Young@Heart, also Young@Heart Chorus, is an entertainment group created by and for the elderly, comprised at present of people at least 70 years of age. Some have prior professional theater or music experience, others have performed at amateur level, and some have no experience whatsoever. They are particularly noted for their unconventional covers of rock, punk, and other modern pop music songs. Founded in 1982 in Northampton, Massachusetts, by Bob Cilman, the members all lived in an elderly housing project, The Walter Salvo House. The first group included elders who lived through both World Wars. One had fought in the Battle of the Somme as a 16-year-old and another, Anna Main, a stand-up comic, lost her husband in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Main stayed with the group until she was 100 years old. Diamond Lillian Aubrey, who performed with the first two European tours, performed

Manfred Mann Manfred Mann were an English rock band, formed in London and active between 1962 and 1969. The group were named after their keyboardist Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band. The band had two diffe ...

's " Doo Wah Diddy". In later years, she appeared "on stage" via video, performing the Rolling Stones' "

You Can't Always Get What You Want "You Can't Always Get What You Want" is a song by the English rock band the Rolling Stones on their 1969 album ''Let It Bleed''. Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, it was named as the 100th greatest song of all time by ''Rolling Stone'' ...

". In early 1984, Warren Clark, Ralph Intorcio, and Eileen Hall joined the Chorus. Warren and Ralph did female impersonations (Warren took on the persona of Sophie Tucker, and Ralph did a send-up of

Carol Channing Carol Elaine Channing (January 31, 1921 – January 15, 2019) was an American actress, singer, dancer and comedian who starred in Broadway and film musicals. Her characters usually had a fervent expressiveness and an easily identifiable voice, ...

's "

Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" is a jazz song introduced by Carol Channing in the original Broadway production of '' Gentlemen Prefer Blondes'' (1949), with music by Jule Styne and lyrics by Leo Robin. Marilyn Monroe version American actr ...

"), while Eileen, originally from

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, brought an array of different routines, including strip, mime, and the song "Nobody Loves a Fairy When She's...Ninety". The group joined with a group of Latino breakdancers from a local housing project, resulting in ''Boola Boola Bimini Bop'', the first of many collaborations created with different arts groups in town. A few others included: ''Oh No a Condo'' (1988) with Cambodian folk artists and punk rockers; ''Louis Lou I – A Revolting Musical'' (1991), a re-telling of the French Revolution using Frank Sinatra's songs; and ''Flaming Saddles'' (1994) with the Pioneer Valley Gay Men's Chorus. In 1996, the Young@Heart Chorus performed in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"Ne ...

, and they did twelve more tours in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

, Australia, and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

between 1997 and 2004. The first

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

about the Chorus, ''Forever Young at Heart'', premiered at the Northampton Film Festival in Northampton, Massachusetts—the group's hometown—in 2000. Produced by Barbara Allen of Wildrose Productions, the film chronicled the early years of Young@Heart. Another documentary film about the Chorus appeared on Britain's

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

in 2007. A feature-length version of this documentary was released theatrically in April 2008 by

Fox Searchlight Pictures Searchlight Pictures, Inc. is an American film production company and a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is part of the Walt Disney Company. Founded in 1994 as Fox Searchlight Pictures, Inc. for 20th Century Fox (later 20th Century Stu ...

. Group member Fred Knittle, who sang

Coldplay Coldplay are a British rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer Will Champion and creative director Phil Harvey. They met at University ...

's "

Fix You "Fix You" is a song by British rock band Coldplay. It was written by all four members of the band for their third studio album, '' X&Y'' (2005). It was released on 5 September 2005 as the second single from ''X&Y'' and reached number 4 on the ...

" in the film and was a frequent source of comic relief, died on January 1, 2009, after a short battle with cancer. He was 83. Bob Cilman is still the director of the Chorus. His two daughters, Stella and Eva Cilman, attended

Reed College Reed College is a private liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus in the Eastmoreland neighborhood, with Tudor-Gothic style architecture, and a forested canyon nature preserve at ...

and live in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Young at Heart American vocal groups Musical groups from Massachusetts