Born in San Francisco, California, Deke Sharon has been performing professionally since the age of 8, and as a child toured North America and shared the stage in operas with the likes of Pavarotti. Heralded as "The Father of Contemporary A Cappella," he is responsible for the current sound of modern a cappella, having pioneered the modern vocal-instrumental sound in college, subsequently spreading it around the world. He produced "The Sing-Off" on NBC and worldwide , created a cappella groups for Disneyland and Disneyworld, and frequently tours the world teaching a variety of topics to students and professional singers. His voice can be heard in commercials and video games, including "Just Dance Kids 2." He is one of only 20 honorary members of the Barbershop Harmony Society since 1938, as well as an honorary member of BYU Vocal Point, and received CASA's lifetime achievement award in 2016 and the Tufts Barnum Award for excellence in entertainment in 2017. You can see him on television on Lifetime's "Pitch Slapped" and his newest show for the BBC: "Pitch Battle."
He is of mixed ancestry, primarily Irish, German/Dutch, Scandinivan, British. Sharon is a respelling of his grandmothers maiden name "Shearin," an old English last name akin to and pronounced the same as Sheeran (as in Ed Sheeran).
His first a cappella group was his high school freshman year role as lead in the barbershop quartet in The Music Man, which he continued after the show for the rest of high school days, during lunches and after school. When he couldnt find any current popular music to sing, only barbershop and doo-wop, he taught himself to arrange current popular songs for a cappella voices.
He was born Kurk Richard Toohey Jr, yet due to an acrimonious divorce his mother changed his school records to Frederick Richard Robertson (his then-stepfathers last name), so was unable to get a drivers license and changed his name legally to Deke Sharon in college.
He created The Contemporary A Cappella Society of America (CASA) in his college dorm room at Tufts University, and the International Championship of College A Cappella (ICCA) shortly after graduating. The original name was the National Championship of College A Cappella (NCCA), an homage to the NCCA, as his intent was to create a March Madness of a cappella.
His professional a cappella group for 25 years, the House Jacks, were the first to have a designated vocal percussionist.
Deke was originally a nickname his father game him as an infant, one that he intended to be unique, but there were a couple of other Dekes already, including one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts (Donald "Deke" Slayton), and one of Elvis movie characters.
Both of his teenage children, Cap and Mimi, are singers and attend performing arts schools.
He was the youngest ever member of the San Francisco Boys Chorus concert group at age 9, and performed in operas with Pavarotti and Montserrat Caballe.
The role of Benji is based partially on him, taken from tales of his collegiate a cappella days in the Tufts Beelzebubs in the nonfiction book Pitch Perfect (no, he didnt have Star Wars posters or perform magic tricks).
The most important thing is that singing is communication, and you need,to say something honest and real.
There is nothing more compelling than another person.
The human voice was the first instrument and remains the most powerful,and effective method of musical creation and emotional transference.
There is nothing more compelling than another person.
The human voice was the first instrument and remains the most powerful and effective method of musical creation and emotional transference.
