connelly as a four-time gold medalist in 2017 (in Keepsake,

Max Q The max q or maximum dynamic pressure condition is the point when an aerospace vehicle's atmospheric flight reaches the maximum difference between the fluid dynamics total pressure and the ambient static pressure. For an airplane, this occurs at ...

and Main Street). A few other singers have achieved the honor of being three-time champions, including quartet-mate Kipp Buckner (in The Gas House Gang, Interstate Rivals, and Old School). He is the son of international quartet medalist Mike Connelly, baritone of "The Roaring 20's". Joe directed the Southern Gateway chorus from 2008 until 2014. He is the director of Canadian Showtime Chorus in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

, Ontario, since May 2018. He coaches men's and women's barbershop quartets and choruses around the world full-time, becoming one of the few barbershoppers who has managed to turn his hobby into a profession. He currently performs around the world with his quartet, Old School, which took the silver medal in international competition in 2009 and 2010, before winning the gold in 2011.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Connelly, Joe Barbershop Harmony Society Barbershop music Living people 1965 births Musicians from Cincinnati