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Biography
Refimprove|date=February 2011 The Swingle Singers are a mostly a cappella vocal group formed in 1962 in Paris , France by Ward Swingle with Anne Germain, Jeanette Baucomont, Jean Cussac and others. Christiane Legrand , the sister of composer Michel Legrand , was the group's lead soprano through 1972. Until 2011, the group consisted of eight voices: two soprano s, two alto s, two tenor s and two Bass (vocal range)|bass es. The French group performed and recorded typically with only a double bass and drumkit|drums as accompaniment. The current group performs primarily a cappella . In 1973, the original French group disbanded and Ward Swingle moved to London and recruited all new members who debuted as Swingle II . The group later performed and recorded under the name The Swingles and then, The New Swingle Singers and eventually, simply, The Swingle Singers . Since the London group's incarnation, the group has never disbanded. As individual members have left the group, the remaining members have held auditions for replacements.
History
The group, directed originally by Ward Swingle (who once belonged to Mimi Perrin 's French vocal group Les Double Six ), began as session singers mainly doing background vocals for singers such as Charles Aznavour and Edith Piaf . Christiane Legrand , sister of Michel Legrand , was the original lead soprano, and they did some jazz vocals for Michel Legrand. The eight session singers sang through Bach 's Well-Tempered Klavier as a sight-reading exercise and found the music to have a natural swing. They recorded their first album '' Bach's Greatest Hits|Jazz Sébastien Bach as a present for friends and relatives. Many radio stations picked it up and this led to the group recording more albums and winning a total of five Grammy Award s.LA Times http://theenvelope.latimes.com/factsheets/awardsdb/env-awards-db-landing,0,3713019.htmlstory Awards Database
Notable performances
An early hit for the group was Johann Sebastian Bach|Bach 's " Air on the G String ", recorded with the Modern Jazz Quartet . This is also the theme tune to a popular Italian TV Show Superquark . Luciano Berio wrote his postmodern symphony Sinfonia (Berio)|Sinfonia for eight voices and orchestra in 1968 with the Swingle Singers in mind (appearing on the Sinfonia (1968 Berio album)|original premier recording with the New York Philharmonic ). They also recorded Ben Johnston (composer)|Ben Johnston's "Sonnets of Desolation" in 1984.
In 2005, their recording of Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier|Prelude in F Minor was incorporated into the hit single " They (song)|They ", by Jem (singer)|Jem Griffiths ; the piece was also used in the 2006 film The Gigolos . The group's music has a trademark sound and is used frequently on television ( The West Wing , Sex in the City , Miami Vice , Glee (TV series)|Glee ), http://www.swinglesingers.com/news/20090522/new-hit-show-glee-goes-a-cappella.html New Hit Show "Glee" Goes A Cappella in movies (Bach's Little Fugue in G minor, BWV 578|Fugue in G Minor (BWV 578) in Thank You for Smoking (film)|Thank You for Smoking , Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart 's " Horn Concerto No. 4 (Mozart)|Horn Concerto No. 4 " in Wedding Crashers , http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0396269/soundtrack imdb.com Bach's "Prelude No.7 in E flat The Well Tempered Clavier - Book 2 BWV 876" in Milk ). The London group sang with French pop star Étienne Daho on his songs "Timide intimité" and "Soudain" from his 1996 album Eden , and with the Style Council on their song "The Story of Someone's Shoe" from the 1988 album Confessions of a Pop Group . (Style Council leader Paul Weller (singer)|Paul Weller claims the song was inspired by the Swingle Singers' 1966 album with the Modern Jazz Quartet , Place Vendôme (Swingle Singers with MJQ album)|Place Vendôme ).Citation needed|date=February 2007 They appeared several times on the BBC Television sketch show , The Two Ronnies , in the early 1970s.
Present
The Swingle Singers produce Cover version|covers ranging from modern classics ( Björk , AnnieLennox , and The Beatles ) to classical music (Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart ) to Contemporary Music (Luciano Berio, Pascal Zavaro and Azio Corghi ). Their arrangements are often informed by jazz harmonies and stylings.
The Swingle Singers are curators of the London A Cappella Festival , based at Kings Place , near Kings Cross, London|Kings Cross .
The current members are:
Joanna Goldsmith-Eteson (soprano, UK)
Sara Brimer (soprano, US)
Clare Wheeler (alto, UK)
Oliver Griffiths (tenor, UK) (Replaced Richard Eteson mid-2010) http://www.swinglesingers.com/news/20100825/new-tenor-appointed.html NEW TENOR APPOINTED
Christopher Jay (tenor, UK)
Kevin Fox (baritone, Canada)
Tobias Hug (bass, Germany)
Sound engineer: Hugh Walker (UK)
In September 2011, Lucy Bailey (alto) left the group and the Swingle Singers announced the decision not to replace her, but to continue as a seven person line-up."Swingle Singers Become Seven" 2011 August 31 http://www.swinglesingers.com/news/20110831/swingle-singers-become-seven.html www.swinglesingers.com. Accessed 2011 September 13. "A New Adventure Starting for Lucy" http://www.swinglesingers.com/news/20110211/a-new-adventure-starting-for-lucy.html www.swinglesingers.com. Accessed 2011 September 13.
On November 1, 2011, both Christiane Legrand and Swingles composer André Hodeir died. http://www.artsjournal.com/slippeddisc/2011/11/oh-no-another-swingle-dies.html Oh, no& #33; Another Swingle dies. Artsjournal.com (2011-11-02). Retrieved on 2012-04-26.
Honors and awards
Grammy Award winner:
*1963: Best New Artist and (for '' Bach's Greatest Hits ) Best Performance by a Chorus,
*1964: Best Performance by a Chorus, for The Swingle Singers Going Baroque
*1965: Best Performance by a Chorus, for Anyone for Mozart?
*1969: Best Choral Performance, for Sinfonia (1968 Berio album)|Berio: Sinfonia - Ward Swingle, choral master; Luciano Berio conducting the New York Philharmonic and Swingle Singers
Grammy Award nominations:
*1966: Best Performance by a Chorus, for Rococo A Go Go|Rococo À Go Go
*1967: Best Performance by a Chorus, for Place Vendôme (Swingle Singers with MJQ album)|Encounter, Swingle Singers with the Modern Jazz Quartet
Discography
Main|The Swingle Singers discographyThe Paris-based Swingle Singers recorded regularly for Philips Records|Philips in the 1960s and early 1970s and the successor group continued to record, after the move to London, for Columbia Records|Columbia / CBS , Virgin Records|Virgin Classics and other record labels from 1974 to the present.
References
Reflist
External links
http://www.swinglesingers.com/ The Swingle Singers web site
The Swingle Singers Allmusic|class=artist|id=p7649/discography|pure_url=yes discography at allmusic.com.
The Swingle Singers http://www.singers.com/jazz/swingles.html profile at singers.com.
The Swingle Singers http://www.a-cappella.com/category/jazz-swingle_singers discography & sheet music listing at a-cappella.com
Swingle Singers discographyGrammy Award for Best New Artist DEFAULTSORT:Swingle Singers, The Category:Musical groups established in 1962 Category:French musical groups Category:British vocal groups Category:Professional a cappella groups Category:Vocalese singers Category:Grammy Award winners
