Vocal Majority
Encyclopedia
The Vocal Majority is a Dallas, Texas
-based men's chorus
of over 150 singers, billed as "America's Premier Pops Chorus." The VM is part of the Dallas Metro chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society
. Under the direction of Jim Clancy, they have won a record eleven International Chorus Championships (1975, 1979, 1982, 1985, 1988, 1991, 1994, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2006).
This record is even more impressive given that the Society contest rules do not permit any chorus to compete again for two years after winning an International Chorus Championship (to give other choruses a chance), so no chorus can win twice less than three years apart. As seen in the list of championship years, they only had one four-year span between wins, from 1975 to 1979. They came in second place to the Thoroughbreds in 1978. After that, they proceeded to win the gold at every International competition in which they competed until 2009, when the Ambassadors of Harmony
defeated them for the gold. In July 2010, the Vocal Majority again earned a silver medal at the International Chorus Championship in Philadelphia. Longtime director Jim Clancy announced prior to the 2010 competition that it would be his last as director. Mr. Clancy will continue as the Musical Director and principle arranger for the chorus.
The Vocal Majority has released over twenty recordings and has traveled extensively.
Several members of the Vocal Majority have also won the International Quartet Championship with the quartets Max Q
, Acoustix
, Side Street Ramblers
, Dealer's Choice
, Rural Route 4
, Rapscallions
and Old School
.
, arranger
, clinician, and vocalist. Clancy has conducted the chorus in performances throughout the United States
, Canada
, Scotland
, England
, before two United States Presidents, at national athletic events, with major symphony orchestras, and before hundreds of national conventions. Jim Clancy is often called upon to coach national and international choral groups, having conducted multiple concerts for the American Choral Directors Association
and Music Educators National Conference
. He has studied under American greats Fred Waring
, Madeleine Marshall, Paris Rutherford, Martha Moore Clancy, Warren Angell, and B. B. McKinney, in addition to his academic work at Baylor University
, Centenary College of New Jersey
, and the University of North Texas
.
Clancy's discography with the chorus includes 22 albums of popular, jazz, barbershop, and inspirational music. Also under his direction the VM produced the DVD, A Vocal Majority Christmas, released in 2003. As guest conductor with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir
, Clancy combined the Utah
ensemble with the VM in a joint album, Voices In Harmony, for CBS Masterworks. He has also performed on stage with many artists including Jimmy Dean
, Bob Flanigan, The Four Freshmen
, John Gary
, Lee Greenwood
, The Lettermen
, Johnny Mann
, The Oak Ridge Boys
, and The Suntones
.
In October, 2000, Clancy was honored by the Barbershop Harmony Society Southwestern District when a new trophy was unveiled and named in his honor as the Jim Clancy Chorus Champion Award.
Clancy served as the principal arranger and executive producer of the chorus’ latest audio recordings, Freedom's Song, Love Songs By Request, VM X and The Vocal Majority With Strings - Volume II.
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
-based men's chorus
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
of over 150 singers, billed as "America's Premier Pops Chorus." The VM is part of the Dallas Metro chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society
Barbershop Harmony Society
The Barbershop Harmony Society, legally and historically named the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America, Inc. , is the first of several organizations to promote and preserve barbershop music as an art form. Founded by Owen C...
. Under the direction of Jim Clancy, they have won a record eleven International Chorus Championships (1975, 1979, 1982, 1985, 1988, 1991, 1994, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2006).
This record is even more impressive given that the Society contest rules do not permit any chorus to compete again for two years after winning an International Chorus Championship (to give other choruses a chance), so no chorus can win twice less than three years apart. As seen in the list of championship years, they only had one four-year span between wins, from 1975 to 1979. They came in second place to the Thoroughbreds in 1978. After that, they proceeded to win the gold at every International competition in which they competed until 2009, when the Ambassadors of Harmony
Ambassadors of Harmony
The Ambassadors of Harmony is a 160+ member men's barbershop chorus, based in St. Charles, Missouri. The chorus won International Championship gold medals in 2004 and 2009, each time singing two arrangements by David Wright, under the direction of Jim Henry...
defeated them for the gold. In July 2010, the Vocal Majority again earned a silver medal at the International Chorus Championship in Philadelphia. Longtime director Jim Clancy announced prior to the 2010 competition that it would be his last as director. Mr. Clancy will continue as the Musical Director and principle arranger for the chorus.
The Vocal Majority has released over twenty recordings and has traveled extensively.
Several members of the Vocal Majority have also won the International Quartet Championship with the quartets Max Q
Max Q (quartet)
Max Q is the barbershop quartet that won the gold medal Barbershop Harmony Society International Barbershop Quartet Contest at Denver's Pepsi Center July 7, 2007.The quartet's run for the title is featured in the 2009 feature documentary American Harmony....
, Acoustix
Acoustix
Acoustix is a 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....
, Side Street Ramblers
Side Street Ramblers
Side Street Ramblers is the Dallas-based Barbershop quartet that won the 1983 SPEBSQSA international competition in Seattle.-Discography:* Seems Like Yesterday LP, cassette* Side Street Ramblers LP, cassette* Encore!", CD *Also appear on...
, Dealer's Choice
Dealer's Choice (quartet)
Dealer's Choice is a Barbershop quartet that won the 1973 SPEBSQSA international competition. They were the first group since 1952 to win the competition their first year entering....
, Rural Route 4
Rural Route 4
Rural Route 4 is the Missouri based barbershop quartet that won the 1986 SPEBSQSA international competition.Calvin's son, Wes Yoder, later replaced Don as the group's tenor until their formal retirement in 1994.-Discography:...
, Rapscallions
The Rapscallions
The Rapscallions, formed just four years earlier by four Bowling Green State University students, amazed the barbershop world when they won the 1984 international quartet championship in St...
and Old School
Old School (quartet)
Old School is the barbershop quartet that won the International Quartet Championship for 2011 at the Barbershop Harmony Society's annual international convention, in Kansas City, Missouri.-External links:*...
.
Director
In his tenure as director of the chorus, Jim Clancy has built an international reputation as composerComposer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, arranger
Arranger
In investment banking, an arranger is a provider of funds in the syndication of a debt. They are entitled to syndicate the loan or bond issue, and may be referred to as the "lead underwriter". This is because this entity bears the risk of being able to sell the underlying securities/debt or the...
, clinician, and vocalist. Clancy has conducted the chorus in performances throughout the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, before two United States Presidents, at national athletic events, with major symphony orchestras, and before hundreds of national conventions. Jim Clancy is often called upon to coach national and international choral groups, having conducted multiple concerts for the American Choral Directors Association
American Choral Directors Association
The American Choral Directors Association , headquartered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, is a non-profit organization with the stated purpose of promoting excellence in the field of choral music...
and Music Educators National Conference
MENC: The National Association for Music Education
MENC: The National Association for Music Education is an organization of American music educators dedicated to advancing and preserving music education and as part of the core curriculum of schools in the United States...
. He has studied under American greats Fred Waring
Fred Waring
Fredrick Malcolm Waring was a popular musician, bandleader and radio-television personality, sometimes referred to as "America's Singing Master" and "The Man Who Taught America How to Sing." He was also a promoter, financial backer and namesake of the Waring Blendor, the first modern electric...
, Madeleine Marshall, Paris Rutherford, Martha Moore Clancy, Warren Angell, and B. B. McKinney, in addition to his academic work at Baylor University
Baylor University
Baylor University is a private, Christian university located in Waco, Texas. Founded in 1845, Baylor is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.-History:...
, Centenary College of New Jersey
Centenary College of New Jersey
Centenary College was founded in 1867 by the Newark Conference of the United Methodist Church. Centenary has evolved from a coeducational preparatory school to a girls' preparatory school , to a Junior college for women , to a four-year women's college , to a coeducational...
, and the University of North Texas
University of North Texas
The University of North Texas is a public institution of higher education and research in Denton. Founded in 1890, UNT is part of the University of North Texas System. As of the fall of 2010, the University of North Texas, Denton campus, had a certified enrollment of 36,067...
.
Clancy's discography with the chorus includes 22 albums of popular, jazz, barbershop, and inspirational music. Also under his direction the VM produced the DVD, A Vocal Majority Christmas, released in 2003. As guest conductor with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir
Mormon Tabernacle Choir
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, sometimes colloquially referred to as MoTab, is a Grammy and Emmy Award winning, 360-member, all-volunteer choir. The choir is part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . However, the choir is completely self-funded, traveling and producing albums to...
, Clancy combined the Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
ensemble with the VM in a joint album, Voices In Harmony, for CBS Masterworks. He has also performed on stage with many artists including Jimmy Dean
Jimmy Dean
Jimmy Ray Dean was an American country music singer, television host, actor and businessman. Although he may be best known today as the creator of the Jimmy Dean sausage brand, he became a national television personality starting in 1957, rising to fame for his 1961 country crossover hit "Big Bad...
, Bob Flanigan, The Four Freshmen
The Four Freshmen
The Four Freshmen is a multiple Grammy-nominated American male vocal band quartet that blends open-harmony jazz arrangements with the big band vocal group sounds of The Modernaires , The Pied Pipers , and The Mel-Tones , founded in the barbershop tradition...
, John Gary
John Gary
John Gary was an American singer and a technically accomplished vocalist.-Early life:John Gary Strader started singing at the age of 5. He joined his older sister, Shirley Strader. At the age of 9, he won a 3-year scholarship to the prestigious Cathedral School of St John in Manhattan. He...
, Lee Greenwood
Lee Greenwood
Melvin Lee Greenwood is an American country music artist. Active since the early 1980s, he has released more than twenty major-label albums and has charted more than 35 singles on the Billboard country music charts....
, The Lettermen
The Lettermen
The Lettermen are an American male pop music vocal trio. The Lettermen's trademark is close-harmony pop songs with light arrangements. The group started in 1959...
, Johnny Mann
Johnny Mann
Johnny Mann is an American arranger, composer, conductor, entertainer, and recording artist.-Career:...
, The Oak Ridge Boys
The Oak Ridge Boys
The Oak Ridge Boys are an American country and gospel vocal quartet.The group was founded in the 1940s as the Oak Ridge Quartet. They became popular in southern gospel during the 1950s...
, and The Suntones
The Suntones
The Suntones are 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....
.
In October, 2000, Clancy was honored by the Barbershop Harmony Society Southwestern District when a new trophy was unveiled and named in his honor as the Jim Clancy Chorus Champion Award.
Clancy served as the principal arranger and executive producer of the chorus’ latest audio recordings, Freedom's Song, Love Songs By Request, VM X and The Vocal Majority With Strings - Volume II.
Discography
- Standing Room Only (19761976 in music-January–February:*January 5 – Former Beatles road manager Mal Evans is shot dead by Los Angeles police after refusing to drop what police only later determine is an air rifle....
) - Champs Back To Back (1976)
- With A Song In Our Hearts (19791979 in musicSee also:Record labels established in 1979* 1979 in music This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1979.-January–February:*January 1...
) - Here's to The Winners (19801980 in musicThis is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1980.-January–March:*January 1**Cliff Richard is appointed an MBE by Elizabeth II.**The Zorros audition drummer Greg Pedley....
) - From Texas With Love (VM Productions; Cassette; 1981)
- Decade of Gold (19831983 in musicThis is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1983.-January-April:*January – ZTT Records is founded.*January 8 – The UK singles chart is tabulated from this week forward by The Gallup Organization...
) - All the Best (1983)
- The Secret of Christmas (VM Productions; CDCompact DiscThe Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
, Cassette; 19851985 in musicThis is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1985.-January–March:*January 1 - The newest music video channel, VH-1, debuts on American cable. It is aimed at an older demographic than its sister station, MTV...
) - For God, Country, & You (VM Productions; CD, Cassette; 19881988 in musicThis is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1988.-January-March:* January 1 – André Rieu's Johann Strauss Orchestra plays its first concert....
) - I'll Be Seeing You (VM Productions; CD, Cassette; 1990)
- Alleluia (VM Productions; CD, Cassette; 19921992 in musicThis is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1992.-January–February:*January 11**Nirvana's Nevermind album goes to #1 in the US Billboard 200 chart, establishing the widespread popularity of the Grunge movement of the 1990s....
) - Best of the Early Years (VM Productions; CD, Cassette; (1992)
- The Music Never Ends (VM Productions; CD, Cassette; 19961996 in musicThis is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1996.-January:* January – At the trial of two American teenagers, Nicholaus McDonald and Brian Bassett, for the murder of Bassett's parents and young brother, defense lawyers attempt to lay the blame for the murders on the fact...
) - How Sweet the Sound (VM Productions; CD, Cassette; 19971997 in musicThis is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1997.-January:*January 9 – David Bowie performs his 50th Birthday Bash concert at Madison Square Garden, New York City, USA with guests Frank Black, The Foo Fighters, Sonic Youth, Robert Smith of The Cure, Lou Reed, and Billy...
) - The Vocal Majority with Strings, Volume I (VM Productions; CD, Cassette; 19981998 in musicThis is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1998.-Events:*January 28 – "Weird Al" Yankovic gets LASIK surgery to cure his myopia...
) - White Christmas (VM Productions; CD, Cassette; 20012001 in musicSee also:* 2001 in music Record labels established in 2001-Events:*January 1**Comeback of Guns N' Roses in House of Blues**Hum disbands.*January 17 – Bass player Jason Newsted leaves Metallica after 14 years with the band....
) - Freedom's Song (VM Productions; CD, Cassette; 20022002 in musicThis is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 2002.-Events:*February 3 – U2 perform during the halftime show for Super Bowl XXXVI...
) - Love Songs By Request (VM Productions; CD, Cassette; 2002)
- VM X (VM Productions; CD 20032003 in music-January:* January – following an investigation by The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry and London detectives, police raids in England and the Netherlands recover nearly 500 original Beatles studio tapes, recorded during the Let It Be sessions. Five people are arrested...
) - Vocal Majority with Strings, Volume II (VM Productions; CD; 20042004 in musicSee also:* 2004 in music Record labels established in 2004-January:*January 1**The Vienna New Year's Concert is conducted by Riccardo Muti.**Kurt Nilsen wins World Idol....
) - You Raise Me Up (VM Productions; CD; 20052005 in music-Events:*During the year 2005, 12 rock music albums scored number 1 in the USA. This was the first time even ten albums have scored number 1 since 1996.-January:...
) - Believe (VM Productions; CD; 20072007 in musicThis is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 2007.-January:*January 1 - George Shearing is knighted for services to music in the Queen's New Year Honours List. Evelyn Glennie becomes a Dame...
) - Something's Coming: Broadway Hits from America's Premier Pops Chorus (VM Productions; CD; 20092009 in musicThe following is a list of notable events and releases in 2009 in music. Susan Boyle's album I Dreamed a Dream became the biggest selling album in the world for 2009, selling 8.3 million copies in five weeks; more than any other artist's in the whole year...
)