The Swingle Singers

The Swingle Singers are a mostly a cappella vocal group formed in 1962 in Paris, France by Ward Swingle with Anne Germain, Jeanette Baucomont, Jean Cussac and others. Christiane Legrand, the sister of composer Michel Legrand, was the group's lead soprano through 1972. Until 2011, the group consisted of eight voices: two sopranos, two altos, two tenors and two basses. The French group performed and recorded typically with only a double bass and drums as accompaniment. The current group performs primarily a cappella. In 1973, the original French group disbanded and Ward Swingle moved to London and recruited all new members who debuted as Swingle II. The group later performed and recorded under the name The Swingles and then, The New Swingle Singers and eventually, simply, The Swingle Singers. Since the London group's incarnation, the group has never disbanded. As individual members have left the group, the remaining members have held auditions for replacements.

History The group, directed originally by Ward Swingle (who once belonged to Mimi Perrin's French vocal group Les Double Six), began as session singers mainly doing background vocals for singers such as Charles Aznavour and Edith Piaf. Christiane Legrand, sister of Michel Legrand, was the original lead soprano, and they did some jazz vocals for Michel Legrand. The eight session singers sang through Bach's Well-Tempered Klavier as a sight-reading exercise and found the music to have a natural swing. They recorded their first album Jazz Sébastien Bach as a present for friends and relatives. Many radio stations picked it up and this led to the group recording more albums and winning a total of five Grammy Awards.

Notable performances An early hit for the group was Bach's "Air on the G String", recorded with the Modern Jazz Quartet. This is also the theme tune to a popular Italian TV Show Superquark. Luciano Berio wrote his postmodern symphony Sinfonia for eight voices and orchestra in 1968 with the Swingle Singers in mind (appearing on the original premier recording with the New York Philharmonic). They also recorded Ben Johnston's "Sonnets of Desolation" in 1984.

In 2005, their recording of Bach's Prelude in F Minor was incorporated into the hit single "They", by Jem Griffiths; the piece was also used in the 2006 film The Gigolos. The group's music has a trademark sound and is used frequently on television (The West Wing, Sex in the City, Miami Vice, Glee), in movies (Bach's Fugue in G Minor (BWV 578) in Thank You for Smoking, Mozart's "Horn Concerto No. 4" in Wedding Crashers, Bach's "Prelude No.7 in E flat " in Milk). The London group sang with French pop star Étienne Daho on his songs "Timide intimité" and "Soudain" from his 1996 album Eden, and with the Style Council on their song "The Story of Someone's Shoe" from the 1988 album Confessions of a Pop Group.

They appeared several times on the BBC Television sketch show, The Two Ronnies, in the early 1970s.

Present The Swingle Singers produce covers ranging from pop songs (Björk, Annie Lennox, and The Beatles) to classical music (Bach, Mozart) to Contemporary Music (Luciano Berio, Pascal Zavaro and Azio Corghi). Their arrangements are often infused with jazz harmonies and stylings.

The Swingle Singers are curators of the London A Cappella Festival, based at Kings Place, near Kings Cross.

The current members are:

Joanna Goldsmith-Eteson (soprano, UK) Sara Brimer (soprano, US) Clare Wheeler (alto, UK) Oliver Griffiths (tenor, UK) (Replaced Richard Eteson mid-2010) Christopher Jay (tenor, UK) Kevin Fox (baritone, Canada) Edward Randell (bass, UK) Sound engineer: Hugh Walker (UK) In September 2011, Lucy Bailey (alto) left the group and the Swingle Singers announced the decision not to replace her, but to continue as a seven person line-up.

On 1 November 2011, both Christiane Legrand and Swingles composer André Hodeir died.

Honors and awards Grammy Award winner: 1963: Best New Artist and (for Bach's Greatest Hits) Best Performance by a Chorus, 1964: Best Performance by a Chorus, for The Swingle Singers Going Baroque 1965: Best Performance by a Chorus, for Anyone for Mozart? 1969: Best Choral Performance, for Berio: Sinfonia - Ward Swingle, choral master; Luciano Berio conducting the New York Philharmonic and Swingle Singers Grammy Award nominations: 1963: Album Of The Year, for Bach's Greatest Hits 1966: Best Performance by a Chorus, for Rococo À Go Go 1967: Best Performance by a Chorus, for Encounter, Swingle Singers with the Modern Jazz Quartet