Biography - Bags Entertainment

The Manhattan Transfer
the history
Manhattan Transfer has captured the magic
[of Chick Corea's music], singing with a
captivating balance of charm and verve ...
Manhattan Transfer is back, and in topnotch form with a marvelous blend of
melody and song
AllAboutJazz.com
The Manhattan Transfer has remained an important part of musical history for over
forty years. The legendary quartet has won 10 Grammy Awards of 20
nominations, has been inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame, and continues
to wow audiences with live performances throughout the country and the world.
The Manhattan Transfer is comprised of Cheryl Bentyne, Alan Paul, Janis Siegel
and Trist Curless, who recently stepped into the shoes of the group’s founder,
Tim Hauser, after his recent passing. With worldwide record sales in the millions,
the extraordinary group topped the charts consistently for decades with their
melodic and jazz infused vocals that bring audiences back year after year and that
span generations.
The group was founded by Tim Hauser when he was paying his bills by driving a
New York City cab and aspiring to form a harmony vocal quartet that could
authentically embrace varied musical styles, and still create something wholly
unique in the field of American popular song. While driving, he met the first
members of the legendary group -- Laurel Massé and Janis Siegel. Alan Paul,
who was appearing in the Broadway cast of “Grease” at the time, was
recommended as the additional male voice and the four became The Manhattan
Transfer on October 1, 1972. Cheryl Bentyne joined The Manhattan Transfer in
1979, replacing Laurel.
In 1974 the group began performing regularly
throughout New York City at Trude Heller’s,
Mercer Arts Center, Max’s Kansas City, Club 82,
and other cabaret venues. By the end of the year
they were the number one live attraction in New
York City. They were signed to Atlantic Records
and released their selftitled debut album in 1975.
The second single, a remake of the gospel
classic “Operator,” gave the group their first
national hit. The band was soon tapped to helm a weekly hour-long summer
replacement comedyvariety show, which premiered on CBS on August 10, 1975.
Their next two albums, Coming Out and Pastiche, brought them a string of Top 10
hits in Europe and produced a #1 smash in Britain and France with “Chanson
d’Amour”. The current incarnation of the quartet had its first album in 1979,
Extensions, which earned them another smash with “Twilight Zone/Twilight Tone.”
The vocal remake of the classic “Birdland” became recognized as the group’s
anthem, and earned them their first two Grammy Awards, for Best Jazz Fusion
Performance, Vocal or Instrumental and Best
Arrangement for Voices. In 1981, they became the
first group ever to win Grammy Awards in both
Pop and Jazz categories in the same year – Best
Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal
for “Boy From New York City,” and Best Jazz
Performance, Duo or Group for “Until I Met You
(Corner Pocket)”. That was followed by “Route
66.” The next two years, the group won
consecutive Grammy Awards in the Best Jazz
Vocal Performance, Duo or Group. The 12
Grammy nominations they received for Vocalese in
1985 made it the single greatest Grammy nominated album in one year to date,
and cemented the group’s status as one of the most important and innovative
vocal groups in the history of popular music. The band’s next studio album, the
ground breaking “Brasil”, won the Grammy for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or
Group with Vocal.
Their Grammy wins continued into the ‘90s. In 2008, An Acapella Christmas
became a top selling record and they expanded their catalog to include recorded
children’s music and different genres of swing music. The group has also
recorded with an impressive roster of artists – Tony Bennett, Bette Midler,
Smokey Robinson, Laura Nyro, Phil Collins, B.B. King, Chaka Khan, James
Taylor, and Frankie Valli and their music has been featured in numerous TV shows
and films.
Heading into the new millennium, with worldwide sales in the millions, Grammy
Awards by the dozen, and as veterans of sold-out world tours, The Manhattan
Transfer once again proved their uncanny knack for being ahead of the times by
teaming up with the then relatively unknown, but future Grammy Award winning,
producer Craig Street to record their tribute to the music of Louis Armstrong (The
Spirit Of St. Louis).
The Spirit Of St. Louis was followed by 2003’s live album Couldn’t Be Hotter
that “finally captured the magic of their live performances on disc” (AllMusic),
2004’s Vibrate, a second foray into Christmas music (An Acapella
Christmas), and an album of newly recorded symphonic versions of some of
their greatest hits (2006’s The Symphony Sessions).
The release of The Definitive Pop Collection, a 2-disc retrospective of the
group’s greatest hits, provides not only an opportunity to look back at one of the
greatest bodies of work in American popular music, but also the chance to look
ahead to 2008, the 35th Anniversary of a group that is restless, adventurous,
limitless and, as the Philadelphia Inquirer so aptly put it, a group that “still can
sound dangerous!”.
With worldwide sales in the millions, awards by the dozen, and sold-out world
tours, The Manhattan Transfer continue to record and tour, with many more
surprises to come.
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2015