Matthew “Thew” Johnson (Music Director), Ian Nolon (Business Manager), Carter McPhedran, Ben "BAV" Weiss, Chris Auguste, Will "Mort" Mortell, Xander Bowles, Quinn "Squinn" Donaldson, Will Dyer, Jonathan Mount, Owen Kelliher, Caeden Frederickson, Graeme Evans, Nate Keshen, Rabih Abboud.
Middlebury's Dissipated Eight, also known as the D8, is the oldest a cappella group at Middlebury College. The group performs both nationally and internationally, at private venues, colleges, and high schools alike. Over the years, the group has arranged numerous contemporary and modern pieces, and now has more than 200 recorded covers of popular music. They generally do not use any instruments in their recordings, and instead carefully select different pitches to simulate the tones needed for each song. This often means recreating sounds such as the high-pitched tone of the fiddle in "The Devil Went Down To Georgia" or the bass and snare of the drum set in "All Along The Watchtower."
Several former members of the Dissipated Eight have gone on to gain national prominence, including international opera performer William Burden, television and film actor Jake Weber, and author/editor Peter Knobler.
Origin
Formed in the Fall of 1951, the original group consisted of seven singers, including Pete Baldwin (Tenor I), Ellis Baker and Les Streeter (Tenor II), Bob Johnson and Pete Gray (Baritone), and John Ackerman and Ed Opler (Bass). By February, the seven were practicing regularly in Painter and Hepburn Halls. However, it was not until March 15, 1952 that the D8 performed its debut concert at the Ides of March Dance. Later that spring, the group performed at a radio broadcasting where the WRMC announcer, Bob Arel, noting the double quartet (which had no name at the time) was short by one, jokingly introduced the group as "The Dissipated Eight." The following year, the group added four new members Mint Dole (Tenor I), John Hammond and Jack Harrington (Baritone), and Seward Highley (Bass) to replace the graduating seniors Bob Johnson, Pete Gray, and Ed Opler. Today, the Dissipated Eight continues on in the tradition of the original octet, maintaining the example of energetic dedication established by the group's founding members while continuing to push the boundaries of a cappella as we know it. Producing numerous records over the years, the D8 has compiled a vast archive of music from the past five decades.
Discography
The Dissipated Eight On Tour In Bermuda, March 2008
The Dissipated Eight has released eleven albums on LP Records.
The Dissipated Eight of Middlebury (1955)
Serenades (1958)
Cruising Along With The Dissipated Eight (1961)
Mem'ries of Most Happy Days (1964)
Selections By The Eight (1967)
Miss Otis (1971)
D8 (1973)
The White Album (1980)
South Of The Border (1982)
Very Special (1984)
Pieces Of Eight (1987)
The Dissipated Eight has released fourteen albums on Compact Disc.
Super 8 (1990)
A Moveable Fest (1993)
Clapping Joes (1996)
Eighps (1997)
Altitude (1999)
No Sleep For Dreaming (2000)
Eight Balls (2002)
Golden Jubilee: 50 Years Of Dissipation (2002)
Out Of The Ashes (2005)
After Hours (2007)
Vocally Grown (2009)
Stand Up Eight (2011)
Born and Bred (2014)
Freight Train (2017)
OCHO (2022)
The Dissipated Eight has released two albums on all streaming platforms.
OCHO (2022)
Careful, Now (2024)
In March 2022 production began on a 26th album commemorating the 70th anniversary of the group. The record was produced in Santa Teresa, Costa Rica and was released in September 2022.
In March 2024 the Dissipated Eight recorded their most recent body of work, an EP titled Careful, Now. This project was produced by former Pentatonix member and producer Avi Kaplan, engineered by Reid Leslie, and mixed by Ed Boyer. It is available on all streaming platforms as of September 14, 2024.
"In the Meantime" (Performed by George Herpel on the album Eight Balls) was featured on the first Collegiate A Cappella Music Organization (CAMO) compilation "Top Shelf A Cappella."
"A Wink and a Smile" (Performed by Chris Molina on the album Altitude) was selected for "Solo of the Year" by CASA in 2000.
"Superstition" (Performed by Mike Olcott on the album Out Of The Ashes) was nominated for "Solo of the Year" by CASA in 2006.
The Oak Ridge Boys are an American country and gospel vocal quartet originating in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Since 2024, the group consists of Duane Allen, Ben James, William Lee Golden, and Richard Sterban. The group was founded in 1943 as the Oak Ridge Quartet. They became popular in Southern gospel during the 1950s. Their name was changed to the Oak Ridge Boys in the early 1960s, and they remained a gospel group until the mid-1970s, when they changed their image and concentrated on country music.
The Swingles are an a cappella vocal group. The Swingle Singers were originally formed in 1962 in Paris under the leadership of Ward Swingle. In 1973, Swingle disbanded the French group, and formed an English group known initially as Swingle II and later as the New Swingle Singers, before settling on the Swingles name.
Take 6 is an American a cappella gospel sextet formed in 1980 on the campus of Oakwood College in Huntsville, Alabama. The group integrates jazz with spiritual and inspirational lyrics. Take 6 has received several Grammy Awards as well as Dove Awards, a Soul Train Award and nominations for the NAACP Image Award.
The King's Singers are a British a cappella vocal ensemble founded in 1968. They are named after King's College in Cambridge, England, where the group was formed by six choral scholars. In the United Kingdom, their popularity peaked in the 1970s and early 1980s. Thereafter they began to reach a wider American audience, appearing frequently on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in the United States. In 1987, they were prominently featured as guests on the Emmy Award-winning ABC television special Julie Andrews: The Sound of Christmas.
Collegiate a cappella ensembles are college-affiliated singing groups, primarily in the United States, and, increasingly, the United Kingdom and Ireland, that perform entirely without musical instruments. The groups are typically composed of, operated by, and directed by students. In the context of collegiate a cappella, the term a cappella typically also refers to the music genre performed by pop-centric student singing groups. Consequently, an ensemble that sings unaccompanied classical music may not be considered an a cappella group, even though technically it is performing a cappella.
D8, D.VIII, D VIII, D08 or D-8 may refer to:
The Persuasions were an American a cappella group that formed in Brooklyn, New York in 1962, singing under corner streetlights and in subway corridors. Their style combined gospel, soul, early rock, and jazz into melodic five-part harmonies. Since being discovered by Frank Zappa, the Persuasions have released 23 studio albums to date.
The Nylons were an a cappella group founded in 1978 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, best known for their covers of pop songs such as The Turtles' "Happy Together", Steam's "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye", and The Tokens' "The Lion Sleeps Tonight".
Octappella is a seven-man contemporary a cappella group based in Utah. The members first sang together in college. Since forming Octappella, they have released three albums and were featured performers at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games. Their albums feature a mix of humorous and original material and covers of classic songs from groups such as Styx and REO Speedwagon. The group won two 2006 Contemporary A Cappella Society awards, one in the Religious Album category and one for Religious Song.
The Diamonds are a Canadian vocal quartet that rose to prominence in the 1950s and early 1960s with 16 Billboard hit records. The original members were Dave Somerville (lead), Ted Kowalski (tenor), Phil Levitt (baritone), and Bill Reed (bass). They were most noted for interpreting and introducing rhythm and blues vocal group music to the wider pop music audience. Contrary to a popular myth, the father of Tom Hanks was never a member of the group.
Vocal Spectrum is a barbershop quartet from St. Charles, Missouri. In 2004, Vocal Spectrum won the Barbershop Harmony Society's International Collegiate Quartet Contest, and on July 8, 2006, they became International Champions, winning the society's International Quartet Contest. A distinctive feature of the quartet is tenor Tim Waurick's ability to sustain notes for upwards of 30 seconds, and the tenor's and lead's incredibly high vocal range, featured in many of the group's recordings and live shows.
Metropolis was a barbershop quartet affiliated with the Barbershop Harmony Society. The group won five consecutive medals with the Barbershop Harmony Society at their annual International Convention. Metropolis has performed over 500 stage shows in the United States and in Finland, Russia, England, New Zealand, The Netherlands, Japan and Ireland from 1994 to 2013. They performed in over 190 cities around the world and over 40 states/provinces in the USA & Canada.
Lucky Seven is the second and sixth studio album released in North America and Japan, respectively, by the a cappella group Rockapella. As the name suggests, it is the seventh overall studio album by the group. While the Japanese version was awaiting release in the fall of 1996 on ForLife Records, the group independently released it in the United States beginning that summer to be sold at concerts and via mail order. The Japanese version, titled Lucky Seven: Memories and Dreams, has different artwork, a different track order, and three more songs than the US version. This album is also the last album with Rockapella's founding member Sean Altman in it before his departure from the group the following year in 1997.
The Tufts Beelzebubs, frequently referred to as "The Bubs", is a male a cappella group of students from Tufts University that performs a mix of pop, rock, R&B, and other types of music while spreading their motto of "Fun through Song". Founded in 1962, they have toured in Europe, Asia, South America, and North America, and they competed on NBC's The Sing-Off in December 2009, finishing in second place.
The Colgate Thirteen, also known as The Colgate 13, is an undergraduate all-male a cappella group at Colgate University. The oldest a cappella group at the University, it is also the oldest collegiate all-male a cappella group in the United States. Established in 1942, the group is named for the 13 men who founded the university in 1819, each offering $13 and 13 prayers. The Thirteen regularly perform at schools, alumni, community, corporate and sporting events. The group is known for performing the U.S. National Anthem at Super Bowl XIII in 1979.
Straight No Chaser (SNC) is a professional American a cappella group that originated in 1996 at Indiana University. Originally a student group at Indiana University, they recorded a video in 1998 of a comical version of "The 12 Days of Christmas". The founding members all graduated, to be replaced by other students, in 1999. In 2007, the 1998 video went viral on YouTube, and subsequently led to a reunion of the founding members and a five-album record deal with Atlantic Records in 2008. The YouTube video has been viewed over 24 million times.
The Brown Derbies is an a cappella group at Brown University. They were founded by Darryl Shrock in 1982 and have released fourteen albums. They sing a variety of different genres, ranging from Rock, to Pop, to R&B and are known in the a cappella community for their unique use of syllables in the background vocals. They have toured throughout the United States and internationally, with recent performances in Beijing, China, Shanghai, China, and New Orleans, Louisiana. In 1997, the group performed for President Bill Clinton at the White House. In November 2007, they were featured on the CBS Early Show in a segment about the rising popularity of a cappella groups on college campuses, and in July 2011 they were featured on the Gospel Music Channel reality show America Sings. In January 2012, they performed in the London A Cappella Festival.
The Other Guys (TOG) are an all-male a cappella ensemble from the University of St Andrews, Scotland and reigning Scottish champions after winning the Scottish A Cappella Championships (SACC) for three consecutive years from 2022-24. The group was founded in 2004 and has been one of the groups responsible for the rise of collegiate a cappella in Scotland.
Another Round, formerly Straight No Chaser, is a collegiate a cappella group which originated in 1996 at Indiana University. The group changed its name several years after the original members reformed as a professional group with the same name.
DCappella was an a cappella group formed via a national search and run by Disney Music Group featuring Disney songs. The group originally consisted of Antonio Fernandez, Joe Santoni, Morgan Keene, Orlando Dixon, RJ Woessner, Shelley Regner, and Sojourner Brown: Kalen Kelly and Kelly Denice Taylor joined the group after Regner and Brown left. Deke Sharon was DCappella’s co-creator, music director, arranger and producer.
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