A cappella Comes to NBC

Dec. 14, 2009 - PRLog -- Additional episodes (all at 8:00/7:00c) will also air Tuesday, December 15 and Wednesday, December 16 with the season finale on Monday, December 21. Each installment will run two hours. Nick Lachey is hosting and the performances will be critiqued by singer Ben Folds, Boyz II Men member Shawn Stockham, and a rotating guest judge who will be announced each night. Of course we hope it's a huge success so that the A cappella legends who paved the way  might finally be acknowledged.

To be able to see this come true in our life time is a miracle. Although, A cappella has been disregarded by the music industry for the past 40 years it has survived, thrived and it’s very alive!. It began on the street corners of Jersey City, New York City and other urban cities along the A cappella corridor that stretches from Boston to Philadelphia-Pittsburgh. A group of guys singing on a street corner 45 years ago has now gone global.

But here’s the rub, the producers of the "Sing Off" showcase have overlooked the  “Kings of A cappella” in favor of celebs with little knowledge of  the art of A cappella to be the judges, as opposed to persons with actual expertise.. Did the producers do their homework and purposely ignore  living legend Jerry Lawson or do they simply get an F in research? Lawson former lead singer, arranger and producer of the Persuasions, who against all odds put A cappella on the map is easily the most important figure in American A cappella of the last 40 years and would be a gift to their program.  Leaving him out speaks volumes about their own knowledge of the black sheep genre of the music industry.

During Lawson’s 40 years of dedication to keeping the dying art alive, A cappella was written off as simply a  “novelty” act. The labels and radio were sure that nobody wanted to hear 5 guys with no band. The Persuasions’  22 albums were just  a convenient tax write off while “bands” were issued 6 figure deals and  international promotion.

In a way The Persuasions infectious, joyful and soulful music was banned never giving music lovers a chance to decide for themselves if this was music that moved them. What if museums prohibited Kahlo or libraries banned James Baldwin or The Boxing Commission kept Ali out of the ring? No PR and no radio play means no exposure which equals no sales. But word of mouth and one show at a time Persuasions fanatics were born around the world. And though the group never received 99% of their royalties they remained dedicated to the art form. They taught the children what you could do without  instruments. They took their shows to as many colleges, high schools and elementary schools as possible in-between touring the world and recording  with  Liza, Ray Charles, Paul Simon, The Neville Brothers and Joni Mitchell to name a few. Springsteen  was even their opening act for a time. For 4 decades they dazzled and endeared. And today there is no shortage of Persuasions downloads available. Maybe  if  “Sing Off” is a success The Persuasions might finally be able to collect some  40 years of  royalties due them along with a portion of the .99 cents of each internet sale. Yeah, right.. The injustice of it all is hard to swallow for their loyal fans  not to mention their families.

Joel Gallen of Tenth Planet Productions & the producer of “Sing Off” never contacted Jerry Lawson to be a judge, vocal coach or even a consultant. The inside scoop is that when Lawson called Gallen to offer his services Gallen  never returned the call. Instead his  assistant sent an email to Jerry’s manager stating that he’d be in touch. As of this writing Lawson never heard from Gallen. If this is not an insult then I don't know what is. This is the same producer  who called Jerry on behalf of Rod Stewart when Rod heard that Jerry was offering to donate his  performance to raise funds for the survivors of  the Katrina disaster and Rod wanted to sing A cappella with the living legend.  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1N7lbR-x-8 –



It so happens, that our forth coming documentary on A cappella, "Street Corner Harmony" will be completed this week. Our documentary chronicles the beginning of how A cappella started and how it was coined in the early 60's. We have sent our film to the producers of "Sing Off"  with the hope that they will understand how it all began 45 + years ago.

We also asked the producers to acknowledge the key individuals who started and promoted this musical art form. If you haven't seen our trailer on youtube  please do so, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7f-C0Z5X5H8)  along with our book
“Street Corner Harmony” a complete discography of all the A cappella groups that made commercial recordings in the 1960s.

http://www.jerrylawson.biz
http://www.thepersuasionslive.com/