Don Shelton

For over 50 years Don has been actively busy in the Studios of Los Angeles and Chicago singing and playing woodwinds on thousands of TV and Radio commercials such as Budweiser, Schlitz, Allstate, Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, Oscar Mayer, Bud Light, State Farm, United Airlines, Kraft, KFC, Keebler and McDonalds. In addition to these he has recorded with Barbra Streisand, Paul Anka, Amy Grant, Celine Dion as well as recording movie themes.

He has also played in the bands of Les Brown, Ray Anthony and others. He was a member of the famed vocal groups The Hi-Lo's and Singers Unlimited. He plays regularly at Vicky's of Santa Fe with the group JazzTime each Sunday afternoon. He has also played at McCallum Theater with artists such as Michael Feinstein, Johnny Mathis, and Barbara Cook. Don also released the CD "Hear At Last" where he plays many woodwinds as well as singing on many selections.

Member of: Hi-Lo's (Defunct) - Baritone Singers Unlimited (Defunct) - Baritone - Founder

Nigel Short

Nigel began his musical life as a chorister at Solihull Parish Church going on to study singing and piano at the Royal College of Music. He began his career as a soloist in opera and oratorio and as a member of specialist vocal ensembles such as The Tallis Scholars whilst maintaining a regular involvement in church music, firstly as a member of Westminster Abbey Choir then Westminster Cathedral. He joined the King's Singers when he was 27 and stayed with them for seven years.

After a short break of about one ski season in the Swiss Alps he set about founding his own group, Tenebrae, aiming to bring together what he loved best as a singer - namely the more passionate sounds of large Cathedral choirs and the precision of ensembles like The King's Singers - to create a new kind of choral group. Whilst embracing an eclectic repertoire he wanted to have some 'signature' works that would make Tenebrae different, adding a theatrical element that would involve singers moving around as if on stage. To that end he wrote 'The Dream of Herod', with a central role for baritone Colin Campbell, and commissioned Joby Talbot to write Path of Miracles, premiered in July 2005. Since its debut performance in 2001 Tenebrae has given concerts in Spain, Italy, Germany, France, Switzerland, UK, USA and Bermuda.

Member of: King's Singers (Former) - Countertenor

Moira Smiley

Moira Smiley is a Singer / Composer who creates and performs new work for voices. A musical polyglot, and vocal shape-shifter, her voice - and composing - are heard on feature films, BBC & PBS television programs, NPR, and on more than 60 albums. She accompanies herself with banjo, accordion, piano and percussive movement, and when she's not leading her own group, moira smiley & VOCO, Moira has toured with Indie artist tUnE-yArDs, Irish super-group, Solas, The Lomax Project and Billy Childs' "Laura Nyro Re-Imagined". She's also toured with Paul Hillier's Theater of Voices and KITKA. Recent solo performances include TED, Stravinsky's 'Les Noces', the London Proms Festival, features on BBC Radio3, and ABC Australia's Books & Arts programs. Moira's recordings feature spare, vocally driven collections of warped traditional songs, original polyphony and body percussion. She is a well-known choral composer (recent commissions included for Los Angeles Master Chorale) and arranger, with millions of singers around the world singing her works. In 2018, she released a solo album and choral songbook called 'Unzip The Horizon'.

Janis Strazdins

The parents of Janis realised that he had a musical instinct when he started to sing at an early age. So from 1994 he studied at the Riga Dome Choir School in his home town of Riga, Latvia. Here he joined a boys' choir and spent his childhood singing and studying music-related subjects, as well as English language and vocal jazz pedagogy. While at the school (probably around 1995) he encountered an album entitled "Unreal" in the school music library, and the singing of The Real Group made an indelible impression on him, motivating his life choices towards a career in singing. While still at school he sang with several vocal groups in Riga, and found the choral atmosphere so welcoming that he progressed to sing with many other choirs in Latvia.

Member of: Real Group (Current)

Ward Swingle

Ward Swingle was the product of an unusually liberal musical education. In his hometown, Mobile, Alabama, he grew up with the sound of jazz and played in one of the great Big Bands before finishing High School. He graduated Summa Cum Laude from the Cincinnati Conservatory and studied piano with the celebrated Walter Gieseking in postwar France. In Paris in the sixties he was a founding member of the fabled Double Six of Paris, then took the scat singing idea and applied it to the works of Bach, hence The Swingle Singers, whose early recordings won five Grammies.

When the Paris group disbanded in l973, Ward Swingle moved to London and formed an English group, expanding the repertoire to include classical and avang-garde works along with the scat and jazz vocal arrangements.

Member of: Swingle Singers (Former) - Founder

Jeff Thacher

The astonishing percussion sounds you hear in a Rockapella show are performed vocally by Jeff Thacher, completing Rockapella's band-without-instruments sound. Born of a very musical family and raised on piano lessons from an early age, he later added frequent vocal and choral experience. After receiving a degree in music and recording from Boston's renowned Berklee College of Music, Jeff spent some time in the radio and television industries while singing and experimenting with vocal percussion on the side in various groups, developing his unique sound. Since joining Rockapella in 1993, he's been known as a pioneering giant among professional mouth drummers (a select group of beatboxers) who, as he likes to put it, "spit for a living". Jeff's powerful virtuosity forms the funky rhythmic heartbeat of Rockapella, delighting and astonishing audiences everywhere. An American original, for sure!

Member of: Rockapella (Current)

Roger Thomas

Roger Thomas started the group with his brother, Warren, and five other talented singers they had come to know over the years from singing around the city. Having been in and out of several traditional male groups over the years, Roger developed an affinity for a cappella sounds and a unique ability to create distinct harmony arrangements. When invited to sing at a major a cappella competition in New York, they won the competition, moved onto the nationals and took away two more wins.

Member of: Naturally 7 (Current) - Founder

Ayumi Ueda

Born and raised in Tokyo, Ayumi Ueda started singing with her father at the age of four. Influenced by myriad genres of music such as folk, country, and ethnic music from all over the world, at age 14 she decided to pursue a career in music after winning first prize on NHK-TV's popular Japanese program, "Nodojiman Singer Competition."

In 2008 Ayumi founded the international vocal group Women of the World. Through their music, women from four continents promote peace and foster unity. Women of the World has performed extensively in and around Boston and the American Northeast, and has participated in such events as the "Hope For Haiti" fundraiser organized by George Clooney, and the United Nations Day ceremony at the Massachusetts State House in 2010. Notably, in March 2011 Women of the World held a concert featuring their own music in Carnegie Hall.

Member of: Women of the World (Current) - Founder

Morten Vinther

Inspired by the genius of Bobby McFerrin, Morten has engaged in a number of improvisational projects with other a cappella singers, and enjoys the way that these exercises stimulate creative approaches and generate new ideas. Morten and Katarina, together with some of their Finnish a cappella colleagues from Rajaton, and Denmark's Vox North have participated in several workshops and concerts.

Member of: Real Group (Former)

Michael Wang

Originally a classical pianist, Michael was inspired to start beatboxing when his friend made cool noises in high school English class. While attending the University of Chicago, he performed extensively and founded the (((soundwave))) Collective, a live-looping collaborative music project. When not percussing, Michael works in marketing and airballs a lot of shots on the basketball court.

Member of: Business Casual (Current)

Mervyn Warren

5-time Grammy-Award winner and 10-time Grammy nominee Mervyn Warren is a highly accomplished film & TV composer, record producer, arranger, songwriter/lyricist, pianist, and vocalist.

Equally adept at various styles, Merv's work spans the genres of film scoring, pop, R&B, jazz, orchestral, classical, vocal, country, and more. One of the industry's most sought-after producers, his credits read like a who's-who of pop, R&B, jazz, and country and include Whitney Houston, Boyz II Men, Barbra Streisand, Rascal Flatts, Michael Buble, Chicago, Queen Latifah, Al Jarreau, and Faith Hill, among many others.

Member of: Take 6 (Former) - Second Tenor - Founder

Clare Wheeler

Clare Wheeler grew up in Kenya before moving to Manchester to attend Chetham's School of Music, where she trained as a violinist and also studied classical voice. During this time she met bassist Steve Berry of Loose Tubes, and started getting into jazz. She went on to Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London to study jazz composition and voice under Pete Churchill and Tim Garland, as well as classical singing with Penny Mackay. Clare freelanced in London as a singer and composer, and taught music theory and harmony at the Academy of Contemporary Music, before joining The Swingles in 2007. In 2012, she released 'Crossing', a jazz album with American composer Tyler Gilmore. A respected voice in contemporary vocal music, Clare has been a guest host of BBC Radio 3's 'The Choir'. It is her life's ambition to be the voice of London's Tube trains.

Member of: Swingle Singers (Former) - Alto

Geoffrey Williams

Jeoffrey Williams hails from the Midwest and began his musical life as a treble in the American Boychoir. He is in growing demand as an early music specialist throughout the United States, performing regularly with Vox Vocal Ensemble, Early Music New York, and the Clarion Music Society. He is founding member and artistic director of the acclaimed male classical quartet New York Polyphony. Their current CD, Tudor City, has been featured on American Public Radio's New Classical Tracks, WNYC's Choral Fixation and NPR's All Things Considered.

A devoted church musician, Geoffrey is a graduate of Westminster Choir College, a former member of the Washington National Cathedral Choir and is currently a Gentleman of the Choir of Men and Boys at Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue.

Member of: New York Polyphony (Current) - Countertenor - Founder

Steven Caldicott Wilson

The American tenor, Steven Caldicott Wilson, studied at Bishop Ireton High School in Alexandria, Virginia (Class of 1990). He studied music at Duquesne University Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (1990-1992); obtained his Bachelor of Music degree in Voice from Ithaca College in New York (1990-1997); and his Master of Music in Voice, Chamber Music, and Song from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut (2005-2007), where he was a student of James Taylor, Judith Malafronte, and Ted Taylor.

From 2001 to 2005, Steven Caldicott Wilson was a member of the United States Air Force Band Singing Sergeants, the official chorus of the United States Air Force. He was a member of Choir of Trinity Wall Street (Director: Julian Wachner) from September 2006 to May 2015; and of Saint Thomas Choir of Men & Boys, 5th Avenue (Director: John Scott) from July 2007 to May 2012 - both in New York City. Since 2011, he is a member of New York Polyphony.

Member of: New York Polyphony (Current) - Tenor

Todd Wilson

Todd was born in West Palm Beach, Florida. His wife's name is Jennifer. They have two sons, Taylor and Travis. Todd has served on the faculty of many music schools throughout the USA, Canada and Australia, providing coaching to vocal ensembles large and small. In the last five years Todd has directed two different choruses in international competition. He is a member of the American Society of Association Executives, American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers, the Gospel Music Association, Chorus America, Contemporary A Cappella Society of America, and the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences. Todd served on the Board of Directors of the Barbershop Harmony Society for almost three years before joining the organization's professional staff as Director of Marketing. Todd and his family reside in Nashville, Tennessee.

Member of: Acoustix (Current) - Tenor

David Worm

Singing percussion is something I came to out of necessity at first. In order to complete musical ideas in an a cappella context, I realized I would need to use body sounds to simulate percussive instrumentation. At first, I spent a lot of time cleaning off the inside of my windshield, since I practiced vocal percussion while driving my truck. Then I began to string these ideas together and came up with grooves. The groove is so important to me, it just seems natural to want to sing the whole idea at one time using my exhalation and inhalation to make sounds. It's a wonderful balancing act to make all the parts fit and still be able to breathe!

Member of: SoVoSo (Current) - Founder

Bryan Ziegler

Bryan Ziegler has barbershop in his blood. His father brought him to his first Midwest Vocal Express Chorus rehearsal when Bryan was nine. He was instantly hooked, and eventually made his way to the international contest stage. He has earned four collegiate quartet medals (2010-13) and three chorus medals (2002-03, 2012), including gold in 2012 with the Ambassadors of Harmony. Bryan graduated from the University of Missouri-St. Louis in 2012 with a BA in Music, and will graduate with an MA in Music Theory from the University of Minnesota in 2014. Bryan currently lives in St. Louis, MO, where he is pursuing a teacher's certificate. He enjoys cooking with his beautiful wife, Lauren, and playing with his newborn son, Hank.

Member of: After Hours (Current) - Baritone