Marin Music Festival Inspires A Capella Genre's National Popularity

In the British-themed tavern, the Mayflower Pub, located in San Rafael, Marin County, the northern European tradition of group sing-a-longs while drinking beer was alive and well for several decades. Every Tuesday singers from around the county would congregate at the pub for an evening of hops and harmony.

Looking for more opportunities for the singers, Mayflower regular Lisa Murphy had the idea of finding other local vocal ensembles and hosting a competition purely for the fun of singing a cappella (and drinking beer). And so in 1984 the Harmony Sweepstakes was founded as an evening program at the outdoor Marin performing arts festival “In Performance at Forest Meadows."

The event was an instant success and enjoyed full houses (and record beer sales) from the outset. Local theatrical producer and a cappella aficionado John Neal immediately saw the potential to take the concept nationally. An agreement was made between Neal and Murphy and the following year shows were added in Los Angeles and Denver. Other regions soon followed and the expanding interest in a cappella became contagious with top-notch vocal harmony groups applying from every corner of the country.

After several years the event outgrew the Forest Meadows venue and moved into the nearby and larger Angelico Auditorium at Dominican College. With a new family and growing work commitments Lisa Murphy stepped aside, and John Neal has been the executive producer ever since. Before long the event outgrew Angelico and moved to Marin’s largest indoor venue, The Veterans Auditorium located at the Marin Center, San Rafael.

In 2008 Neal was approached by producers at Sony Pictures Television about creating a reality TV series based around an a cappella competition. Sony sent a large production crew to film the 2009 National Finals. A “sizzle reel” from the show was created and used to successfully sell the concept to NBC. The prime time series is called The Sing-Off and Neal was hired as a consultant. Now in its four season the series is a weekly two-hour prime time broadcast with each season featuring a former Harmony Sweepstakes national champion.

The Harmony Sweepstakes has presented some of the nation’s most talented vocal groups and many of the National Champions continue to have successful professional music careers. Natural 7 is signed to Sony and are the regular opening act for Michael Buble, The Knudsen Brothers (now called Six) perform months long engagements in Branson and Las Vegas, The Idea of North tour in their native Australia and Germany’s Vocaldente tours internationally. M-Pact, The Coats, VOCO, 17th Avenue All-Stars and Chapter 6 all perform steadily and MAXX Factor, Groove for Thought, and North Shore were each on a season of NBC’s The Sing Off.

The Harmony Sweepstakes is firmly established as a favorite Bay Area annual music event and consistently sells out its competitions. The success of these shows lead to the creation of record label and retail web site Primarily A Cappella (www.singers.com) which sells and distributes a cappella CDs, songbooks and DVDs. Based in the same building in San Rafael for over 15 years the Harmony Sweepstakes is a major hub for all things a cappella.

29th Annual Harmony Sweepstakes A Cappella Festival National Finals

Saturday May 18, 8PM
Marin Veteran’s Auditorium
Avenue of the Flags, San Rafael

Regional champions performing in the National Finals are:-

Los Angeles - Honey Whiskey Trio
Chicago - The Cat's Pajamas
Boston - Fermata Town
Washington DC – Lustre
New York - The Rainbows
Seattle - Rezonate
San Francisco - Ro Sham Bo

Hosted by 2012 National Champions - Six Appeal

Harmony Sweepstakes A Cappella Festival
http://www.harmony-sweepstakes.com