Yup, I love me my a cappella.
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Originally Posted by Martian
Turns out it was off to find the John Bonham of beatboxers
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Jeff Thatcher is one of the original vocal percussionists, which is a bit different than beatboxing; also seek out Wes Carroll. Beatboxing is usually a solo art, and has a wetter, more organic sound. Vocal percussion is usually an accompaniment to an a cappella group, and is tighter and drier, attempting to emulate the actual sound of a drum set. Neither is "better", but they are different subsets of mouth drumming.
Oh, and I found a better bio (one not written by the group themselves) at singers.com. I didn't know that Barry wasn't orginal:
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Elliot Kerman and Sean Altman were students at Brown University. As members of High Jinks they practiced their group singing. After graduation, in 1986, they hit the streetcorners in Manhattan with school pals, Steve Keys and David Stix. They performed for fun and spare change at first, often in front of the Haagen Dazs on the corner of Columbus and 74th. At the time Sean's main gig was singing lead for his rock band, Blind Dates. Elliott sang in a jazz club at night. Steve was going for corporate. Stix left the group after a year to continue a career in the arts and was replaced by another High Jinks friend, Charlie Everett. Their repertoire focused on the close harmony of barbershop arrangements with some doo-wop added. The street corner gigs were strong enough to gain invitations to perform the songs to alleviate the ennui of the upper classes. That paid the bills while the group honed their skills in contemporary rock tunes and originals, dropping the oldies and barbershop. Their first break was the Regis Philbin Show in 1988. Then Kathie Lee Gifford had them booked for Regis and Kathie Lee and they were national.
In 1989 Charlie quit to continue a career in software design. After three months of auditions, Barry Carl was heard, loved and convinced to join. Barry had been a scholarship student at Julliard, four years with the New York City Opera, performer in musical theater and done voice-overs for commercials. The new quartet did a demo at a studio belonging to friends of Sean featuring the rocking "Zombie Jamboree." That was the tune which propelled them to the Spike Lee & Company's TV special, Do It A-Capella. International audiences paid attention and one of that number was the producer of the incipient PBS game show for kids, "Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego." Rockapella was asked to write the theme song and perform in the show. At this point, Steve decided to continue at Fordham Law School. Audition time again!
Scott Leonard had just returned from Japan where he had been lead of a Tokyo Disneyland rock band and recorded a solo album. Sean and Elliot screened hundreds of high tenors and auditioned thirty of them. When they heard Scott it was a no-brainer. Thus the lineup at the beginning of Carmen Sandiego was born. Scott sent Rockapella's demos to Japan and they signed their first recording contract with For Life Records. In 1992 they released three recordings in Japan where they became the best selling new foreign artists. To this day they have recorded seven CDs in Japan and sell out major venues in that country where they are big stars. During 1993 Jeff Thatcher, vocal percussionist extraordinaire, often joined the group in live concert performance. Jeff had graduated from the Berklee College of Music and by 1995 had joined them on the set of Carmen Sandiego.
After 295 episodes of Carmen their participation came to an end, to the sorrow and relief of the group. They then began serious touring in the Unites States and, of course continued their fabulous career in Japan. To the shock of those of us who have become big fans of Rockapella, Sean Altman left the group. He wanted to get back to his rock band roots (where's that guitar, anyway). His vocal parts have been taken over by Kevin Wright who sang his first solo in church at age two! Since then he's been lead singer in Broadway shows, off-Broadway shows, national tours and many national advertisements. The writing and arranging chores which were handled mostly by Scott Leonard and Sean have been taken over by Scott who is producing many of the tunes as well. In 2001, legendary bass singer Barry Carl retired and the group welcomed newcomer and formidable talent George Baldi as his successor. In 2004, Elliott Kerman hung up his pitch pipe and the soulful, one-of-a-kind talent, John J. Brown, was added to the group.
So, take five natural singing talents of superlative capacity, add significant personal development in shows and all sorts of performance, put them through 295 TV shows and all the creative professionalism that requires, and you will begin to understand just why Rockapella is one of the best a cappella groups in the world today. They put on one of the best shows you will ever see. That same drive for perfection is reflected in their recordings.
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One more thing - it took me FOREVER to track down a CD copy of the "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego" soundtrack to replace my old cassette. There's a lot of great tunes on there, and not just Rockapella.