Rockapella is an American a cappella musical group formed in 1986 in New York City. The group's name is a portmanteau of "rock" and "a cappella". Rockapella sings original vocal music and a cappella versions of other songs. Over time, their sound has evolved from high-energy pop and world music style toward a sound more influenced by R&B. Rockapella found their early and enduring success in Japan. They are most successful for their role as a house band and comedy troupe on the PBS children's geography game show Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?.
Jeffrey Thomas Thacher is an American musician, best known as a member of the vocal group Rockapella. A professional vocal percussionist and singer who emerged on the early contemporary a cappella scene in 1991, Jeff Thacher co-founded the Boston-based a cappella group Five O'Clock Shadow that year and went on to join Rockapella in 1993 as their full-time mouth-drummer.
Live In Japan is the fifteenth overall, tenth North American, and second live concert album by the a cappella group Rockapella. It was recorded during the group's "Wa" (Peace) Tour on June 2–12, 2003 at The Blue Note and was released a year later. Live In Japan is the final album founding member Elliott Kerman can be heard on, marking a key piece of Rockapella history as the group no longer contains any of its founding members. It is also the last album Kevin Wright can be heard on, since he left the group in December 2009.
Smilin' is the thirteenth overall and eighth North American album by the a cappella group Rockapella. It is legendary bass Barry Carl's last album as a member of the group and the first appearance of Carl's successor, George Baldi III. It was re-released on Shakariki Records in 2004.
In Concert is the twelfth overall album, seventh North American album, and first live concert album by the a cappella group Rockapella. It was recorded live on December 9, 2000, at the Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara, California. A corresponding DVD was also filmed as part of a PBS Special. The DVD contains a shortened version of Jeff Thacher's vocal percussion solo during "Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego?" and does not include "Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress".
Christmas is the eleventh overall, sixth North American, and third holiday album released by the a cappella group Rockapella. It was re-released on Shakariki Records in 2004. The album wasn't released in Japan until 2001 on Rentrak Records and has a different track list and different artwork.
2 is the tenth overall and fifth North American studio album by the a cappella group Rockapella. As the name suggests, it was the group's second CD released through a record company in the United States. It was recorded during the fall of 1999 and released in the spring of 2000. In 2004, the album was then re-released on Shakariki Records with two new remixes of "This Isn't Love," which replace the Folgers Coffee commercial tracks "Rockin' Morning" and "Holiday Wake-Up."
Don't Tell Me You Do is the ninth overall and fourth North American studio album by the a cappella group Rockapella. It is the first album released by the group on a North American record label. All but two of the tracks were recorded during the fall of 1997 and originally released on the independent album Rockapella. When Rockapella obtained their North American record deal in 1998, the songs "Moments of You" and "Hold Out For Christmas" were added in the place of "Bed of Nails" and Don't Tell Me You Do was released in the spring of 1999. In 2004, when the album was re-released on Shakariki Records, the then rare 1997 studio recording of the song "Bed of Nails" from the original album, Rockapella, returned to the track list in the place of "Hold Out For Christmas", which can be found on the group's holiday album Christmas.
Rockapella is the eighth overall and third North American studio album by the a cappella group Rockapella. It contains mostly very-updated versions of previously recorded material following a membership change. The album was independently released from 1997 to 1998 until it was licensed by J-Bird Records in 1998 and released in 1999 as Don't Tell Me You Do with additional tracks and minus "Bed of Nails". Rockapella is the first album on which tenor Kevin Wright can be heard.
Primer is the sixth studio album by the a cappella group Rockapella and marks their North American debut. Its track list was intended to represent the band's live show at the time and was recorded 99% live-in-studio over the course of two days at Sonalysts Studios in Connecticut, with the exception of the bonus track, "Shambala," which was recorded prior to the Sonalysts sessions.
Vocobeat is the fourth studio album by the a cappella group Rockapella. It is their first all original album and marks the first full-time CD debut of Jeff Thacher as the group's vocal percussionist. This album is also the first to include the phrase "All sounds on this album were produced exclusively by the voices and body parts of Rockapella" on the CD insert.
Out Cold is the fifth studio and second holiday album by the a cappella group Rockapella. ForLife Records wanted the group to do a second Christmas album, but settled for a mixture of Christmas and non-holiday music. This combination has led it to be described as the "winter romance" album.
Best A Cappella is the third Japan-only compilation album of songs by the a cappella group Rockapella. When the group changed their Japanese record label to Rentrack Records and released two of their American albums and an additional compilation album in Japan, ForLife Records sought to capitalize on the renewed publicity and released this album of previous recordings. It is seen as an unaffiliated release since Rockapella no longer had a contract with ForLife Records at the time of its release, and therefore do not receive royalties for its purchases.
Best Fest is a compilation album by the a cappella group Rockapella. It is first of three Japan-only compilation albums of the group's recordings, featuring a mix of tracks from previous Japanese albums, as well as two new songs that were not previously available. It was marketed as a "greatest hits" album; a "hit" in Japan is a song that has been used in a Japanese television commercial, of which Rockapella had many. As an incentive to get fans to buy it, the album includes two previously unreleased songs, "Tornado Man" and "Always You", and separate track versions of the "Logo" songs, the different versions of the "Rockapella jingle" the group does at the beginning of each of their first five CDs.
More Than Ever is the second Japan-only compilation album by the a cappella group Rockapella. It contains recording from the US albums Don't Tell Me You Do and 2 with a new photo session of the group.
Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? or Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? The Album is a soundtrack album to the game show of the same name that ran from 1991 to 1995. Rockapella, the house band on the show throughout its entire run, performed six of the ten songs on the album.
Bang is the sixteenth overall and eleventh North American album by the a cappella group Rockapella. It is the first studio album the group has released since 2002 and marks the first recording appearance of members John K. Brown and Steven Dorian, who had joined the group in 2004 and 2010, respectively. The album consists entirely of original music, making it the second all-original album released by the group, preceded only by their 1994 Japanese release Vocobeat, and is also the first Rockapella album to have at least one song written by each of the five members. The album contains a special bonus fourteenth track: a cover of Vampire Weekend's "A-Punk."
A Rockapella Holiday is the seventeenth overall, twelfth North American, and fifth holiday album released by the a cappella group Rockapella. The tracks consist of new songs premiered on the album and songs the group has perfected since 2003 during their holiday concerts of the same name.
Carmen Sandiego: Out of This World is a tie-in album to the children's television game show Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? Five of its ten songs, as well as the spoken track "A Brief Disclaimer," were performed by the show's host, Greg Lee. Lynne Thigpen, who co-starred on the show as The Chief, also contributed a song, as did the show's house band, Rockapella. Unlike its predecessor, it was marketed to both children and adults, owing to the inclusion of rock bands XTC and They Might Be Giants.
Motown & More is the eighteenth overall and thirteenth North American album released by the a cappella group Rockapella. Just like the live show it accompanies, the album consists of covers of classic Motown covers. This marked the final album that members John K. Brown, George Baldi III, and Steven Dorian can be heard on as they all left the band in 2013, 2015, and 2016, respectively.
