Suntones I The Fiddler on the Roof Medley
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- Опубліковано 21 лип 2020
- The Suntones with Drayton Justus on lead performs the legendary Fiddler on the Roof Medley to a packed house during their 1991 "Together Tour" with the Bluegrass Student Union.
1961 International Champions the Suntones thesuntones.com/
1978 International Champions the Bluegrass Student Union
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I miss Geno!😢…So blessed to spend so much Time with Him!
The Suntones to THIS DAY hold up... they always will, too. Absolute legends, and Gene is one of my favorite tenors ever. I was in awe when I watched this during the AIC show
I'm couldn't stop smiling through the whole thing. Man these guy are legendary.
The Suntones were the reason I got into barbershop. Every year my Mom [who was influenced by my Grandfather who loved barbershop] would take me to the Miamians annual show. I remember asking her how I could join? She didn't know back then. We bought every album they had every year. By ten I knew the bass and tenor to every song without knowing how to read music. it was just always playing in the house!
Then out of pure luck one time we were fishing in the Keys and came back to dock and my Mom all excited says, "I have someone you want to meet"! It so happened that while we were out fishing my Mom struck up conversation with a lady next to her on the beach. The lady said she was going to the store and asked if Mom would like to join her? She obliged and during the ride she finds out through conversation that her husband Dick Rowen was the president of the Miami chapter! Holy crap!
So I went to a few rehearsals and the criteria of the Miamians was that after three rehearsals you could audition to join. But their audition was joining three other guys IN FRONT of the chorus during the break. They asked you to "woodshed" a song I had no idea of what it was. They had another guy that was your part [tenor] that happened to be Rik Ogden in front moving his hands up and down directing the notes. The song..."Shine On Me". did it with relative ease. After we were done I asked if we could sing "Bye, Bye, Blues"? A crazy arrangement by Gene and they reluctantly agreed. I nailed it! At ten years old! The chorus freaked out! Needless to say I joined.
After a few weeks I was listening to the Suntones and pulled out an album cover [back then the covers were stacked underneath the phonograph and all the albums were on a spindle that dropped into place when that album was done - so we never saw the album covers. I looked at it and I shouted to my Mom that the tenor was Gene Cokeroft - the director of the Miamians! I was star-struck! I went back to the rehearsals realizing the guy who I most admired was teaching myself and the chorus his secrets of great singing! Him and his wife Iris wrote so many songs together. I enjoyed every one of them. We had June Taylor as our choreographer by cripes sake!
The guys in this chorus took me under their wings and taught me SO many traits that I still carry on today... How to perfect yourself to give you the best chance of winning and be the best. And we won a lot! But it was also the part of being humble if you don't win but be even more humble if you do. But seeing the Suntones as many times as I did while sharing the stage together or when they'd all come to our rehearsals and sing after hours was such a great memory of my childhood and such a blessing!
I just regret two things - One, that I was always looking up to them and thinking they'd never want to sing with me and NEVER asking - they most likely would have loved it knowing how genuine they were and two - that I never reached out to Gene after I grew older still having that respect of how much of a "star" he was to me and give him his distance.
He passed a few years ago and I just know that deep down inside that if I called him and I started by singing, "My Hometown is the Best Around" [a Miamians opening song] that it would have lit up that amazing - genuine side-smile that resonates with me still today. Gene, Bob, Harlan, Bill and Drayton... You were my rock and still are the classiest guys I've ever known. Iris, you were amazing and seeing you and Gene interact with the chorus or with each other was a cute as it could get!
When I moved and left Miami I did ask Gene for an autograph. He pulled out a Miamians business card and on the back he wrote, "Steve, never stop singing BBShop"! I lived up to that and sing it quite often. Gene, I miss you! The world was o much better with the Suntones ringing in our ears!
Surely the most influential quartet of their era and beyond. Thank you for sharing this truly great quartet.
These four led the way for music excellence!
Such a unique style!
Oh my goodness I love this grew up with barbershop n had a Sunstone album. With this medley. Thanks for the wonderful memories ❤
These medleys are masterpieces, all of them.
The sunrise sunset part is absolutely beautiful. The harmonies make it even more powerful than the original, I think.
This slaps 🔥🔥 Drayton Justus is fire
I totally agree. probably the best voice this Society has produced
can we just talk about the whistle at 2:24 !!
I preferred when the sang with Bob, but still classic!