Freddie King
In 1966, Fred King assumed directorship of the chorus, which had been struggling with diminishing membership and musical success. Although he was very young and did not have the pedigree of a seasoned barbershop director, Johnson trusted that King was the right man to lead the chorus toward more success. Freddie, as he was called, injected a new energy into the chorus, and quickly became a student of directing technique and vocal craft. His quartet, The Oriole Four, had already won the Mid-Atlantic District championship in 1958, and competed several times at the International level, making the top 20 and the top 10. As the quartet continued to climb the ranks, so did the performance level of the chorus. They continued to be one of the Society's "Century" chapters with more than 100 members. The chorus once again qualified for International contest in the fall of 1970, only months after The Oriole Four had won the International Quartet Championship in Atlantic City, New Jersey. They traveled to New Orleans, Louisiana in July 1971, with 139 singers, and walked away with their second International Championship. Freddie King had joined the elite of the barbershop world. In 1983, a young student of Fred's joined the chorus for a brief time, competing at several district and division contests with the chorus. He was none other than Mike Rowe, who has hosted the Discovery Channel program Dirty Jobs since 2004.
Read more about this topic: Chorus Of The Chesapeake
Famous quotes containing the word king:
“When Prince William [later King William IV] was at Cork in 1787, an old officer ... dined with him, and happened to say he had been forty years in the service. The Prince with a sneer asked what he had learnt in those forty years. The old gentleman justly offended, said, “Sir, I have learnt, when I am no longer fit to fight, to make as good a retreat as I can” —and walked out of the room.”
—Horace Walpole (1717–1797)