By Rob Clark
Staff Writer of The Dallas Morning News
Bruce Smith is an a cappella
aficionado, and it shows. He's eager to talk about the popularity of
the old-school singing style in modern-day music, and is quick to point
out that it is here to stay.
Mr. Smith got his first taste of a cappella on the streets of
Brooklyn. Growing up in the '50s and '60s, it was hard to avoid.
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The a cappella group 4 Ever Young, with (from left)
John Beiseigel, Joel Just, Lee Halvorsen and
Bruce Smith, favors oldies rock 'n' roll. |
"I just loved it, the sound of it," he says. "You
couldn't walk three or four blocks without seeing a group singing on
the corner. And I saw all the girls around them, and that didn't hurt
the cause, either."
A veteran of several a cappella groups, Mr. Smith now leads
4 Ever Young, a quartet that specializes in oldies rock 'n'
roll. Mr. Smith, who moved to Dallas in 1979, serves as first tenor;
Lee Halvorsen is second tenor, John Beiseigel is bass and Joel Just
sings baritone... |
A typical 4 Ever Young show might include such
standards as the Coasters' "Charlie Brown," Dion & the Belmonts'
"Teenager in Love," the Marcels' "Blue Moon" and Ricky Nelson's "Hello
Mary Lou."
Those songs strike a chord with baby boomers, Mr. Smith says, and that generation is the key to a cappella's staying power.
"There's
a huge calling for our particular style," he says. "The baby boomers
grew up on this, so they are our market. We're also well received by
the children of |
baby boomers, because their parents played that music when their kids were growing up."
Not that 4 Ever Young doesn't have modern inclinations. The group has an extensive Web site (www.4ey.com)...
And for the record, yes, Mr. Smith is a Rod Stewart fan, and called upon one of the pop star's hits for the quartet's name...
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