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.
Acoustix is a Dallas, Texas-based quartet that won the 1990 International Quartet Championship of SPEBSQSA. They have all, at different times, been members of the Dallas-based Vocal Majority chorus.
Sweet Adelines International is a worldwide organization of women singers, established in 1945, committed to advancing the musical art form of barbershop harmony through education and performances. This independent, nonprofit music education association is one of the world's largest singing organizations for women. "Harmonize the World" is the organization's motto. It has a current membership of 23,000 and holds an annual international singing competition.
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.
Platinum is a barbershop quartet, created in 1998 and the 2000 SPEBSQSA international quartet champions. They are famous for their long posts, particularly in their adaptation of the song Be Our Guest and in Clay Hine's arrangement of Auld Lang Syne, which is on Platinum's CD of the same name.
Gotcha! is an American barbershop quartet formed in 1996 by four members of the Masters of Harmony chorus.
Gas House Gang was a barbershop quartet that won the 1993 SPEBSQSA International Quartet Competition. They started singing as a group in 1987 in St. Louis Missouri. After winning the 1988 Central States District Competition in their first attempt, they began a steady climb up the International Competition ladder which culminated in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, where they were awarded the 1993 International Quartet Championship.
Four Voices is a barbershop quartet based in Tennessee. After winning the SPEBSQSA Collegiate Barbershop Quartet Championship in 1996, Four Voices went on to become international champions in 2002.
Joker's Wild is a world champion barbershop quartet formed in 1990 by Dave Kindinger and Mark Green from Columbus, Ohio, and Steve Legters and Stephen Iannacchione from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Coached by Lance Heilmann, after winning the Johnny Appleseed District of the SPEBSQSA competition that fall, they went on to the SPEBSQSA's International contests, earning 10th place, 5th, 2nd, and finally the International Championship in Pittsburgh in 1994.
The Suntones were a barbershop quartet from Miami, Florida, USA, and the 1961 SPEBSQSA international champions. At the time it won gold, the quartet featured Gene Cokeroft as tenor, Bob Franklin as lead, Harlan Wilson as baritone, and Bill Cain as bass.
Bluegrass Student Union is the Louisville, Kentucky barbershop quartet that won the 1978 SPEBSQSA International competition. They distinguished themselves by performing at a high level of proficiency on stage and in the recording studio throughout their 33-year career, and were the second youngest quartet to have won the SPEBSQSA championship, as of that time. The quartet became known for continually improving their art, even after their win. They credited much of their success to their coaches, Mary Jo Hatton Thompson, Don Clause, Ron Riegler, Gene Stickler and Ed Weber, to their chorus Director, Jim Miller, and to their long-time arrangers, Ed Waesche and Walter Latzko.
Revival was a barbershop quartet that won the 1998 SPEBSQSA international competition, after placing 15th in 1996 and 9th in 1997.
Yesteryear is a barbershop quartet that – coached by Darryl Flinn, Lance Heilmann, Larry Ajer, Greg Lyne, and other big names in barbershop – won the 1997 SPEBSQSA international competition.
The Town and Country Four is a Barbershop quartet that won the 1963 SPEBSQSA international competitions with singers Leo Sisk (tenor), Larry Autenreith (lead), Jack Elder (bari), and Ralph Anderson (bass).
Oriole Four is a barbershop quartet that won the 1970 SPEBSQSA international competition.
Second Edition is the Barbershop quartet that won the 1989 SPEBSQSA international competition.
The Far Western District is a geographical district of the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS).
Storm Front is the barbershop quartet that won the International Quartet Championship for 2010 at the Barbershop Harmony Society's annual international convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
