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The Swingles are an
a cappella Music performed a cappella ( , , ; ), less commonly spelled acapella in English, is music performed by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Rena ...
vocal group. The Swingle Singers were originally formed in 1962 in Paris under the leadership of
Ward Swingle Ward Lamar Swingle (September 21, 1927 – January 19, 2015) was an American vocalist and jazz musician who founded The Swingle Singers in France in 1962. Life and career Born in Mobile, Alabama, Swingle studied music, particularly jazz, from a ...
. In 1973, Swingle disbanded the French group, and formed an English group known initially as Swingle II and later as the New Swingle Singers, before settling on the Swingles name.


History


French group

The Swingle Singers were formed in Paris in 1962 and directed originally by Ward Swingle (who once belonged to
Mimi Perrin Jeannine "Mimi" Perrin (2 February 1926 – 16 November 2010) was a French jazz pianist, singer, and translator. Music career Perrin received private musical instruction, including piano as a child and pursued English studies at Sorbonne. In ...
's French vocal group Les Double Six). They began as session singers, mainly doing backing vocals for singers such as
Charles Aznavour Charles Aznavour ( ; ; ; born Shahnur Vaghinak Aznavourian; 22 May 1924 – 1 October 2018) was a Armenians in France, French singer and songwriter of Armenian descent. Aznavour was known for his distinctive vibrato tenor voice: clear and ringi ...
and
Edith Piaf Edith is a feminine given name derived from the Old English word , meaning ''wealth'' or ''prosperity'', in combination with the Old English , meaning '' strife'', and is in common usage in this form in English, German, many Scandinavian lang ...
. Their original lineup was Anne Germain, Claude Germain, Jeanette Baucomont,
Christiane Legrand Christiane Legrand (21 August 1930 – 1 November 2011) was a French soprano singer. Biography Legrand was born in Paris. Her father Raymond Legrand was a conductor and composer renowned for hits such as ''Irma la douce'', and her moth ...
, Claudine Meunier, Jean-Claude Briodin, and Jean Cussac, with Legrand (sister of
Michel Legrand Michel Jean Legrand (; 24 February 1932 – 26 January 2019) was a French musical composer, arranger, conductor, jazz pianist, and singer. Legrand was a prolific composer, having written over 200 film and television scores, in addition to ma ...
) the original lead soprano. The ensemble sang some jazz vocals for Michel Legrand. The eight session singers sang through
Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the or ...
's ''
Well-Tempered Clavier ''The Well-Tempered Clavier'', BWV 846–893, consists of two sets of preludes and fugues in all 24 major and minor keys for keyboard by Johann Sebastian Bach. In the composer's time ''clavier'' referred to a variety of keyboard instruments, ...
'' as a sight-reading exercise and found the music to have a natural swing. They recorded their first album '' Jazz Sébastien Bach'' as a present for friends and relatives. Many radio stations picked it up and this led to the group recording more albums and winning a total of five
Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...
s. The French group typically performed and recorded with a double bass and drums as accompaniment. In 1973, Ward Swingle disbanded the original French group when he and his family moved to England.


English group

upright=1.2, The Swingles at the Black Forest Voices Festival in Kirchzarten, Germany in 2019">Kirchzarten.html" ;"title="Black Forest Voices Festival in Kirchzarten">Black Forest Voices Festival in Kirchzarten, Germany in 2019 In England, Swingle assembled a group of singers with an emphasis moved from classical music to ''
a cappella Music performed a cappella ( , , ; ), less commonly spelled acapella in English, is music performed by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Rena ...
'' arrangements of madrigals and then on to other styles. This group debuted Swingle II, and performed and recorded under the name The Swingles, The New Swingle Singers, and The Swingle Singers before settling on The Swingles. The group has remained continuously active since its formation, with departing members replaced by audition. Ward Swingle continued as a performer in the group until retiring to the United States in 1984 and taking the role of "musical adviser" to the Swingles until his death in 2015. Until 2011, the group consisted of eight voices: two
soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...
s, two
alto The musical term alto, meaning "high" in Italian (Latin: '' altus''), historically refers to the contrapuntal part higher than the tenor and its associated vocal range. In four-part voice leading alto is the second-highest part, sung in ch ...
s, two
tenor A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...
s and two
bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...
es. However, when alto Lucy Bailey left the group in 2011, the Swingles announced the decision not to replace her, but to continue as a seven-person line-up. The current group performs primarily, but not exclusively, ''a cappella'' and over the decades has explored a wide range of styles, from show tunes to rock to ''avant garde'' to world folkloric music to straight ahead jazz to classical, including the entire repertoire of the original Swingle Singers. The Swingles are curators of the London A Cappella Festival, based at
Kings Place Kings Place is a building in London's King's Cross area, providing music and visual arts venues combined with seven floors of office space. It has housed the editorial offices of ''The Guardian'' newspaper since December 2008 and is the form ...
. , the members are: *Mallika Bhagwat (soprano, India/UK) (since April 2023) *Sarah Alison (alto, USA) (as of 2025) *Laura Moisey-Gray (alto, UK) (as of 2025) *James Botcher (tenor, UK) (since September , 2024) *Owen Butcher (tenor, UK) (since February 2024) *Jamie Wright (baritone and vocal percussionist, UK) (since January 2020) *Tom Hartley (bass, UK) (since June 2022)


Performances and releases

An early hit for the group was
Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the or ...
's "
Air on the G String "Air on the G String", also known as "Air for G String" and "Celebrated Air", is August Wilhelmj's 1871 arrangement of the second movement of Johann Sebastian Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major, BWV 1068. Contains several audio versions o ...
", recorded with the
Modern Jazz Quartet The Modern Jazz Quartet (MJQ) was a jazz combo established in 1952 that played music influenced by classical music, classical, cool jazz, blues and bebop. The Quartet consisted of John Lewis (pianist), John Lewis (piano), Milt Jackson (vibraphon ...
; it has been used as the theme tune to a popular Italian TV Show, ''Superquark'', as well as the Swedish Children's program, ''Beppes godnattstund'', hosted by Beppe Wolgers.
Luciano Berio Luciano Berio (24 October 1925 – 27 May 2003) was an Italian composer noted for his experimental music, experimental work (in particular his 1968 composition ''Sinfonia (Berio), Sinfonia'' and his series of virtuosic solo pieces titled ''Seque ...
wrote his postmodern symphony '' Sinfonia for eight voices and orchestra'' in 1968 with the Swingle Singers in mind (appearing on the original premiere recording with the
New York Philharmonic The New York Philharmonic is an American symphony orchestra based in New York City. Known officially as the ''Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc.'', and globally known as the ''New York Philharmonic Orchestra'' (NYPO) or the ''New Yo ...
). They also premiered Berio's '' A-Ronne'' in 1974, which they later recorded. They also recorded Ben Johnston's "Sonnets of Desolation" in 1984. In 2005, their recording of Bach's Prelude in F Minor was incorporated into the hit single "
They In Modern English, ''they'' is a third-person pronoun relating to a grammatical subject. Morphology In Standard Modern English, ''they'' has five distinct word forms: * ''they'': the nominative (subjective) form * ''them'': the accus ...
", by
Jem Griffiths Jemma Gwynne Griffiths (born 18 May 1975), known by her stage name Jem, is a Welsh singer, songwriter, and record producer. Born and raised in Penarth, Glamorgan, she began songwriting at an early age. After graduating from university in 1996, ...
; the piece was also used in the 2006 film ''
The Gigolos ''The Gigolos'' is a 2005 British comedy film directed by Richard Bracewell, starring Sacha Tarter, Trevor Sather and Ben Willbond alongside Susannah York, Anna Massey, Angela Pleasence and Siân Phillips. Bracewell's debut feature, ''Th ...
''. The group's music has a trademark sound and is used frequently on television (''
The West Wing ''The West Wing'' is an American political drama television series created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1999, to May 14, 2006. The series is set primarily in the West Wing of the White House, where t ...
'', ''
Sex and the City ''Sex and the City'' is an American romantic comedy, romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO, based on Sex and the City (newspaper column), the newspaper column and 1996 book by Candace Bushnell. It premiered in th ...
'', ''
Miami Vice ''Miami Vice'' is an American crime drama television series created by Anthony Yerkovich and produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The series stars Don Johnson as James "Sonny" Crockett and Philip Michael Thomas as Ricardo Tubbs, Ricardo "Rico" Tub ...
'', ''
Glee Glee may refer to: * Glee (music), a type of English choral music * ''Glee'' (TV series), an American musical comedy-drama TV series, and related media created by Ryan Murphy * ''Glee'' (Bran Van 3000 album) * ''Glee'' (Logan Lynn album) * Gle ...
''), in movies (Bach's Fugue in G Minor (BWV 578) in '' Thank You for Smoking'',
Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...
's " Horn Concerto No. 4" in ''
Wedding Crashers ''Wedding Crashers'' is a 2005 American romantic comedy film directed by David Dobkin, written by Steve Faber and Bob Fisher, starring Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn and Christopher Walken with Rachel McAdams, Isla Fisher, Bradley Cooper and ...
'', Bach's "Prelude No.7 in E flat he Well Tempered Clavier – Book 2 BWV 876 in ''Milk''). The English group sang with French pop star
Étienne Daho Étienne Daho (; ; born 14 January 1956) is a French singer-songwriter. He has released a number of synth-driven and rock- surf influenced pop hit singles since 1981. Career Daho was born in Oran, French Algeria. He sings in a low, whispery vo ...
on his songs "Timide intimité" and "Soudain" from his 1996 album ''Eden'', and with
the Style Council The Style Council were an English pop band formed in Woking in 1982 by Paul Weller, the former lead vocalist, principal songwriter and guitarist with the rock band the Jam, and keyboardist Mick Talbot, previously a member of Dexys Midnight Ru ...
on their song "The Story of Someone's Shoe" from the 1988 album ''Confessions of a Pop Group''. They appeared several times on the
BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1 January 1927. It p ...
sketch show Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches" or, "skits", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. While the form developed and became popular in ...
''
The Two Ronnies ''The Two Ronnies'' is a British television comedy sketch show starring Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett. It was created by Bill Cotton and aired on BBC1 from 10 April 1971 to 25 December 1987. The usual format included sketches, solo se ...
'' in the early 1970s. In September 2014, the French blog ''Dans l'ombre des studios'' published Swingle Singers' '' Pavane for a Dead Princess'' (
Maurice Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism in music, Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composer ...
), a previously unreleased 1967 recording.


Discography

* ''Jazz Sebastien Bach'' (
Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), simply branded Philips, is a Dutch multinational health technology company that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, its world headquarters have been situated in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarter ...
, 1963) * ''Anyone for Mozart?'' (Philips, 1964) * ''Going Baroque'' (Philips, 1964) * ''Les Romantiques'' (Philips, 1965) * ''Place Vendome'' with the
Modern Jazz Quartet The Modern Jazz Quartet (MJQ) was a jazz combo established in 1952 that played music influenced by classical music, classical, cool jazz, blues and bebop. The Quartet consisted of John Lewis (pianist), John Lewis (piano), Milt Jackson (vibraphon ...
(Philips, 1966) * ''Rococo a Go Go'' (Philips, 1966) * ''Concerto D'Aranjuez: Sounds of Spain'' (Philips, 1967) * ''J. S. Bach'' (Philips, 1968) * ''Jazz Von Bach Bis Chopin'' (Philips, 1968) * ''Noels Sans Passeport'' (Philips, 1968) * ''Jazz Sebastian Bach Volume 2'' (Philips, 1968) * ''Sinfonia/Visage'' with
Luciano Berio Luciano Berio (24 October 1925 – 27 May 2003) was an Italian composer noted for his experimental music, experimental work (in particular his 1968 composition ''Sinfonia (Berio), Sinfonia'' and his series of virtuosic solo pieces titled ''Seque ...
, The
New York Philharmonic The New York Philharmonic is an American symphony orchestra based in New York City. Known officially as the ''Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc.'', and globally known as the ''New York Philharmonic Orchestra'' (NYPO) or the ''New Yo ...
,
Cathy Berberian Catherine Anahid Berberian (July 4, 1925 – March 6, 1983) was an American mezzo-soprano and composer based in Italy. She worked closely with many contemporary avant-garde music composers, including Luciano Berio, Bruno Maderna, John Cage, Hen ...
(
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
, 1969) * ''American Look'' (Philips, 1969) * ''Bitter Ending'' with Andre Hodeir (
Epic Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film defined by the spectacular presentation of human drama on a grandiose scale Epic(s) ...
, 1972) * ''Les 4 Saisons'' (Philips, 1972) * ''The Joy of Singing'' (Philips, 1972) * ''Attention! The Swingle Singers'' (
Fontana Fontana may refer to: Places Italy *Fontana Liri, comune in the Province of Frosinone *Fontanafredda, comune in the Province of Pordenone * Fontanarosa, comune in the Province of Avellino *Francavilla Fontana, comune in the Province of Brindisi ...
, 1973) * ''Swinging Bach'' (Fontana, 1974) * ''Jazz Meets Baroque'' (Fontana, 1976) * ''Swingle Bells'' (Columbia, 1978) * ''Swingle Skyliner'' (Columbia, 1979) * ''Folio'' (MMG, 1980) * ''Instrumentals'' (
Polydor Polydor Limited, also known as Polydor Records, is a British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in ...
, 1986) * ''Christmas'' (Polydor, 1986) * ''Sinfonia Eindrucke'' with Orchestre National De France (
Erato In Greek mythology, Erato (; ) is one of the Greek Muses, the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. The name would mean "desired" or "lovely", if derived from the same root as Eros, as Apollonius of Rhodes playfully sugge ...
, 1986) * ''Nothing but Blue Skies'' (Trax, 1988) * ''1812'' (Swingle Singers, 1989) * ''The Bach Album'' (Swingle Singers, 1990) * ''A Cappella Amadeus: A Mozart Celebration'' (
Virgin Virginity is a social construct that denotes the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. As it is not an objective term with an operational definition, social definitions of what constitutes virginity, or the lack thereof ...
, 1991) * ''Around the World/Folk Music/An A Cappela Song Collection'' (Virgin, 1991) * ''Notability'' (Swingle Singers, 1993) * ''Bach Hits Back'' (Virgin, 1994) * ''Pretty Ringtime: English Twentieth Century Songs'' (Swingle Singers, 1994) * ''New World'' (Swingle Singers, 1995) * ''The Story of Christmas'' (Primarily a Cappella 1998) * ''Screen Tested'' (Swingle Singers, 1998) * ''Ticket to Ride'' (Swingle Singers, 1999) * ''Keyboard Classics'' (Swingle Singers, 2002) * ''Mood Swings'' (Primarily a Cappella 2002) * ''Retrospective: The 40th Anniversary Show'' (Sounds Good 2003) * ''Unwrapped'' (Swingle Singers, 2004) * ''Ferris Wheels'' (Swingle Singers, 2009) * ''Weather to Fly'' (World Village 2013) * ''Snapshots, Volume 1'' (2020) * ''Snapshots, Volume 2'' (2021) * ''Theatreland'' (2024)


Past members

''Source =''


References


External links


Official site


* Interviews of Swingle Singer

an

(French)
BACH & friends Documentary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swingle Singers, The Musical groups established in 1974 Musical groups from Paris British vocal groups Professional a cappella groups Vocalese singers Grammy Award winners Vocal jazz ensembles 1974 establishments in England