Metro Vocal Group is an American

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 ...

group based in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

. Metro's repertoire is a mix of traditional music fused with rock and pop as well as covers of popular songs worldwide. In an

fashion, Metro uses their voices to imitate percussion, trumpets, guitars and miscellaneous sound effects as well full melodies with harmony. Metro is best remembered for their music video covering " Boundless Ocean, Vast Skies" (海闊天空), a song made famous by

rock group Beyond, and their cover of

Joey Yung Joey Yung Tso-Yi (, ; born 16 June 1980) is a Hong Kong singer signed to Emperor Entertainment Group. Since her debut in 1996, Yung has won numerous awards, including the JSG Most Popular Female Singer and Ultimate Best Female Singer – Gol ...

's "

My Pride ''My Pride'' ( Chinese: 我的驕傲) is an album recorded by Cantopop Cantopop (a contraction of "Cantonese pop music") is a genre of pop music sung in Cantonese. Cantopop is also used to refer to the cultural context of its production and ...

" (我的驕傲). The group has since received over 12 million views worldwide on video sharing websites like

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

and

Youku Youku Tudou Inc. (formerly Youku Inc.), doing business as Youku (), is a video streaming service and former video sharing website based in Beijing, China. It operates as a subsidiary of Alibaba Group Holding Limited. Youku has its headquart ...

. Since that time, Metro has released two albums, ''Music for a Metropolis'' and ''No Borders'', an all Chinese album, and has received acclaim throughout Greater China.

History

Celebrity Cruises (1998-2002)

The group was originally formed in 1998 by Eric Monson. Eric was asked to form an

quartet by a Nashville-based talent agency to provide entertainment for a six-month contract aboard

Celebrity Cruises Celebrity Cruises is a cruise line headquartered in Miami, Florida, and a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Caribbean Group. Celebrity Cruises was founded in 1988 by the Greece-based Chandris Group, and merged with Royal Caribbean Cruise Line in ...

cruiseships. Eric contacted Sean Oliver, Michael Lance and Chris Riggins to form the original ensemble. The group's first name was Four Score and their initial repertoire was mostly Barbershop and Doo-wop music. Their first contract was aboard

Mercury. After finishing the Mercury contract, Metro signed an additional contract aboard

Century for its inaugural European cruise. In 2000, the group was asked to be a part of the opening crew for the inaugural voyage of

Millennium. It was on board the Millennium where the group would find a distinct sound, adopting more of a pop rock genre, and rename themselves Metro Vocal Group. Shortly thereafter, Metro Vocal Group was hired as part of the opening crew for the

Summit's inaugural voyage.

Disney (2002-2007)

In 2002, after a successful four-year contract with Celebrity Cruises, Metro Vocal Group was hired to perform at

Tokyo Disney Resort The (local nickname ''TDR'') is a theme park and vacation resort located in Urayasu, Chiba, Japan, just east of Tokyo. The resort is owned and operated by the Oriental Land Company, the Oriental Land Co., a subsidiary of the Keisei Electric Rai ...

in Maihama,

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. While in Tokyo, they performed as the Dockside Porters at the American Waterfront of Tokyo Disney Sea and performed mostly barbershop arrangements. After three years in Tokyo, Metro was asked to open the new

Hong Kong Disneyland Hong Kong Disneyland () (abbreviated HKDL; also known as HK Disneyland or Disneyland Hong Kong) is a theme park located on reclaimed land in Penny's Bay, Lantau Island, Hong Kong. It opened to visitors on Monday, September 12, 2005, at 13:00 H ...

in 2005. Continuing with a Barbershop sound, Metro entertained as the Dapper Dans on Main Street, USA.

Hong Kong (2007-present)

In 2007, after two years performing at

, Metro continued their residency in

and now performs throughout Asia. They have appeared on ''

China's Got Talent ''China's Got Talent ''() was a Chinese reality television series on Dragon Television, Dragon TV and a part of the ''Got Talent'' franchise, hosted by Cheng Lei. It is a talent show that features all different kinds of performances of all ages ...

'',中国达人秀
www.daren.dragontv.cn (January 19, 2014). Retrieved on December 1, 2015. ''

Day Day Up ''Day Day Up'' ( zh, 天天向上; pinyin: Tiāntiān xiàngshàng) is a popular Chinese talk show broadcast on Hunan Television. The show is co-hosted by Wang Han (汪涵), Da Zhangwei (大张伟), Qian Feng (钱枫), and Wang Yibo (王一� ...

'',天天向上
www.hunantv.com (January 14, 2011). Retrieved on December 1, 2015.

RTHK Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) is the public broadcasting service of Hong Kong. GOW, the predecessor to RTHK, was established in 1928 as the first broadcasting service in Hong Kong. As a government department under the Commerce and Econom ...

CCTV Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of closed-circuit television cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signa ...

,CCTV New Year's Gala
tv.cntv.cn (September 14, 2014). Retrieved on December 1, 2015.CCTV Chinese Internet Gala
wichunwan.cntv.cn (February 11, 2015). Retrieved on December 1, 2015.

Beijing TV Beijing Radio and Television Station (BRTV), formerly Beijing Media Network (BMN), is a government-owned television network in China. It broadcasts from Beijing. The channel is available only in Chinese. Broadcasts in Beijing are on AM, FM, ca ...

Beijing TV Spring Festival Global Gala
tv.brtn.cn (February 17, 2015). Retrieved on December 1, 2015. as well as celebrity appearances on several televised programs in greater

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. Metro has also collaborated with many different artists including Ng Yip Kwan, G.E.M. and

Hacken Lee Hacken Lee (), is a Hong Kong singer, television host and actor, active since the 1980s. In 2013, Lee's song "House of Cards" swept multiple awards in many Hong Kong award ceremonies, including "World's Best Song" and "Broadcasting Index" in Metr ...

and has been featured in several albums such as the gospel collaboration WAO "We Are One" and also with Wendy Zheng on her single "Miracle Love". Metro Vocal Group now holds tours throughout Korea, China and

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

Members

;Current members *Kevin Thornton - Tenor/Lead/Vocal Percussion (2008–present) *Sean Oliver - Tenor/Lead (1998-2003, 2004–present) *Eric Monson - Baritone/Tenor (1998–present) *Michael Lance - Bass/Vocal Percussion (1998-2003, 2010–present) ;Former members *Marcus Kroese- Tenor (2004-2007) *Cody Jorgensen - Bass/Vocal Percussion (2004-2010) *Christopher Coffee - Lead (2003-2004) *Joel Diffendaffer - Bass (2003-2004) *Reggie Mobley - Tenor (2002-2004) *Del Coy - Tenor/Lead (2001-2002) *Chris Riggins - Tenor/Lead (1998-2000)

Discography

References

External links

* {{Authority control Professional a cappella groups A cappella