The Singers Unlimited
| The Singers Unlimited | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| origin | Chicago , United States |
| Genre (s) |
Vocal music , a cappella , jazz , easy listening |
| founding | 1967 |
| resolution | 1981 |
| Founding members | |
| Gene Puerling † | |
| occupation | |
| Bonnie Herman | |
| Don Shelton | |
| Gene Puerling († 2008) | |
| Len Dresslar († 2005) | |
The Singers Unlimited was an American vocal group founded in Chicago in 1967 by Eugene "Gene" Thomas Puerling , which was active until 1981.
history
The Singers Unlimited consisted of Puerling ( baritone and arranger ), Len Dresslar ( bass ), Don Shelton ( tenor ) and Bonnie Herman ( soprano ). The professional soloist quartet initially worked primarily for the musical advertising business. For a Christmas present to their advertising agencies, the Singers Unlimited produced the famous Beatles song The Fool on the Hill from the Beatles album Magical Mystery Tour in an arrangement by Gene Puerling, which marked the beginning of their collaboration with the jazz label Musik Produktion Schwarzwald (MPS) in Villingen marked and in which the typical sound of the group was already indicated.
With the mediation of the Canadian jazz pianist Oscar Peterson , the vocal quartet met for the first time in 1971 with the music producer and owner of MPS, Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer . Peterson was under contract with him and also knew the demo tape with the puerling arrangement of the McCartney song. Subsequently, a total of 15 record productions were created with the Singers Unlimited in the MPS recording studios from 1971 to 1980, in 1972 their first a cappella album was awarded the German Record Prize, founded in 1963 .
The unmistakable style of Singers Unlimited was characterized on the one hand by the complex harmonics and filigree voice guidance of Gene Puerling's vocal arrangements and their studio production, which was realized at the highest level, and on the other hand by the consistent exploitation of various electroacoustic manipulation possibilities that MPS gave them with one of the most modern recording studios of the time had to offer. A 16-track tape machine , which was extremely rare at the time , was used for the lavish studio productions , which ensured the necessary perfection in the additive assembly of the orchestral vocal sound. A live performance of the vocal quartet was therefore completely out of the question.
Gene Puerling (1929–2008) was a self-taught musician and gained extensive experience as a singer and arranger in the close harmony vocal group The Hi-Lo’s , which he founded in 1953 , a stylistically innovative and in the USA very well-known a-cappella male vocal quartet from 1959 the tenor Don Shelton also belonged and which dissolved around 1964. Puerling later worked in the recording studios of the Chicago jingle industry, where he met the two studio vocalists Len Dresslar and Bonnie Hermann. For his vocal arrangement of the song A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square , which he made for The Manhattan Transfer , Puerling received a Grammy and was nominated for 14 more during his career.
Together with the new musical possibilities of the soprano voice by Bonnie Herman, an extensive use of the processing technique based on the playback , whereby the two higher male voices of Don Shelton and Gene Puerling often expanded the four-part choral setting to a six-part choir, multiple overdubbing with the multi-track recorder and a complicated one At that time still completely analogue recording technology, a completely new, exceptionally voluminous and highly artificial a cappella choral sound, typical of the Singers Unlimited, emerged from the soloist quartet, which was supplemented in later productions by the participation of various well-known instrumentalists.
In 1981 the soloist quartet's last studio album, Easy to Love, was released. This was followed by the release of numerous compilations and compilations of earlier recordings by MPS Records.
Discography
- In Tune (with Oscar Peterson Trio, 1971)
- A Capella (1971)
- Christmas (1972)
- Four Of Us (with Don Shelton Quartet, 1973)
- Invitation (with Art Van Damme , 1973)
- Sentimental Journey (with Robert Farnon Orchestra, 1974)
- A Special Blend (with Clare Fischer Orchestra, 1975)
- A Capella II (1975)
- Feeling Free (with Clare Fischer Orchestra, 1975)
- Eventide (with Robert Farnon Orchestra, 1976)
- Friends (with Pat Williams Orchestra, 1976)
- Just In Time (with Roger Kellaway Quintet, 1977)
- The Singers Unlimited (with Rob McConnell and the Boss Brass, 1979)
- A Capella III (1980)
- Easy to Love (with Les Hooper Orchestra, 1981)