Kevin Olusula has exceptional talents, generational talents. He has a couple “Kovers”… I don’t know how to explain it, he’s a one man band, literally. Highly recommend checking some his solo stuff
Mitch (guy with the high voice), Kristy (girl) and Scott (tall white guy) are from Arlington, Texas. They went to school together and had been singing as a trio for a long time. They needed a beat boxer and a bass to compete on the TV show The Sing Off. They found Kevin on you tube and Avi (guy with the beard) I think was suggested by a friend. PTX won that season and has been going strong ever since. There has only been one change in the line up: Avi left and has a solo career and Matt joined the group as the new bass. Love your reaction and hope this helps.
Where did #Pentatonix come from? Funny you should ask. Fortunately, I can tell you. Kirstin, Mitch, and Scott all grew up in Arlington, Texas. All of them were involved with community musical theater as children, and Mitch met both Scott and Kirstin there (separately) when they were still pre-teens, and became friends with each of them. However, Scott and Kirstin didn't meet each other until they were fourteen and in the same high school class. All three were choir geeks (duh), and they quickly became best friends in high school. And if you're wondering what was in the water in Arlington in the early 1990s that three such remarkably talented people should all be born in such proximity, you aren't the only one. There was some kind of singing contest to meet the stars of _Glee,_ and the three of them wanted to enter, so they formed a trio which they named "The Trio." (I know; not very imaginative. They're somewhat better with that now.) They lost the contest, but they kept The Trio together anyway; they performed at school functions and occasionally on local television. Pentaholics still refer to these three as "the trio," and the trio is the heart of Pentatonix. Kirstin and Scott were a year ahead of Mitch; they graduated in 2010, when Mitch was still in eleventh grade, and both went away for their freshman year of college. Kirstin went to the University of Oklahoma (with a full ride scholarship!), and Scott went to the University of Southern Califonia. Scott is a very outgoing person, so he immediately began looking around for extracurricular activities where he could meet people and make new friends, and he found an award-winning amateur a cappella group named SoCal VoCals, which he joined. While there he met a former member named Ben Bram, who at the time was a coach on NBC's a cappella competition show named _"The Sing-Off."_ A cappella groups would audition for the show, and those that passed appeared throughout the season. There was a panel of three judges, all professional musicians, who would critique each performance. Along the way some groups would be eliminated, narrowing the field, and at the end of the season viewers would be invited to vote on a winner. The winning group would receive $200,000 and a recording contract with Epic, a minor subsidiary of Sony, the show's sponsor. Scott was intrigued. He thought The Trio could be competitive, and if they could get a recording contract they could have a career doing what they most loved, with the people they most loved. So he talked to Kirstin, who thought his idea had promise, and at the end of their first year of college the two of them headed back to Arlington to be there for Mitch's graduation and to talk with Mitch about Scott's idea. Meanwhile, back in Arlington Mitch had been having a very difficult year. His best friends weren't there, and as an out-of-the-closet young gay man with an unusually high voice he was being seriously bullied. And unfortunately, since the bullying was ostensibly for his voice he was quickly developing the notion that there was something wrong with his voice and that no one would want to hear him sing. So when Scott presented his idea Mitch was on board; it was a way to get away from the bullies. He had doubts about his ability to carry his weight in the group, because of the bullying, but he was willing to try, and if Scott and Kirstin said they could win, well, maybe they could. So with everyone agreed, Scott called Ben Bram to find out how to arrange for an audition, and this is where they met their first setback. _The Sing-Off_ had a size requirement; the minimum size allowed was five. The Trio needed two new members and a new name. They were stumped. Ben suggested that they'd profit from adding a rhythm section: a bass and a beatboxer, and he knew the perfect person to recommend for the bass, a guy named Avi Kaplan. They talked to Avi, and he was very interested, so that took care of the bass, but where to find the beatboxer? Ben didn't have any suggestions. So in desperation they typed "beatboxer" into a RU-vid search box and the first hit they got was a black guy playing a classical piece on the cello and beatboxing at the same time. And all of them said, "Wow! He's the one! How can we get in touch with him?" They were in luck. At the time RU-vid had something called RU-vid messages, which would allow private messages between members (now discontinued), so they sent Kevin a private message: "Hey! We really love your stuff, and we wonder if you'd be interested in flying across the country to join four strangers to audition for an a cappella competition show on television?" And Kevin messaged them back: "Normally I'd be there in a heart beat; I love a cappella and have been in a cappella groups before. But right now I'm studying for my final exams for my pre-med major from Yale." Oh. That sounded pretty definite; better keep looking. So they kept looking, and they found someone, but he was no Kevin Olusola. Oh well; you work with what you have. And two weeks later Kevin messaged them again: "Good news! I just graduated. If the gig's still open I can fly out." He arrived the day before their audition. Mitch had to skip his graduation ceremony to attend the audition. But even with just a day of rehearsal they still passed the audition; they were in. Oh, yes, the name. Pentatonix is named for the pentatonic scale, which has five (penta) tones just as Pentatonix has five (Penta) singers. In other words, it's a fancier way of saying they're now "The Quintet." 😂 Pentatonix appeared throughout season three of _The Sing-Off,_ and eventually won. All those performances are available on RU-vid and are well worth watching, preferably in order so you can see how they grew throughout the season. Some of them are as good as anything they've done since (which is saying a lot) and are only available in those old videos. (Note: If you decide to react to these, be sure and watch the versions that contain the show's introduction of Pentatonix just before the performance, and the judges' critiques of the performance, and any comments Pentatonix made backstage.) So, they'd won _The Sing-Off,_ complete with recording contract. Time to move to California permanently and begin recording. And a week later Epic reneged on the contract, saying that they didn't know how to market a cappella. But at this point Pentatonix weren't willing to give up; they WANTED that career they'd been working toward. So they pooled their winnings and lived frugally. The four men shared two apartments, to cut down on expenses. They arranged music and rehearsed every day, and when they had a song ready they used their iPhones to record themselves anywhere they could find good acoustics, and sometimes in places with acoustics that were just okay. And they posted to RU-vid. Their fans from _The Sing-Off_ quickly found them there, and subscribed, and they began to get more views and more subscribers, and to pick up a few patrons. In fact, they were going viral. And Sony noticed, and approached them with an offer: Perhaps Pentatonix would like a recording contract with Madison Gate, another minor subsidiary? Hmmm. 🤔 Would they like a recording contract? Might have to think about that, for a second or two. Darn right they'd like a recording contract! And then came "Daft Punk Medley," and Pentatonix won their first Grammy. And again, Sony took notice, and approached Pentatonix: "We've been thinking about it and we believe you might find a better fit with our flagship label, RCA. Are you interested?" They've been with RCA ever since. They go on tours world wide and perform to sold-out venues. They put out at LEAST one album a year, frequently more. One has gone Gold and one has gone Platinum twice. They have three Grammys and recently received a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame. And they are the only a cappella band to have won so much as ONE Grammy, or to be represented on the Walk of Fame. Oh, right. You wanted to know WHERE. The trio are from Arlington, Texas. Avi is from Visalia, California, and Kevin grew up in Owensboro, Kentucky. Because three members are from Arlington, Texas, the band as a whole is generally considered to come from there, though at this point they all live in southern California when they aren't on tour. Um, except for Avi. He found it necessary to resign in 2017, for personal reasons, and he now lives in Nashville. Avi's replacement, Matt, was born in Baltimore and grew up in La Plata, Maryland.
Pentatonix History…..composed by Alan Freeman updated by Perry Stevenson They won The Sing Off in 2011. They made a guest starring appearance on America′s Got Talent as non−competitors a couple of years after that. The founding members are:- Scott Hoying (tall blond guy, natural baritone but has an impressive five−to−six octave range, can go all the way up to high tenor and down to bass, sings the bass lines when the usual bass singer takes the lead); Kirstin "Kirstie" (Rhymes with "Thirsty") Maldonado (the only female member, natural mezzo soprano, but can go down to low alto and as high as upper soprano, also can sing in whistle notes that are off the scale); For a time in 2018 between the group’s tours, had the female lead on Broadway in the production of “Kinky Boots”. Mitch Grassi (a true contra−tenor, can hit high notes in his chest voice with ease and go WAY higher in his falsetto, also with ease); Avriel "Avi" Kaplan (dark beard and long hair), true basso profundo, trained as an opera singer, also can go up into the tenor range; and Kevin "KO" Olusola (beatboxer extraordinaire, also is a world−class cellist who plays cello on some of their songs, has a beautiful high tenor voice and gets occasional lead vocal solos as well, graduated pre−med from Yale and speaks several languages including Mandarin Chinese). Kirstie, Scott & Mitch grew up together in Arlington, Texas, and began performing together as children in local youth musical theater. They ended up in high school together and performed in the choir. While there, they formed an a cappella group called The Trio which had several performance videos go viral on RU-vid, most notably a cover of Lady Gaga′s "Telephone". The three of them are best friends and consider themselves to be almost siblings. Scott & Kirstie (who were a class year ahead of Mitch) both graduated high school in 2010 and went their separate ways to different colleges, Scott at USC and Kirstie at Oklahoma. While at USC, Scott joined a USC−based a cappella group called the SoCal VoCals, where he met alumnus Ben Bram, who was now an arranger and vocal coach for the NBC TV show The Sing Off, an a cappella competition show. Ben convinced Scott to get The Trio to audition for the show. The three reunited (Mitch had to skip high school graduation ceremonies to go) in Los Angeles for the audition. They found out that the rules had changed, so they needed at least five members to audition. Ben put them together with Avi (a native of Visalia, California), who he knew from Avi′s performing days at Mount San Antonio College in California. They found Kevin (from Kentucky) through one of his RU-vid videos that had gone viral featuring him playing the cello and beatboxing at the same time, a talent that Kevin coined as "Cello−Boxing". Kevin arrived in Los Angeles literally the day before the audition! Scott came up with the name "Pentatonix" after the pentatonic scale. They performed a re−arrangement of "The Telephone" for the audition and passed, despite having been together as a five−piece group for less that 24 hours! They won The Sing Off that season (all of the performances are available on RU-vid), in which they received a substantial cash prize AND a record contract with Epic Records. They pooled their prize winnings together and all moved to Los Angeles, and all got apartments right next door to each other in the same building. But just a week later, Epic dropped them because the marketing people didn′t think an acappella group could sell records. Instead of giving up, they were determined and began recording their own songs on RU-vid, hiring Ben Bram as their producer and arranger. These usually consisted of the five of them sitting on a couch and performing cover songs live. Several of the videos went viral, and Sony (the parent company of Epic) decided to give them another chance by placing them on one of their smaller labels, Madison Gate. They released two secular EPs and one Christmas EP on Madison Gate, all of which were strong sellers. But when their cover of a medley of songs by Daft Punk not only went super−viral, but also won them their first Grammy, they were promoted all the way up to RCA Records, Sony′s top label. They began writing and producing their own songs in addition to their covers, began putting out a Christmas album just about annually (which has become their best−selling genre), and have had multi−platinum album sales, sold−out world tours, and have won two additional Grammys. Avi began getting burned out with all of the touring and heavy recording schedule, was suffering from anxiety and personal problems, and learned that his mother had been diagnosed with cancer in 2017. He announced he was departing from the group and taking some time away from the music industry. Matt Sallee (from Baltimore) joined them in September 2017. He did only become official when they renewed their RCA contract in February 2018, but he recorded with them in September as a featured artist and went on their Christmas tour as a featured artist, as well. When he attended the audition for the group, he had already mastered the Bass part for most if not all their past catalogue. He was successful and has proved that he fits in well with the group. If you think there have been other changes to the line up - look again. This is the ONLY change. Kirstie and Mitch are like chameleons and change looks frequently. After a year away from music, Avi has now returned as a phenomenal solo artist in the Folk/Americana/Roots genre. Ben Bram has been in charge of their production, including arranging and directing from the beginning. He is often referred to as the sixth member. Scott and Kevin are major players in the arrangements, but every member contributes. good watch is "The Recording of Evergreen" where a camera was invited into the studio for the second week of recording/ Also, all members are songwriters for both Pentatonix and their own solo work. Ed Boyer who mixes everything of theirs (even the HWB Livestream) is the one who pulled Ben Bram into the sing off in the first place. The 3 Grammys they’ve won include…. (1)Daft Punk for Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella…… (2)Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies for Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella…. (3) Jolene w/Dolly Parton for Best Country Duo/Group Performance. They were nominated for a 4th Grammy for their album “Evergreen” for Best Traditional Vocal Album. They were also nominated for a 5th Grammy award for their album “Holidays Around The World” for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. They have a star on the Hollywood walk of fame installed in February 2023. THEY ARE THE ONLY ACAPELLA GROUP WITH A STAR!!!! UPDATE: Pentatonix has also done 9 intros for Thursday Night Football based on their original song “sing”. Links for 3 of them are ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-HrruJptmbKU.html and ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-zTUSB4iwTII.html and ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-e2pvITc9a3U.html UPDATE: Pentatonix has done a cameo appearance in the new movie “Candy Cane Lane” starring Eddie Murphy. They are the carolers. UPDATE: Pentatonix sang the National Anthem at the 2023 College Football National Championship game. Link is ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-fqWY2EUGlgk.html UPDATE: They came in 3rd in the 2023 Masked Singer performing as "California Rolls" being unmasked in May 23. UPDATE: The trio of Scott, Mitch, and Kirstie also appeared as guest stars in an episode of the crime drama "Bones." Scott's song, "Light in the Hallway," sung by Avi, was played as the credits rolled. UPDATE: Pentatonix was featured in the movie "Pitch Perfect 2" as a Canadian a Capella group. Kirstie became a new mum which caused a pause in touring after their Evergreen Christmas tour 2021. Mid March 2023 Kirstie has announced that she is engaged to Ben Hausdorff, their videographer. UPDATE…Kirsten and Ben got married 04/24/24. It is an often debated subject among the Pentaholics as to just how soon we introduce the "Beginners Guide" as we don't want to overdo the introduction. This is a compilation of snips of a whole load of songs which PTX have released. It highlights each member with some of their solos and then a brief history in video. It is quite long - 14+ minutes and is a little dated now (Feb 2020) but is a good watch ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-lDxIfwfCmQE.html&pp=ygUdYmVnaW5uZXJzIGd1aWRlIHRvIHBlbnRhdG9uaXg%3D. Things you need to know because if you get these wrong “Pentaholics” will come after you with pitch forks and torches! Ha Ha Ha!! 1- There is NO Auto-Tune; what you hear is actually what they sing. They really are that good. One exception is the 90's Dance Medley where Cher used auto-tune as an effect - so they had to. 2- What produces everything that you hear in the video, you see in the official video. If there is an instrument used in the music, you see it on screen. In the 2022 Christmas album, there are some instruments not featured throughout the album. 3- They never release something on video they can’t reproduce with the exact same quality live on-stage.
#Pentatonix acts like a family, a FUNCTIONAL family. Scott, Mitch, and Kirstin were best friends in high school, practically brothers (and sister) from another mother, and they didn't want that to end when they graduated. So they tried to turn the trio they'd put together in high school into a professional singing group by going on an a cappella competition show on television. But in order to appear on the show they had to expand to at least a quintet. That's why they added Avi and Kevin. So, Scott, Mitch, and Kirstin started as a family-of-choice, and the whole point of forming Pentatonix was to keep that family together. But the only way that can work is if the new members also become part of the family; being a member of Pentatonix means being a member of the Pentatonix family. Yes, every member of Pentatonix has incredible musical talent; that's a given. Each one of them could have a successful career as a solo artist, but where's the fun in being alone? Pentatonix is greater than the sum of its parts, and the REASON for that greatness is that they're family. Good families take care of each other, so Pentatonix takes care of all its members. They're all performers, therefore they all need time in the spotlight. ✔️ They're all human; therefore they're all vulnerable to illness. Their voices need to be cared for, not over-strained. ✔️ Hmmm. Giving everyone time in the spotlight and keeping people from voice strain meshes well together; having a lead singer could sabotage those two goals. Okay, no lead singer. ✔️ One effect of this no-lead-singer policy is that Pentatonix is free to do whatever best serves the music. When a song REQUIRES a lead singer, there's no presupposition about who that lead will be, because Pentatonix doesn't have A lead singer; they have FIVE potential lead singers, and whichever one of those five has the right voice for the song will take lead on that song. Some songs don't require a lead but do have distinctly separate verses ("Hallelujah" springs to mind); in those songs they usually take turns soloing. "Bohemian Rhapsody," however, falls into a category all its own. It doesn't have "verses"; it divides up into sections, and it made sense for different singers to take the different sections, for two reasons. 1. Freddie Mercury had a HUGE range; if anyone in Pentatonix can match Freddie's range it's Matt, and Matt wasn't part of Pentatonix when they made this. 2. Probably the more important reason was that they're all huge fans of Freddie Mecury, and they each wanted to be able to say that they'd sung Freddie's part in "Bohemian Rhapsody." So they arranged it so they each got a turn playing Freddie. And then there's "Run To You," a Pentatonix original, written by Avi and Kevin, which has no lead singer, no solos, not even any percussion; it's just the most glorious five part harmony you've ever heard throughout. Fun stuff.
Does #Pentatonix have originals? Oh, yes. "Run To You" "Happy Now" "Love Again" "Coffee In Bed" "Light In The Hallway" "Kid On Christmas" "Please Santa Please" "The Lucky Ones" "Thank You" "Be My Eyes" "Sing" "Love Me When I Don't" "Can’t Sleep Love" "Anchor" "A Little Space" "Midnight in Tokyo" "New Years Day" This is not an exhaustive list; it's just the ones I happen to know about.
Their cover of thrift shop is great. All of their stuff is stuff. They actually bought all of the close from a thrift store for the video. Their original songs are great as well. Cant sleep, love, and sing are a few to check out.
Pentatonix Bohemian Rhapsody Insights: So, some things to know about this cover and video: -It took PTX years to get the arrangement to where they felt they could do the original masterpiece justice. -The cover, and especially the video, was meant to be an homage to Queen. Some of the moments paying respect were: 1.The mono-recording of the line "easy come, easy go" followed by the panning of the voices from left to right on the line "little high, little low" (which is how the original was recorded), 2. Obviously the flashlights being used to mimic the lighting on the operatic part of the original video, 3. The four shooting stars to represent the four members of Queen, as well as acknowledge the fact that Dr. Brian May is an astrophysicist, 4. The overhead shot of them lying on the couch is to represent the Sheer Heart Attack album cover. The megaphone was just a prop. It is not needed to reproduce the electric guitar distortion. -PTX can, and does, perform this live with no backing track...something even Queen and the Great Freddie Mercury could not do. Freddy once said he didn't care what people did with his music as long as they "...don't make it boring, darling!", so I think he would absolutely approve. They were indeed on an actual road and luckily, there actually is a behind the scenes for the making of this one that you can watch! The link is: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Q8ugJnIG_Lk.html Also when Brian Mays heard it... he posted it on his web site with the word "ENJOY”. The overall video--with the "living room" and couch--is an homage to Pentatonix's own journey as a group. They lost their record deal right after winning the Sing Off and moving to LA, so they started putting out videos on RU-vid, performing covers. They would sit on the couch in Kevin (beatboxer) and Avi's (bass) living room and just record themselves on Mitch's (counter tenor who took the lead on this song) iPad. Some of their earliest videos went viral and they eventually were able to secure a new deal, record an EP, go on tour, release chart-topping albums and win three Grammy awards...so they moved out of the living room and down this new, unknown road. At the end of the day, though, they're still the same choir-nerds they've always been; just happy to sit together on a couch and sing
Great reaction. PTX has 3 Grammys and a star on the Hollywood walk of fame. Anything you react to from them will be awesome. Recommend "New Rules/Are you that Sombody" mashup. "Can't Hold Us" is a Mclemore cover. Both upbeat. Really good energy.
The audio panning on "little high, little low" is a direct quote from Queen. If you listen to Queen's original you'll hear the same panning on the same phrase. #Pentatonix loves Queen, and they love "Bohemian Rhapsody," so they always wanted to cover this song, but they feared that they couldn't do it justice, so they decided to wait until they were sure they were ready. That took them five years, but it was worth the wait - they were definitely ready. In the early days of Pentatonix, after Epic reneged on the recording contract Pentatonix had "won" on _The Sing-Off,_ Pentatonix started posting to RU-vid; it was the only way they COULD publish their music. A lot of those early RU-vid videos show the five of them sitting on a couch, with the trio on the back of the couch and Avi and Kevin on the seat in front of them, just five very young people singing their hearts out, making their dream come true. Note that this is the configuration we see them in at the beginning and end of "Bohemian Rhapsody," which is one reason the couch needs to move - it's taking Pentatonix (and us) on a trip down Memory Lane. The more important reason the couch moves is that it's standing in for the car in _Wayne's World,_ where Wayne and Garth introduced a whole new generation to the genius of Queen by putting a tape of "Bohemian Rhapsody" into the car's tape player. The couch was motorized, and not very well balanced. (Note that when they're sitting on it their feet don't quite reach the ground. The little curtain thing on the bottom was added to hide the motor.) It kept trying to tip over during the filming and actually managed to throw Kevin off at one point. There was a small platform attached to the back so that Kirstin could climb on the couch from behind - Scott, being a foot taller than Kirstin, didn't need it. When Mitch lies down on the couch, singing "Too late, My time has come," they're referring to Freddie Mercury's death (the foreshadowing was, of course, unintentional on Freddie's part; there's no way he could have known about AIDS, thank goodness). The other four are walking next to the couch to serve as Mitch's pall bearers. Many people think the megaphone is distorting Mitch's voice to make it sound more like an electric guitar, but the megaphone actually has nothing to do with it. It wasn't turned on, and couldn't have distorted Mitch's voice even if it had been - it was just a megaphone. The electric guitar is all Mitch. Mitch happened to see the megaphone lying around on the set and thought it would make a cool prop, so it's been confusing people ever since. During the "Bismillah" argument, note that Scott, whose range includes both bass and tenor registers, is actually singing along with both the high and low sides of the argument. Scott has said that this rapid switching is the hardest part of the song for him. When the camera pans up to show us the starry night sky during Mitch's second guitar solo, it's meant as a tribute to Queen's lead guitarist, Brian May, who has a doctorate in astrophysics. The four shooting stars honor the four members of Queen. When the camera pans back down to show Pentatonix lying on the couch together it's meant to recall the cover art for Queen's "Sheer Heart Attack" album. And when this official video was first released, Brian May posted a link to it on all his social media accounts with the comment: "Enjoy."
It took them 5 years to perfect this arrangement and feel confident to release it. Brian May (Queens lead guitarist) enjoyed it a lot when it came out.
They have TONS of original music, as well as covers, medleys, mashups, and Christmas music, plus all the members have solo projects on the side. They don't have a lead singer, but Scott (hoodie) can certainly sometimes appear to be the leader. They all solo, and take the lead whenever it serves the music, they all write music and arrange (they also have an arranger they work with), and they all talk in concert and interviews, but Scott tends to talk more and act as MC since he just has a lot of energy. Mitch was pretty much lead on this song. Matt, the bass that replaced Avi (bearded guy) in 2017, is also high energy and extroverted, so he is quite a hype man on stage. Scott, Mitch and Kirstie grew up together in Texas, and added Kevin from Kentucky, and Avi from California, when they formed the band in 2011 (to audition for The Sing Off season 3, which they won). Matt is from Baltimore. They all live in LA, now. I'm so glad you loved this one! It'a really amazing live, too!
Thanks for reacting to this! Probably my favorite PTX video. But I highly recommend Kiss from a Rose with the new bass singer Matt. And they do have great original songs too, such as Sing and Love Again.
Scott gets many leads as he is the baritone, but it’s the song that dictates who sings the leads and various solos. They all have had leads, except for Kevin, since he’s the beatboxer. However, he has a few solos. Check out their cover of Imagine where they all have a solo. A small percentage of their songs do have light instrumentation, but the instruments are usually shown in the videos.
The members of #Pentatonix. In this video: I'm going to refer to their locations on the couch at the beginning and end, in the living room set. On the back of the couch, from left to right, we have: • Kirstin (also called Kirstie, which rhymes with thirsty) Maldonado, the only woman in Pentatonix. Kirstin sings anywhere from low alto through coloratura soprano, the highest soprano range, and she has fantastic whistle notes on top of that. Recently Pentatonix has begun calling her an "alto soprano." • Mitch Grassi (pronounced Grah'-see, emphasis on the first syllable), natural contratenor. Mitch has a range of just over six octaves and is considered by all the other members of Pentatonix to be the best singer in the band. He's known for his ethereal high vocals, and switches seamlessly between chest voice, mixed voice, and head voice. • Scott Hoying, lyric baritone. When describing a man's vocal range, the term "lyric" means that the actual range is greater than the nominal range. Scott's range starts in the middle of the bass range, on the low end, and extends through most of a normal tenor range on the high end. When the bass is soloing, Scott can and does take over the bass harmony line. Kirstin, Mitch, and Scott grew up together in Arlington, Texas and formed a trio in high school which they named "The Trio." For this reason, these three are still known to Pentatonix fans, AKA pentaholics, as "the trio." In high school, The Trio frequently performed at school functions and occasionally on local television, but when they wanted to get on _"The Sing-Off"_ (an a cappella competition show that ran on NBC from 2009 through 2013) and win a recording contract they found out that they needed at least five members, so they added a rhythm section, which brings us to the seat of the couch: •On the left we have Kevin Olusola (pronounced Oh-loosh"-oh-luh', primary emphasis on the second syllable, secondary emphasis on the fourth syllable), beatboxer extraordinaire. Somewhere there may be a better beatboxer than Kevin, but if so I've never encountered him or her. Kevin is generally too busy being the entire percussion section to sing, but when he does sing he has a lovely tenor voice that occasionally dips into the uppermost reaches of baritone, and he's known for the beauty of his falsetto. He's also a pretty good rapper. Kevin has perfect pitch. He began piano lessons at age 4, cello at age 6, and alto saxophone at age 10. He beatboxes while playing the cello, a technique he calls "celloboxing." He performed at Carnegie Hall twice when he was a teenager, once on the cello and once on the saxophone. He graduated from Yale in 2011 with a pre-med major and had been accepted to Yale Medical School before he decided to become a professional beatboxer instead of a brilliant surgeon. He speaks five languages fluently: English, French, Spanish, German, and Mandarin Chinese. He's one of the kindest people in the world, and when he laughs he makes the whole planet seem like a brighter place. • And on the right we have Avi (pronounced Ah'-vee, emphasis on the first syllable) Kaplan, lyric bass. Avi is an operatically trained basso profundo (his lowest notes have blown out speakers in live performances), but his range extends to about the middle of a normal tenor range. Avi left Pentatonix in 2017, for a variety of personal reasons. He has since gone on to have a very successful solo career; I highly recommend subscribing to his RU-vid channel: youtube.com/@AviKaplanMusic • Not in this video is Avi's replacement, Matt Sallee (pronounced Suh-lee', emphasis on the second syllable), who joined Pentatonix in late 2017 or early 2018, depending on how you figure it, and has now been with Pentatonix longer than Avi was. Matt is another lyric bass. In addition to being the newest member of Pentatonix, Matt is also the youngest member, and I'm told that bass voices improve with age. So it's hard to be sure just what Matt's range is, because it's still growing. To find his current range I recommend listening to a recent live stream of "Hallelujah" (preferably after watching the official video of "Hallelujah," with Avi). You can find one here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-FqphhPapkoc.htmlsi=tC6Ew07JGeQKQvDL Matt's arrangement of the second verse seems to be designed to show off his full range, which is fantastic. He isn't at the blowing out speakers level of basso profundo yet, though he may get there within a year or two, but on the high end he's near the top of a normal tenor range. I believe he has the largest range of any member of Pentatonix, past or present.
Pentatonix won the third season of the "Sing Off" show which propelled them to stardom. If you want another famous Acapella group that is just as awesome as Pentatonix Then Please do a reaction to "Home Free". Home Free won the fourth season of the Sing Off.
Subscribed for more Pentatonix. Please create a Pentatonix playlist so we can follow along. For some reason searches on RU-vid will not show many of your reactions. I can’t figure out an easy way to see what Pentatonix music you have reacted to. Thanks.
I had never heard of them until about two years ago when my son and his girlfriend showed me the Hallelujah video. I was blown away and since then have viewed most of their videos and have seen them in concert three times. They never cease to amaze me. Some of the things I love most about them, besides the obvious talent, creativity, and harmonization, are what wonderful people they truly are, the love they have for each other and humanity, and the diversity that just five people represent.
There are 3 A Capella groups that I say are equal and are the best out there. 1) Pentatonix, who won the third season of a singing competition called The Sing Off. 2) Home Free, who won the 4th season of The Sing Off. 3) Voice Play who most members (and they change members often) have backgrounds with Disney so they are very theatrical. All three are absolutely fantastic A Capella groups. I do not favor one of the other. I listen to them all with equal praise.
Yeah...nobody is really the lead singer. They all get their time. PTX are very generous to each other. You never know who will be the lead. This is such a great upgrade for them. Even though Mitch uses the megaphone in the video, he performs it live withough the megaphone. The shooting stars are in recognition of Queen, especially Brian May, who is an astrophysicist. He gave a shout out to PTX when they first released it. They do have a lot of original music. One their first is the song "Sing." They have a lot of fan participation in that one and it's a lot of fun!! If you're interested in seeing how they began, there are videos from The Sing Off 2011. It's a good place to start!
Came across your channel. TX for this. We Pentaholics love reactions to our beloved Pentatonix. They are absolutely amazing and loved. Greetings from South Africa
