In Celebration of the Human Voice - The Essential Musical Instrument
Home | Doo Wop | Barbershop | World | Contemporary | Christian | Vocal Jazz | Choral | Christmas | Instructional | Arrangements
Classical | Opera | Musicals | Personality | Young Singers | Disney | Videos | Songs | The Artists
Gene Puerling Biography
Click Here for Sheet Music and Songbook Vocal Arrangements
There certainly is no more influential and revered a cappella arranger than the brilliant Gene Puerling. From his auspicious beginnings as a founding member of the vocal jazz group the Hi-Lo's, with whom he recorded thirteen albums between the years of 1953-1964, Gene revealed the talent and promise that would later be fully realized with his work as director, arranger and performer with the Singers UnLimited. Gene was born in Wisconsin in 1929. Though his family was musically inclined (various members of the family played violin, piano and clarinet) Gene himself had no formal musical training! He was a working professional musician from the age of seventeen, and simply did not have the time to devote to a formal musical education. The Hi-Lo's, who recorded their first record in 1953 when Gene was 24, garnered accolades for popular renditions of classic jazz tunes such as "Fascinatin' Rhythm" and "Skylark." Gene was developing the trademark style with which he would become so uniquely identified. Subsequent to the demise of the Hi-Lo's, Gene was working in the busy recording studios of Chicago's commercial and jingle industry, where he met studio vocalists Len Dresslar and Bonnie Herman. Len and Bonnie, along with fellow ex-Hi-Lo Don Shelton, joined together under the moniker of "Singer's Unlimited" in 1967. The group's purpose was to garner lucrative commerical work, and to that end they produced a demo including the Beatles song, "Fool On the Hill." This demo ultimately came to the attention of German producer Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer, via pianist Oscar Peterson. Schwer had founded MPS Records, and had, in his studio in Villengen, Germany, the only sixteen track recording console in Germany at the time. Schwer was immediately taken with the Singers Unlimited and proposed that they come to Germany to record. The results of that recording, which took place in 1971, were released as the album "In Tune." The group went on to record fourteen albums, the last of which was "Easy To Love." The group's extensive studio experience was vital, as Gene's arrangements would employ all of their range and skill, and utilized the burgeoning studio techniques of overdubbing and mixing to create their inimitable sound. Given the complexity of the arrangements, the The Singers Unlimited did not perform live, feeling that the studio was their ideal medium of expression. Member of Awards Media Articles Gene Puerling Videos |
Select a Category |
Want to Sing? - Find a Chorus Near You
List of Choruses by State | List of Choruses by City