Vocalists
Claude McKnight formed an a cappella quartet on the campus of Oakwood College in 1980. The group signed with Warner Brothers Records seven years later and has since sold millions of recordings and won countless awards including ten Grammy Awards. The group has been active in music advocacy...
Wanda Pugh has always enjoyed singing. As a child she sang in church and later formed several vocal groups and ran several chapters of the Sweet Adalines. Her love of music led her to the NAMM Foundation’s Museum of Making Music where she was trained as a docent and has been active as a tour guide...
Gladys Hayes taught choir in school for more than 25 years and was very active in vocal programs throughout her career and after her retirement. Gladys and her husband Morris retired to Carlsbad where both volunteered at the NAMM Foundation’s Museum of Making Music. Gladys has been very active in...
Andy Hildebrand is the creator of Auto-Tune, which has had a big impact on music makers since it was first released in 1997. After a successful career as a scientist, Dr. Hildebrand had an opportunity to form his own company and began working on computer plug-ins related to music, his first love....
Bob Kranendonk sang for the choral group, the Pennsylvanians led by Fred Waring. Bob’s father also sang for the group and in fact together both men had a hit and appeared on the cover of the sheet music for the song “The Happy Wanderer.” When not touring or recording with the group, Bob worked in...
Grayson Zeagler grew up in a musical family, singing in the church and playing in the band. Grayson plays the trumpet and began as a young student. His parents opened a sheet music store in 1968 in Monroe, Louisiana and Grayson grew up in the business and said he could think of nothing else he...
Dodie Stevens loves to sing and has for as long as she can remember. Her parents told her she was singing before she talked. Dodie grew up performing on radio and early TV dance programs. In 1959 she had her first big hit, “Tan Shoes and Pink Shoelaces,” which was followed up by “No” and “Yes, I am...
Johnny Tillotson had a music television program as a teenager in Florida before landing a string of hit recordings including his smash hit “Poetry In Motion” in 1961. A year later Johnny wrote the song “It Keeps Right On a-Hurtin’” which was not only a top ten hit for him but later recorded by...
Ginny Mancini always loved singing! When she had the chance to form a backup group for a 17 year old vocalist coming from Chicago to Los Angles for the first time in the 1940s, Ginny jumped at it. The group became known as the Mel-Tones and they became the backup group for Mel Torme for over 3...
Dorothy Schwartz was one of the original members of a girls Barber Shop style group that was brainchild of a girlfriend from high school in her hometown of Sheboygan, Wisconsin. The group called themselves The Chordettes. Dorothy traveled with the group performing at Barber Shop fairs and programs...