Rockapella

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 enduring success in Japan early in their career. 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?.

In addition to three compilation albums in Japan, Rockapella has released 19 albums in the US and Japan. Since the band's vocal percussionist was hired, the line "All sounds provided by the voices and appendages of Rockapella" has been printed on each of their CDs.

Band history

Early years (1986–1990)

The founding members of Rockapella consisted of Brown University alumni Sean Altman, Elliott Kerman, Steve Keyes, and David Stix. They had each been in an a cappella group at Brown called High Jinks, but not all at the same time. Having been in High Jinks the longest, Altman was the only connection between the other three members; when they found each other in New York City following their graduation, they decided to form Rockapella. The band began performing on New York City street corners in 1986 with a hat at their feet and a song repertoire that consisted of a mix of barbershop arrangements and a cappella renditions of classic doo wop pieces that evolved to focus less on oldies and barbershop and more on contemporary rock music. Passers-by began to drop business cards into the hat, and these street corner performances led to private party and club performances around NYC.

Stix left the group in 1987 to pursue his artistic career and was replaced by Charlie Evett. That same year, a dinner party performance for television personality Kathie Lee Gifford led to Rockapella's 1988 appearance on the WABC-TV show The Morning Show, Regis Philbin and Gifford's NYC morning talk show before it went national. Their performance of Altman's signature arrangement of the calypso novelty standard "Zombie Jamboree" caught the eye of producer Gerard Brown. He invited Rockapella to perform on the PBS "Great Performances" TV special Spike Lee & Company – Do It A Cappella, which would put them into the national spotlight. However, Evett left the group to continue a career in software design in 1988 before the special's taping, and Barry Carl was hired to take his place.

Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? (1991–1996)

With a PBS special and numerous morning talk show appearances under their collective belt, Rockapella was noticed by the producers of an up-and-coming children's geography game show Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?. Shortly before the show's premiere, Keyes had decided to leave Rockapella to launch his legal career, but was still part of the band when they auditioned and were hired to write and perform the show's theme song as well as appearing as the comic relief house band. Keyes was replaced by Scott Leonard, who had just returned from a career as the lead singer in a Tokyo Disneyland electronic rock band. Between Leonard joining the band and the start of their television break, Rockapella began to pick up fame, starring in a Whoopi Goldberg HBO comedy special Chez Whoopi, a Taco Bell commercial, and opened for acts such as Chuck Berry, Styx, Billy Joel, and their a cappella idols The Persuasions, who the group had met on the Do It A Cappella special. They also performed on Jay Leno's first New Year's Eve episode of The Tonight Show in 1992.

Rockapella first appeared on the half-hour game show in 1991 and later continued to appear daily for five seasons, catapulting the band's four members into mid-level television celebrity status and making the Rockapella-performed theme song (which was penned by Altman and his childhood friend, David Yazbek) as one of the best known television themes in history. Jeff Thacher joined Rockapella as the band's permanent vocal percussionist in 1993, although he only appeared on Carmen Sandiego during its fifth and final season two years later. While Rockapella was seen daily in homes across America, Leonard used his connections to the Japanese music market to acquire a recording contract with ForLife Records. The group released seven albums of original and cover material under this label in Japan during their run on Carmen Sandiego and for two years after that, being the first to bring contemporary a cappella music to Japan.

Post-Carmen Sandiego years (1997–present)

Following the end of Carmen Sandiego in 1996, Altman left Rockapella to pursue his solo career the following year, and was replaced by Kevin Wright. They did two Folger's coffee commercials between 1998 and 2001 and a PBS special of their December 9, 2000, concert. In 2002, Carl was replaced by George Baldi III. In 2003, the group started their now annual "A Rockapella Holiday" tour, and in 2004, they released a live album, as well as re-released all of their previous North American albums on the independent label Shakariki Records. That same year, Kerman, the group's baritone and the last remaining founding member of the group, left and was replaced by John K. Brown, a second tenor. Rockapella began joining the Boston Pops on stage in the eastern US in 2006, creating a concert experience that shows both the orchestra's and Rockapella's talents separately and together in a manner never done before: a cappella with instrumentation. In August 2009, Wright announced he would be leaving the group at the end of the year to spend more time with his family; his last performance with the band was on December 22 of that same year, and was replaced by Steven Dorian.

The project to make "Bang", the title track off their newest album, the first track in Rock Band to feature full, four-instrument gameplay based on no live or synthesized instruments began in the summer of 2010, and was released for purchase on January 30, 2011 through the RBN. At the beginning of 2011, the band's cover of "It's A Small World" from their album Comfort & Joy, was featured in a TV commercial for the animated film Gnomeo and Juliet. On November 16, 2011, Rockapella released a new holiday album, A Rockapella Holiday.

In 2022, Jose Rosario left the group and was replaced by Manny Houston. Bryant Vance left the group at that time as well, allowing George Baldi III to return. By mid-2023, Baldi left the group once again and was replaced by Armand Hutton.

Personnel

Timeline

Discography

US albums

All albums from Don't Tell Me You Do through Comfort & Joy were re-released in the US by Shakariki Records in 2004.

Compilation albums

Miscellaneous albums

Singles and EPs

Other appearances

Solo albums and appearances

Songs used in commercials

• Gnomeo and Juliet - feature film trailer
• Folgers coffee
• NBC The Today Show promos for the earliest version of the program's "Where in the World is Matt Lauer?" segment. The song was re-recorded later in different styles by other musicians.
• Mounds/Almond Joy
• Doritos
• Mazola
• Kent Super Lights - Japan-only
• Showtime - (Became "We Got A Happy Holiday" song from Japan-only album "Bash")
• HBO
• Taco Bell
• Bacardi
• Budweiser
• AFLAC insurance
• ProScan televisions
• Arby's
• Ozone Ford - Long Island, NY dealership (now defunct)
• Tools To Help You Choose (an infomercial about the TV Ratings System) feat. Bob Keeshan (aka Captain Kangaroo)
• BuiltBar Health Bars
• The Big Con, a 2021 video game

Filmography

• WPIX's 40th Anniversary (1988, guest appearance)
• Comic Strip Live (1989, guest appearance)
• Spike Lee & Co. Do It A Capella (1990, guest appearance)
• Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? (1991-1995, house band and comedy troupe)
• Chez Whoopi (1991, guest appearance)
• Zappa's Universe (1991, guest appearance)
• The Tonight Show (1992, guest appearance)
• The Biggest Little Ticket (1993, guest appearance)
• The 1996 Orange Bowl Parade
• Joe's Apartment (1996, were the voices of The Roach Chorus)
• Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child (1997, were the voices of The Five Little Piggies in the special, "Mother Goose: A Rapping and Rhyming Special")
• Penn & Teller's Sin City Spectacular (1998, guest appearance)
• Where in the Universe Is Carmen Sandiego? (1999)
• The 1999 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
• So You Think You Can Dance Canada (2011, guest appearance)

Notes

References

External links

• Official website