VEGAS BOUND
THIS AWESOME FOURSOME WILL BE HITTING ALL THE RIGHT NOTES IN THE STATES
This all-women barbershop quartet is in perfect harmony
Hotels, cafés, hallways – if they don’t have a stage handy, New Zealand’s female answer to
The Jersey Boys will simply make do with anywhere!
Wherever you are, you’ll probably hear L’Attitude before you actually see them, with their harmonies soaring through the most unlikely places, even during meal times.
“When we went to lunch, the waitress was busy doing something and we sat at the table and started singing,” member Carolyn Duggan giggles. “She just froze with the food in her hands. And we sung for our hotel reception!”
This group of ladies from across New Zealand are getting in as much practise as they can before jetting off to Las Vegas for the Sweet Adelines International in October. While there, they will compete against some of the best barbershop quartets across the globe.
The awesome foursome consists of Virginia HumphreyTaylor (63) and Carolyn (59) from Christchurch, Toni Griffin (50) from Gisborne and Patrice
Driver (52) from Nelson. All of the women belong to the international non-profit organisation Sweet Adelines, which boasts 23,000 members from around the world who come together to sing a capella.
“We’ve been competitive singers in some capacity for a long time,” Toni, the lead singer, explains. “I’ve been singing for nearly 30 years.
“Virginia and I have sung together for years, and we decided before we get too old, let’s get a quartet together. We auditioned singers from all over. It’s not common for singers to be from other parts of the country, but more and more quartets have to do that to get the right combination of singers.”
As musical director of the Christchurch City Chorus, which is ranked fifth in the world, Virginia has spent years finetuning singers for international competition. She has also worked with big singing names, including the man considered “the father of contemporary a capella” and the Pitch Perfect movie franchise arranger Deke Sharon.
Virginia and Toni got to work auditioning singers across
Sweet Adelines’ New Zealand chapter to find the winning combination, and set off at once to take on the national competition. Virginia proudly states they were “convincingly successful, let’s just say that”.
The group meets every three to four weeks, if they can. L’Attitude’s repertoire consists of anything from Irving Berlin’s It’s a Lovely Day Today, to Frank Sinatra’s Witchcraft, with each lady having an important and individual part to play in the quartet. Virginia sings bass,
Toni takes the lead, Patrice is the baritone and Carolyn the tenor, which when all the parts are sung simultaneously, creates vibrant and stunning harmonies.
“It’s such an amazing feeling when everyone sings and you hear the harmonies,” says Carolyn. “It really grabs you.”
Toni nods and agrees, “What I like is when you’ve sung a ballad or something really beautiful and no-one applauds because you know you’ve got them. There’s a little hush, then they clap. I love that!”
It’s easy to see that singing is a deep passion they all share.
“The four of us love singing,” admits Virginia. ”For Toni and I, it’s been our lives. I used to work in food research, but I gave that up to pursue singing. Now I teach it full-time.”
As well as singing, Carolyn volunteers with Riding for the Disabled, Patrice cares for her father-in-law, and Toni teaches visual art and music at a primary school.
“I was attracted to Sweet Adelines because it’s everyone playing an equal part, there’s no star,” Patrice explains. “I’m always in awe of people who feel comfortable performing – it’s taken me to get to this age to do something on stage of this magnitude.”
And if their constant laughter, which is accompanied by much singing, of course, is anything to go by, then Vegas doesn’t know what’s coming with this bunch of Kiwis.
“Being in a quartet is such a rewarding experience,” tells Carolyn. “It gives you a real sense of achievement and also provides you with friendships that last forever. Being at the international convention is like going away with your best friends and family.”
Adds Toni, “Virginia and
I have been something like 10 times. We make sure we all have plenty of fun when we’re together.”
“We do laugh a lot – we’re all hilarious!” Patrice admits, pointing out it will be like a slumber party as the women share bedrooms. “And we do eat and drink a lot as well.”
But before they hit the stage in Las Vegas, they’ll be doing shows in New Zealand and the US.
“That’s the beauty of this kind of singing,” Toni smiles. “We’re very portable – you just need a pitch pipe!”
Right on cue, Virginia pulls one out from her bosom. “I always keep it here,” she chuckles.