History

History

1950:

  • Bill Moncrieff, Bob Beveridge, Pete Worthington, and Howard Crowell (all ’54) form “The Rovers”.

1952:

  • The Rovers become “The Saints.”
  • The Saints expand to an octet, then to a triple quartet, and at one point have as many as 26 members.
  • “Laurentia” released, a University-sponsored collaboration with the Laurentian Singers, the University Band, and the Sinners.
  • Saints co-founder Howard Crowell ’54 receives first official Singing Saints speeding ticket on the way to a performance.

1953:

  • Saints perform at St. Lawrence University Winter Carnival Ball with (among others) the Middlebury College Dissipated 8.

1954:

  • Saints mascot debuts: a devil with a halo perched on one horn.
  • The Saints begin wearing maroon blazers.
  • The Saints appear on a number of radio and television stations, including the Steve Allen show in New York city and WEEI in Boston, where they cut their first album.
  • The Saints become the first singing group of any kind to appear before a joint session of the Massachusetts Senate and House of Representatives.
  • The Saints appear at Sarah Lawrence College, where they sang, accompanied by Duke Ellington, his rendition of “Mood Indigo.”

1958:

early 1960s:

1962:

  • Extensive performances in Lake Placid and Wilmington, NY.
  • Saints travel to Cazenovia Junior College for the “Hootenanny”, singing with Amherst Zumbeys, University of Pennsylvania Three Pence and a Yen, Cortland State Greenbriers and Syracuse Salt City Singers.
  • Tour is planned to Edgewater Gulf Hotel in Biloxi, Mississippi.
  • Officers are: Director, David Parker ’65; President, Stewart Boal ’64; Treasurer. Lawrence Cohan ’64; Secretary, Scott Manuel ’64; Business Manager, Allen Darrone ’66; and, Special Agent for the Mississippi Trip, Hugh Biele ’66.
  • Concert dress: olive blazer, white tab shirt, black tie (no clip), flat black slacks (pressed), black sox, and shined cordovans. Fines are levied on all non-conformists.

late 1960s:

1970s:

  • “Extinction” period. Some blame an asteroid, others blame the Beatles.

1978:

  • Group restarted by Brad Lundquist ’79 as part of his senior project in music. Brad, a Laurentian Singer, gets the group singing barbershop quartet music and soon it returns to singing more traditional “glee club” songs and arrangements of popular music written by members, including George Daniels ’83.
  • Group performs at surprise birthday party for St. Lawrence President Frank Piskor.
  • Concert dress: white shirt, vest, bow tie, jeans, ‘fro.

1980:

  • Saints tour in Washington, DC and New York City areas.
  • The traditional Irish song “A Parting Blessing” is sung before “Tribute” at the end of each concert.

1986:

  • “College Days” written for the group by English professor Robert DeGraaf and St. Lawrence President Lawrence Gulick.
  • Concert dress: white shirt, tie, khaki pants, “The Saints” v-neck sweater.

1987:

1992:

  • “Singing Saints” released. The album is referred to by later groups as “The White Album.”
  • Group restarts tradition of singing “College Days.”
  • Concert dress: blue blazer, light-colored shirt, “alumni” tie, khaki pants.

1993:

  • In February, Saints perform with the University of Vermont V-8s in Gulick Theater in an attempt to determine if a major multi-group concert is possible.
  • “40th” anniversary reunion held during Homecoming/Trustee Weekend (September 9 – 11), even though the group is actually 44 years old. This error prompts the formation of the Singing Saints Alumni Association. Bill Moncreif ’54, Allan Fisher ’65and Jim Christie ’81 are elected its first officers.
  • “Over the Hill: The Saints Turn Forty” released.
  • The Watertown Daily Times runs a feature article about the group.
  • Mid-semester tour to Mt. Holyoke, Amherst and Smith Colleges.
  • The Singing Saints tradition of wearing red socks begins.
  • The Saints tape a performance to be broadcast Christmas Eve on WWNY-7, the Watertown television station.
  • The Saints book a Christmas season concert at the Mall in nearby Massena, NY. Concert is highlighted by an impromptu skit with Matt Lyndaker ’96 playing Santa Claus and Eric Matthews (transferred to St. Olaf University after one year) sitting on Matt’s lap and asking in a squeaky voice for “G.I. Joe with Kung Fu grip” causing three Saints to fall off the back of the risers in uncontrollable laughter.

1994:

  • First-ever Vocal Accord concert held on February 26 in Gulick Theater. Singing Saints and Sinners host Smith College Smithereens, Instrumentally Challenged and Bucknell Bison Chips with hopes that the concert will become an annual event.
  • On the way to a concert at Beaver River High School, Peter Saunders ’94, not aware that his license has been suspended in at least three states, is pulled over for speeding. Peter escapes arrest because the officer is unable to locate a judge to hear the case. The group is so late to the concert that Jeffrey Uchin ’95 must shave in the parking lot.
  • Saints raise $1000 at benefit performance for the Granby (CT) Food Bank. The concert, held in the gym of the Pilgrim Covenant Church before 300 area residents and SLU alumni, is immediately followed by a three-on-three basketball game.
  • The Saints perform at Chi Omega Mother-Daughter weekend. The wager remains open.

1995:

  • Saints return early to campus for the first time to sing at Orientation for the class of 1998. This gives the Saints a chance to recruit freshman talent before they are bombarded with choices when school starts. Fall audition turnout is better than ever.
  • Longtime friend, Saints advisor, and Director of Alumni Relations, Frank Shields ’54 retires. Saints perform at his retirement party for an impromptu concert farewell.
  • Fall Tour to UNH, Middlebury and Smith Colleges.
  • “Vocal Accord ’95” released, a collaboration with the Singing Sinners, the Instrumentally Challenged, and the Binghamton Crosbys.
  • Ken Hughes ’98 creates the first official Singing Saints webpage.
  • While heading to the studio at WSLU to record during senior week, Lucas Clark ’97 decides to sit on the hood of Joe Liberty’s ’96 car. Joe pops the clutch and the car takes off with Lucas on the hood. Just as quickly, Joe steps on the brake and Lucas slides off the front of the car and partially underneath. Several Saints who are walking behind the car see Lucas disappear under the hood and a huge dark wet liquid splatter on the pavement in front of the car. Everyone thinks Lucas is dead. It turns out he was holding a huge paper cup filled with water. Lucas did hit his head but managed to get through the recording session without passing out. This incident later inspires the next album title, “A Funny Thing Happened On The Way to the Studio.”

1996:

  • Jerry Peters ’95, Adam French ’97 and Adam Schrader ’98 rent a house on Nantucket and, together with Jerry’s brother, who sang with the Colgate 13, recruit some local talent and became the “Nantucket Cobbletones.” The group is still going strong today. Check them out at www.cobbletones.com.
  • “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Studio” released.
  • Barrett Peterson ’87 hosts a benefit auction and Singing Saints reunion in Burlington, VT.
  • After Fall auditions, Jonathan Ntheketha ’00 becomes the very first Singing Saint of African descent.

1997:

  • Saints travel to the University of Rochester on November 23 to perform in the quarterfinals of the National Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (NCCA). Though the Rochester Yellowjackets win and Cornell Nothing But Treble place second, the Saints’ arrangement of the Elvis Costello song “Veronica” (by Mark Tavern ’94) wins Best Arrangement.

1998:

  • Spring road trips to Colgate, UNH, Williams. On his first Saints road trip, Paul Hughes ’00 liberates a giant bag of bagels and a bottle of wine from the Colgate 13 after engaging in a knife fight. On the Williams trip, the Saints receive parking tickets for parking where the Williams group tell them to.
  • During an outing to Montreal, Singing Saints appear on the Expo’s Jumbotron, experience a vehicular mishap, and several Saints Hats are stolen or forever ruined by employees of Le Chateau du Sexe.
  • Midsemester Tour to Brockport and Kendall High Schools, Bucknell, Russell Sage, and Smith.
  • Fall road trips to Paul Smith’s, Canton Tech. Poet Maurice Kenney attempts to sabotage the Paul Smith’s performance by looking in the cabin window and making a certain bass guffaw during the middle of “Lullabye.” The people of Canton Tech attempt to sabotage the Canton Tech performance by talking as loudly as they can throughout the entire set. Saints retreat to friendlier climes.
  • Brad Catton ’01 and Jason Beerman ’99 create “Saints: Live!” for Alice Hessert’s “Music and the Stage” class. Copies limited to members of the current group, select alumni, and of course, the ladies.
  • Ken Hughes ’98 hands over the reins of the official Saints webpage to Paul Hughes ’00 (no relation, although Ken was Paul’s CA in Rebert in 1996.)

1999:

  • The Saints begin wearing scarlet blazers again at Vocal Accord 1999. Unable to locate a guest group, the Saints also appear as the Franklin and Marshall Falsettas. Jason Beerman ’99 thereafter regarded as “the ugliest redhead ever.”
  • The Saints perform at the Ahhh Cappella! Invitational at Canton High School with the St. Lawrence Chorus Sweet Adelines International and Quasar.
  • Spring road trips to Wheaton and the Northwood School in Lake Placid. On the way home from Lake Placid, Dan Hoy ’00 decides to smash his SUV into a deer.
  • Singing Saints Jonathan Ntheketha ’00, Paul Hughes ’00, Adam Kurtz ’00 and Ken Bowers ’01 perform “Silhouettes” for Kirk Douglas, 16 September 1999. Kirk’s reaction: “Two silhouettes on the shade!”
  • “Yardwork!” released, debuts at Family Weekend Concert, 01 October 1999. Yardwork! multimedia marketing blitzkrieg commences on the internet and in various freshman dorms. Overzealous Saints accidentally sell the last CD copies of the “Funny Thing” album.
  • Midsemester Tour to Georgetown, Connecticut College, and Russell Sage.
  • Senior members Jonathan Ntheketha ’00 and Paul Hughes ’00 charged with grand theft auto in the Whitman parking lot.
  • Saints invited to perform at a holiday gathering for St. Lawrence alumnus Steve Munn in Syracuse, NY, where they go through two bottles of Dom Perginon in thirty seconds.

2000:

  • Graduating Singing Saints use mathematics and quantum physics to determine that over the course of four years, they have collectively contributed over $40,000 to the University Inn Bartenders Children’s College Fund.
  • Singing Saints 50th Reunion.

2002:

  • “Listen: St. Lawrence University Class of 2006” released. Release limited to incoming freshman from the class of 2006, collaboration with the Singing Sinners and the Laurentian Singers. Produced by Jonathan Ntheketha ’00.
  • First-Annual Singing Saints Young Alumni Robert Urich Memorial Frisbee Tournament held on Long Island.
  • Singing Saints 52nd Reunion. Members of the Saints from 1994 and 1995 arrive in a Winnebago and serve cocktails. Members of the Saints from 1998 to 2000 eat pickled eggs at the Sunoco and have a slumber party with various Sinners.

2005:

  • Singing Saints 55th Reunion, June 2-5, 2005. Members of the Saints from 1994 and 1995 arrive in a Winnebago and serve cocktails. Members of the Saints from 1998 to 2000 eat pickled eggs at the Sunoco and have a slumber party with various Sinners. The legend continues.

2006:

2010:

  • Singing Saints 60th Reunion.

2015:

  • Singing Saints 65th Reunion.