I have saved my favorite for last.
Straight No Chaser may be the first a cappella group to have signed with a major recording label. These guys started singing together in college back in the 90s and have been doing it ever since. They’ve managed to make a career out of singing, even all these years later. And next month, one of these guys (Mike) is going to become my cousin-in-law when he marries my cousin Zoë. Yay! They make an adorable couple.
This video is how she introduced him to the family — well, those of us in the extended family who didn’t live in the same part of the country as they did. (That includes me.)
If you’ve been keeping up with this series, thank you. Happiest of holidays. 🙂
Sappho's Torque 
Hmmm… The Persuasions were on Capitol in 1970. I can’t recall what label The Flying Pickets signed to, but they did have a Christmas No.1 with a version of ‘Only You’ (the Yazoo song, not the standard).
Thank you for this musical advent calendar.
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Glad you liked it. 🙂
I don’t know those other groups, but that’s not saying much! Were they in the US? If not, maybe SNC was the first American group to be signed? I don’t know. Even if they weren’t, even if they were the fifteenth group that year, I’m not fussed about it. 🙂 I just think they’re cool.
…And it wouldn’t be the first time someone in my family told me something that wasn’t entirely accurate. 😉
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The Flying Pickets were/are British. The Persuasions are an American group
Pre-dating The Persuasions are The Swingle Singers, who started out doing jazzed vocal versions of J S Bach and getting air play on pop radio stations. They were formed in France and signed to Philips (a Dutch label which was big in the UK and Europe). Though at heart an a cappella act, their recordings usually had snare-drum-and-brushes dubbed in.
The Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet was formed in the 1930s. They were signed to Columbia, though much of their output was on Okeh, Columbia’s ‘race’ subsidiary. This track is from 1936 I think – just listen out for the ‘instrumental break’ in the middle!
(NB – the song is played twice on this clip, for some reason)
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I just have to share this with you! Absolutely NO instruments on this track. It’s the Swingle Singers’ version of Astor Piazolla’s wonderful ‘Libertango’.
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That’s the first time I got to see that. They are so spot on! I would love to be in a group like that. Finding that many dedicated people to one dream is a miracle in itself.
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They’re really impressive, I think. I have, from iTunes, both the live version (I think from this video) and the studio version of this song, and both are so much fun to listen to. The live version’s energy is wonderful, and the studio version is different but really lets you hear the intricate harmonies much better.
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