The Roseville Area High School (RAHS) Doo-Wop Group, led by Rob Kleinendorst, performed two a capella selections on a Roseville Big Band concert in Central Park, July 4, 1991.
Calling themselves "Love, Hope, Faith, Peace, and Gary", the quintet sang "So in Love" and "The Lion Sleeps Tonight". Earlier in the day, they had sung at the Taste of Minnesota festival on the state capitol grounds in St. Paul and auditioned for a Diet Pepsi commercial.
Four of the five were college-bound; the fifth had one year remaining at RAHS:
Singer | Vocal Part | RAHS Class | College |
Bill Nelson | Countertenor / Falsetto | 1991 | Luther |
Jeff Zupfer | Tenor | 1991 | Bethel |
Rob Kleinendorst | Tenor / Lead | 1991 | Luther |
Steve Smith | Baritone / Bass | 1991 | Luther |
Todd Worner | Bass | 1992 | (not selected yet) |
In 1987, Jason "Buddy" Weismann, a sophomore at RAHS, started the male a capella group, singing the top part, along with Dave Pinto, singing the next highest voice, Peter Weichoff on bass, and Kevin Horrigan on baritone. (This was Jason's second attempt at an a capella quartet; the first one in 8th grade was unsuccessful.)
In their first year, they performed "Stand By Me" for the RAHS Variety Show. This performance led to requests to sing for other occasions, but the group faced a shortage of repertoire: They only knew one song. To help the group learn new material, Jason taught the other singers their parts and made tapes for them to rehearse with.
In its second year, the doo-wop group learned more tunes and performed on a concert with the RAHS jazz bands. In 1989-1990, they added vocal jazz to their repertoire. Their performances included singing at Har-Mar Mall in Roseville, the RAHS Pops Concert, and a retirement party. As the group evolved, the personnel changed, including expanding to more than four singers and adding Rob Kleinendorst and Brian McDonald as others dropped out. After his graduation, Jason attended Berkelee School of Music and Rob assumed leadership of the group.
Friday, February 07, 2020.
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