Saturday, September 17, 2011

Life After A Cappella

With the huge number of college a cappella groups out there, it should come as no surprise that some of the alums of these groups should go onto careers in music using (GASP!) instruments. Here's a before and after comparison of four of the best.

Sara Bareilles

Back in College

Before she became the newest judge on The Sing-Off, Sara Bareilles sang in a UCLA's Awaken A Cappella. The collegiate a cappella repertoire is mostly made of cover songs, but that didn't stop Sara and Awaken from singing her original composition "Gravity." The recording was selected to appear on the Best of College A Cappella 2004 compilation.



Life After A Cappella

For her solo career, Sara sat down at a piano, got a band, and recorded a new version of "Gravity." And a little thing called "Love Song." (I think it sold a few copies.) Here she is singing her super catchy "King of Anything" on Craig Ferguson.



Jonathan Coulton

Back In College

Jonathan Coulton sang in the prestigious, if not especially hip, Whiffenpoofs. Here's his solo turn on "Midnight Train to Georgia."



It doesn't begin to hint at the performer he'll grow to be, but it's not bad when you consider how hard it is to be soulful when you're surrounded by men in tuxedos (white tie, no less.)

Life After A Cappella

Jonathan Coulton is a reveared singer-songwriter. Many of the songs are noteworthy for their nerdy sense of humor, but he doesn't write throw-away novelty songs--the songs are built on a very real emotional foundation.

Coulton rise to fame happened while he was doing a project where he'd record and release a song every week for a year. Given his a cappella experience, it makes sense that his homemade tracks would feature great vocal harmonies, but don't forget that he's also a multi-instrumentalist. He played almost all of the parts on the Thing-A-Week songs.



Coulton is currently recording a new studio album -- produced by TMBG's John Flansburgh -- with a full band.

John Legend

Back in College

John Legend used to sing with a pop/jazz group at the University of Pennsylvania called The Counterparts. His solos on songs like Joan Osbourn's "One of Us" and Prince's "Somebody's Somebody" made it clear that he was a talent worth watching. Here's his version of "We Can Work It Out" (in the footprints of Stevie Wonder's cover version.)



Life After A Cappella

How good is this guy? He changed his last name to "Legend" (his real name is John Stephens) and absolutely nobody thinks it was an act of hubris.



Adam Gardner
Back in College

Adam Gardner sang in the Tufts Beelzebubs.



Life After A Cappella

You may know Adam as one of the singers and guitarists of the band Guster. Like the Beelzebubs, Guster was also a founded by Tufts students.



Gabriel Mann

Back in College

Gabriel Mann sang with Off the Beat from the University of Pennsylvania. During this time, he was well regarded for his inventive and extremely influential arrangements. While the Beelzebubs (especially Deke Sharon) are known for having taught college groups how to sing like rock stars, Gabe was credited for introducing an alternative sound to the scene through the use of complex charts and sylables that were more suitable to Pearl Jam covers than than the traditional "Ba," "Da," "Doo," and "Dum" sounds.



Life After A Cappella

Gabriel Mann has released several records as a solo artist. Most recently, he joined the quartet The Rescues.



What Goes Around, Comes Around

The fully instrumented songs by the former collegiate a cappella singers... are now getting covered by a cappella groups. To give you just a taste, here's The Rescue's song "Crazy Ever After" as covered by the Socal Vocals.