King’s Ely all-boys a cappella group sing their way to victory!

King's Ely's all-boys a cappella group, The King’s Barbers, are jubilant after winning this year’s National Youth a Cappella Competition.

The group, who celebrated their 25th anniversary last year, discovered in February that they had qualified for the prestigious competition. Entries for the contest were submitted by video and judged by a panel to assess which groups should qualify.

The King’s Barbers, along with their founder and coach, Peter North, travelled to the University of Birmingham for the fiercely contested event on April 14th and sang their way to victory, being crowned UK Youth Champions.

They sang Coldplay’s ‘Viva La Vida’, Bastille’s ‘Pompeii’, ‘Some Nights’  by Fun, and Ricky Martin’s ‘Livin’ La Vida Loca’, all of which were specially arranged by Mr North. It was the second time that the King’s Barbers had qualified for the competition but this is the first time they have won. They were runners-up last year.

Mr North, who is also Head of Voice at King’s Ely, is understandably proud of the boys. He said: ‘The boys were a pleasure to be with and performed brilliantly in the competition. We took part in several workshops and also watched the University Final and Beat Box Sing Off. We had a good following of enthusiastic parents who were immensely proud of their sons. The judges described their performance as bold and the joy they have in their singing really shone through. The boys are overjoyed to have won and we couldn’t be more proud of them!’

Members of the King’s Barbers are all former cathedral or college choir choristers and they sing everything from timeless classics to contemporary a cappella songs. The group was founded not only to keep boys singing through the voice-change, but also to introduce them to different performance styles. Former members have sung in some of the most important and successful groups in the a cappella scene, including All the King’s Men and Out of the Blue.

To find out more, search for ‘King’s Barbers Ely’ on Facebook and Twitter. For more information about King’s Ely, go to www.kingsely.org.