The three Williams brothers– James (tenor), Eddie (lead), and Nick (baritone)– have sung together from a young age, and had sung with their father, Nigel Williams (bass), as a quartet named "Homespun". Homespun competed at the BABS Conventions for many years, placing third in 2013.[7][8] They were a crowd favourite but over time Nigel decided to step down. In 2014, Phil Cuthbert, a long-time family friend, stepped in to help form their new quartet, "Finest Hour".[9] After placing third in their first national competition in 2015, they went on to win the gold medal in Harrogate in May 2016 with a record-high score of 82.9 per cent.[2][3][10]
In October 2016, Finest Hour was the guest quartet at the Irish Association of Barbershop Singers (IABS) Convention held in Cork.[11] In April 2017, Finest Hour performed in a concert at Loughborough College.[12]
At the May 2017 BABS national convention in Bournemouth,[13] Finest Hour scored 81.8 per cent, the highest by a quartet that weekend, and qualified to compete at the July 2018 BHS International Convention in Orlando, Florida.[14][15]
In October 2017, Finest Hour competed at the European Barbershop Convention, representing BABS, where they achieved 1st place with a score of 79.4%.[4] After this contest, Cuthbert decided to step down and Jonathan Pipe, a fellow singer with The Grand Central Chorus in Nottingham, transitioned to the quartet's bass voice part. Pipe had previously sung with the 'House Lights Up' quartet in Spain, which placed third at the Spanish Association of Barbershop Singers convention in Benalmádena in 2015.[17][non-primary source needed][18] The official bass handover took place at the BABS prelims competition in November 2017.[19] Notably, in May 2018, Finest Hour were asked to be the guest quartet at the Sweet Adelines Quartet of Nations Region 31 convention at the Sage Gateshead.[20] Finest Hour attended the BABS 2018 convention in Harrogate, Pipe's first ever time competing on the quartet stage in the UK, to compete for a qualifying score for the 2019 international competition. The new rules meant the highest scoring quartet of the weekend gained automatic qualification,[21] which Finest Hour won with a UK record score of 83%.[6]
At the BHS international competition at Salt Lake City in July 2019, Finest Hour placed 22nd out of 57 quartets at that level, only one scoring point behind their nearest competitor,[5] and just thirteen points away from becoming the second British quartet in history (after Reckless in 2017) to make the International semi-finals.[22][23]
↑ "An introduction to: Barbershop". Making Music. 6 January 2017. Retrieved 10 August 2017. Finest Hour, a quartet from Chesterfield and Preston, won the Gold Medal in the 2016 national competition of the British Association of Barbershop Singers
1 2 James, Ian (September 2016). "The Chairman Signs In"(PDF). Harmony Express. p.3. Finest Hour has given BABS its first ever straight 'A' quartet champions with a stunning 82.9% overall.
A barbershop quartet is a group of four singers who sing music in the barbershop style, characterized by four-part harmony without instrumental accompaniment, or a cappella. The four voices are: the lead, the vocal part which typically carries the melody; a bass, the part which provides the bass line to the melody; a tenor, the part which harmonizes above the lead; and a baritone, the part that frequently completes the chord. The baritone normally sings just below the lead singer, sometimes just above as the harmony requires. Barbershop music is typified by close harmony— the upper three voices generally remain within one octave of each other.
The Barbershop Harmony Society, legally and historically named the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America, Inc. (SPEBSQSA), is the first of several organizations to promote and preserve barbershop music as an art form. Founded by Owen C. Cash and Rupert I. Hall in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1938, the organization quickly grew, promoting barbershop harmony among men of all ages. As of 2014, just under 23,000 men in the United States and Canada were members of this organization whose focus is on a cappella music. The international headquarters was in Kenosha, Wisconsin for fifty years before moving to Nashville, Tennessee in 2007. In June 2018, the society announced it would allow women to join as full members.
Barbershop vocal harmony, as codified during the barbershop revival era (1930s–present), is a style of a cappella close harmony, or unaccompanied vocal music, characterized by consonant four-part chords for every melody note in a primarily homorhythmic texture. Each of the four parts has its own role: generally, the lead sings the melody, the tenor harmonizes above the melody, the bass sings the lowest harmonizing notes, and the baritone completes the chord, usually below the lead. The melody is not usually sung by the tenor or baritone, except for an infrequent note or two to avoid awkward voice leading, in tags or codas, or when some appropriate embellishment can be created. One characteristic feature of barbershop harmony is the use of what is known as "snakes" and "swipes". This is when a chord is altered by a change in one or more non-melodic voices. Occasional passages may be sung by fewer than four voice parts.
The Toronto Northern Lights (TNL) is a Toronto, Ontario-based men's chorus of about 75 singers drawn from the Ontario District of the Barbershop Harmony Society. They won the title of Barbershop Harmony Society International Chorus Champions in July 2013 by a margin of two points over the two-time champion Westminster Chorus. The chorus had also earned the silver medal at five consecutive International Chorus Competitions, as well as bronze medals in 2000, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2011.
Vocal Majority (VM) is a Dallas, Texas-based men's chorus of over 150 singers, who bill themselves with the tagline "Pure Harmony." VM is the performing chorus of the Dallas Metro chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS). Vocal Majority has won thirteen International Chorus Championships, a Barbershop Harmony Society record. The first eleven gold medals were earned under the direction of Jim Clancy, who retired from International competition after 2010. The most recent championships, in 2014 and 2018, came under the direction of Jim's son Greg Clancy, the current Musical Director of VM.
Founded in 1985 with just a few dozen men, the Masters of Harmony is a 110-member men's chorus, based in Greater Los Angeles, California. Winner of eight consecutive gold medals (1990–2011) in international barbershop chorus competitions, the group possesses a diverse repertoire encompassing not only barbershop music but also classical, jazz, patriotic, sacred, standards and Broadway pops, and sings for various groups and organizations throughout the greater Los Angeles, California metropolitan area. The chorus won another barbershop international competition in 2017, bringing their total gold medal count to nine.
The Westminster Chorus is a men's a cappella chorus based in Westminster, California. International Chorus Champions of the Barbershop Harmony Society in 2007, 2010, 2015, and 2019, and Choir of the World in 2009, they are composed almost entirely of men under the age of 40.
Pacific Coast Harmony (PCH) is the San Diego, California, chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society. The mixed-gender chorus sings in the a cappella style known as barbershop music. In its origin, PCH was an all-male chorus, placed 19th overall at the chorus competition at the Society's international convention in Indianapolis in 2006, and placed 22nd in Portland in 2012 and Las Vegas in 2017. In 2019, Pacific Coast Harmony converted to mixed-gender membership, and is currently directed by Sweet Adelines member Bonnie McKibben.
The British Association of Barbershop Singers (BABS) is a British organisation of male barbershop singers. It was formed in 1974 and is affiliated with the Barbershop Harmony Society. Since 2023, BABS and its female counterpart in the UK, the Ladies' Association of British Barbershop Singers, have been in talks to consider proposals to work more closely together.
The Far Western District is a geographical district of the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS).
The Heralds of Harmony is a Tampa, Florida-based men's a cappella chorus that has been entertaining Florida audiences in the barbershop style continuously since 1945, and is currently ranked among the nation's best male vocal ensembles. The Heralds are affiliated with the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS) and are multiple-time Sunshine District barbershop chorus champions. They consistently represent the district at the BHS international chorus contest, where they have ranked as high as 3rd in the world, achieving their first international medal performance in 2023.
Voices of Gotham (VoG) is a competitive and performing chorus composed of approximately 60 singers from New York City and surrounding areas. VoG represents the 'Hell's Kitchen, New York' chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society and is the 2013 Mid-Atlantic District Chorus Champion. VoG was designated the 10th best barbershop chorus in the world in the 2017 Barbershop Harmony Society International Chorus Competition in Las Vegas, Nevada. Voices of Gotham was founded by 12 charter members on January 8, 2008, and holds weekly auditions for prospective singers.
The Marcsmen are a premier men's a cappella group based in San Antonio, Texas. Chartered by the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS) in 2008, the chorus has qualified for International Chorus competitions of the BHS 6 times, most recently for the 2020 competition in Los Angeles, California. They won their first Southwestern District championship in 2012 and won back-to-back championships in 2018 and 2019.
Musical Island Boys is the barbershop quartet that won the International Quartet Championship for 2014 at the Barbershop Harmony Society's annual international convention, in Las Vegas, Nevada. From Wellington, New Zealand, the quartet began in 2002 at Tawa College, and competed in its first international barbershop contest in 2004. They won the international collegiate contest in 2006 at Indianapolis, and won second-place silver medals in 2011, 2012, and 2013 international contests. Other awards include the New Zealand and Pan-Pacific Open Gold Medals at the 4th Pan Pacific Barbershop Convention in 2004, and second place in the International Open Barbershop Championships in 2011.
Main Street is a barbershop quartet that started singing as a group on March 20, 2011.
The Sweet Adelines International Competitions are the annual global championships for women's barbershop harmony a cappella singing – in quartets and choruses – for members of Sweet Adelines International (SAI) and have been held annually between September and November since 1947. They are now the largest women's singing competition in the world with over 8000 participants at the 2014 convention. There are two competitions for choruses, and two competitions for quartets. Currently, the first three of these competitions are held together and form the Sweet Adelines International Convention. Over the course of competition history, the most successful chorus has been Melodeers Chorus from Chicago with seven championship titles, and the most successful quartet singer was Connie Noble who won with four separate quartets. Lustre Quartet from Baltimore holds the record for highest quartet score, and Rönninge Show Chorus from Stockholm for highest ever chorus score.
Forefront is the barbershop quartet that won the International Quartet Championship for 2016 at the Barbershop Harmony Society's annual international convention, in Nashville, Tennessee. The quartet had placed second in the 2014 and 2015 international contests, after competing at the international level annually since 2010. Forefront formed in August 2009.
James Earl Henry, most commonly referred to as "Jim Henry", is a vocal music professor, barbershop bass singer, and co-director of the Ambassadors of Harmony (AOH). He is a multiple international award-winning quartet member, whose quartets have appeared nationally on the NBC, PBS, and Fox television networks. Henry is the current director of choral studies at the University of Missouri–St. Louis and a contributing author of widely used musical reference works.
The Grand Central Chorus are members of the British Association of Barbershop Singers. They are five-time BABS National Chorus Champions.
After Hours is an American barbershop quartet that won the 2018 Barbershop Harmony Society International Quartet Championship held in Orlando, Florida. They were founded in 2007 and originally based in Illinois. Their current members are based in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Florida.
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