Deke Sharon


Deke Sharon is an American singer, arranger, composer, director, producer and teacher of a cappella music, and is one of the leaders and promoters of the contemporary a cappella community. He has been referred to as "the father of contemporary a cappella" by some authors.

Early life

Deke Sharon was born and raised in San Francisco. He started singing in choir groups at age five, including the San Francisco Boys Chorus. He attended Town School for Boys and San Francisco University High School, where he sang a lead role in the barbershop quartet his freshman year in "The Music Man."

College

Sharon spent his college years in Boston, graduating from Tufts University with a degree in childhood studies and a degree from the New England Conservatory of Music with a focus on vocal jazz, third stream, and music theory.
In college, he directed the collegiate a cappella group the Tufts Beelzebubs, transforming the group's sound to reflect modern rock, with intricate instrumental vocalizations and the integration of vocal percussion. The 1990–1991 Beelzebubs album Foster Street that he directed musically is credited with the creation of contemporary a cappella sound. Sharon had to audition three times before he was accepted, as he was seen as "overzealous" during a time when a cappella was not popular, a fact which was mentioned in the book "Pitch Perfect." Benji in the Pitch Perfect films is partially based on Sharon. During this time, he decided to make a career of contemporary a cappella.

Film

Sharon was the music director and arranger for the film Pitch Perfect, as well as singing on several of the songs, where he was credited on screen as "Male Voice #1." He returned for Pitch Perfect 2, in which he has a brief cameo as the German judge and broadcaster. He helped involve several professional a cappella groups and singers with the film, including The Filharmonic, Penn Masala, and Pentatonix. Sharon also worked with the Green Bay Packers. He returned to music-direct, arrange, and vocally produce for Pitch Perfect 3. He had also arranged for the film, The Social Network.

Television

In December 2009, he acted as music director, arranger, coach, and consultant behind the scenes on America's first a cappella reality show competition, titled The Sing-Off, and returned in 2010 as one of the show's producers. He also served as Executive Music Producer on the :nl:The Sing-Off|Dutch Sing Off, Sing Off South Africa and Sing-Off China, including several guest appearances as a judge and performer.
Along with The House Jacks, he sang and performed the 2011 Monday Night Football theme song "Are You Ready for Some Football" with Hank Williams, Jr.
He worked with Straight No Chaser on their first PBS special Live in New York.
He appeared in front of the camera for the first time on Lifetime's Pitch Slapped reality show, in which he coached after school high school a cappella group Stay Tuned from Cherry Hill, New Jersey, focusing both on their musicality and emotional delivery. The show also aired overseas in London, Israel across Latin America, Indonesia and the Philippines.
As of summer 2017 he is series music director for a new competitive choir show on BBC1 called Pitch Battle, as well as appearing on camera each episode providing insight and commentary. He was also the third judge for the season one live finale.
He judged Eurovision Choir 2019.

Performing career

Upon graduation in 1991, he moved back to San Francisco, bringing with him a handful of other collegiate a cappella singers to form The House Jacks, a pioneering a cappella group known for its original music and sound, often called "the original rock band without instruments", in part because they were the first a cappella group with a designated vocal percussionist.
The House Jacks have released seven albums and completed several world tours. He has performed with many musicians, including Ray Charles, Crosby, Stills and Nash and James Brown. They have won "Best Pop Rock Album" from the Contemporary A Cappella Society, for "Unbroken", "Level", and "Pollen.
He also performs as a solo artist, with groups such as the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus and at events like Singapore's "Vocal Edge" and directing DCINY's annual "Total Vocal" at Carnegie Hall as well as serving as Emcee for a cappella events, such as the annual Techapella concerts in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Studio session credits include the Wii game Just Dance Kids 2 including the songs "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", "Barbara Ann", and "Mahna Mahna".

Arranging

A prolific, award-winning vocal music arranger, he has arranged more than 2,000 songs for a wide range of ensembles, including some of vocal music's best-known groups. The Best Arrangement award at the Colorado Harmony Sweepstakes is named after him, and he has won the best arrangement award at the Harmony Sweepstakes several times since 1991. He was named "favorite arranger" in the 2010 A Cappella Community Awards and won "Best Professional Arrangement" in 2019.

Live music direction and production

He founded and directed a cappella groups at Walt Disney World/Epcot and Disneyland. In 2013, he created a new professional a cappella ensemble in New Mexico: "Voasis". In 2014 and 2015 in music directed the Sing Off Live tour He created Vocalosity for which he was artistic producer, music director and arranger. They started touring in 2016 and their debut album was released on Universal Classics.
In December 2017 he announced the formation of DCappella, a seven-member contemporary a cappella group launched in 2018 that will tour performing arts centers singing music from classic and contemporary Disney films. He serves as the group's music director, arranger and artistic producer.
His latest production with Columbia_Artists_Management, "A Cappella Live," is touring the US featuring four a cappella acts: Committed, The Filharmonic, Women of the World, and Blake Lewis.

Album production

As a producer of a cappella recordings, he is known for having changed the sound of collegiate a cappella recording via the Beelzebubs' album Code Red. He has arranged and produced multiple albums and tracks for Atlantic Records' Straight No Chaser, including the certified gold "Christmas Cheers".
In the early 1990s, he co-founded The Best of College A Cappella compilation, which he now produces annually with Varsity Vocals.

Event production and promotion

In college, he brought the Harmony Sweepstakes A Cappella Festival to the East Coast, producing the first Boston regional with the Beelzebubs. Shortly after college he founded the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella, the West and East Coast A Cappella Summits, and a number of other a cappella-related projects, programs, and events with the goal of popularizing a cappella. Recent festivals include Aca-West in San Francisco and VoiceJam in Arkansas where he often hosts the evening concert or competition as well as teach during the day.
He is a frequent host and emcee at a cappella events, such as Silicon Valley's "Techapella", The National A Cappella Convention, The annual College Notes event in Walnut Creek CA, "Pacific Harmony" in New Zealand, AKA A Cappella in Singapore, and the Maui Barbershop Festival. Some of the videos he has posted to promote a cappella groups around the world have gone viral. He's also frequently in residency or headlining events at universities such as Indiana U, Midland U and Tufts U.
His work to popularize and promote a cappella worldwide is now being recognized by major media: "A Capella is more popular than ever, thanks to this guy", "Deke Sharon makes a cappella cool again".

Organizations

In his college dorm he founded The Contemporary A Cappella Society and The Ultimate A Cappella Arranging Service. Shortly after graduation, he created the Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards, a cappella's equivalent of the Grammy Awards.
He formed the Contemporary A Cappella League, a new national network of adult "post-collegiate" a cappella groups.

Writing

Biographical Information about Deke Sharon can be found in Mickey Rapkin's Pitch Perfect, Joshua Duchan's Powerful Voices and Alysia Abbott's Fairyland.

Musical theater

The pioneering, first all-a cappella musical on Broadway, In Transit for which he is co-producer and arranged all the music opened at the Circle in the Square Theater on Broadway in December 2016. He started working with the production just after their off-Broadway run five years earlier.
Vocalosity, a live a cappella theatrical concert production with diverse cast, began touring in January 2016 and has performed in 30 states.
He has worked on a cappella musical theatre projects including "Street" and "Our World".

Education

He co-founded and directs Camp Acappella for teens and adults each summer at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio and teaches the music production class Soup To Nuts periodically. as well as travels to other countries to work with groups in person, such as New Zealand, Brazil, Italy, Sri Lanka and Singapore.
His YouTube channel features a variety of educational topics including how to sound like several different instruments. A GE special features him discussing the physics of a cappella.
In 2016, he joined the California branch of the American Choral Directors Association as the first ever Contemporary A Cappella R&R chair.

Awards

The Pitch Perfect soundtrack earned several awards, including an RIAA platinum record certification, the American Music Award for best soundtrack, an Online Film and Television Association nomination for Best Music, Adapted Song and an MTV Video Music Award for "Best Musical Moment".
The Pitch Perfect 2 soundtrack, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, secured the American Music Award for best Soundtrack and a Grammy nomination for Best Soundtrack.
As album producer, he was nominated for a Dove Award in 2012.
In 2016, he became an honorary member of the Barbershop Harmony Society, one of only twenty since 1938, and he was named an honorary member of BYU Vocal Point. In 2017 he was awarded the P.T. Barnum Award for excellence in Entertainment from his alma mater, Tufts University.
He has received two lifetime achievement awards for his work in a cappella: in 2016 for the 25th anniversary of his founding of thee Contemporary A Cappella Society and in 2018, from the A Cappella Music Awards.

Other

He is known for his ability to replicate a variety of instruments with his voice—which he teaches online and via "Singing Instruments" seminars—teaching summer camp for young vocalists, and adjudicating choral festivals around the world. He has worked with many professional vocal groups, including 98 Degrees, The Nylons and Boyz II Men.
Helping groups get started has been a ongoing goal of his for 30 years, which he does by providing free advice, support and arrangements.
He served on the CASA board for almost twenty years, often as President or Vice President. Acapellablog named him the number-one "a cappella power player to keep an eye on in 2012", and NPR credits him for "making a cappella cool again".
In 2016 he launched an a cappella podcast called "Counterpoint" with co-host Robert Dietz and has appeared on other podcasts.
To help promote Good Omens, he arranged several songs for "The Chattering Order of St Beryl," a group of singing nuns., and co-created Walmart's "Sparkappella."
When the cult NXIVM tried to use a cappella as a recruiting device, he drew out Keith Raniere in a public forum, resulting in his being put on their list of enemies.
He describes his life's work is "to get more people singing" because "music can build a better community" as "our country needs to understand the importance of working together". His motto is "Harmony through harmony."

Selected bibliography

TitleYearCategoryISBN
Contemporary A Cappella Songbook Vol 1Song book
Contemporary A Cappella Songbook Vol 2Song book
A CASA ChristmasSong book
Songs For All OccasionsSong book
I Feel Good: A Contemporary A Cappella CollectionSong book
Natural WomanSong book
ShoutSong book
Girls Just Wanna Have FunSong book
Good Ol A Cappella Vol 1Song book
ShBoom: Contemporary A Cappella SongbookSong book
A Cappella Jazz BroadwaySong book
A Cappella Jazz ClassicsSong book
RespectSong book
Deck The HallSong book
Ya Gotta BeSong book
Love Songs A CappellaSong book
DCappella Tour SongbookSong book

Selected discography

AlbumYearRole
Fourteen – Tufts Beelzebubs1989Music Director, Arranger, Vocalist, Producer
Beelzebub Winter Invitational – Tufts Beelzebubs1990Arranger, Vocalist, Producer
Foster Street – Tufts Beelzebubs1991Music Director, Arranger, Vocalist, Producer
Sing Naked – House Jacks1991Music Director, Arranger, Vocalist, Producer
Naked Noise – House Jacks1994Music Director, Arranger, Vocalist, Producer
Best of College A Cappella1995–2020Producer
Urban Harmony: R&B A Cappella1996Producer
Funkwich – House Jacks1997Music Director, Arranger, Vocalist, Producer
A Cappella All-Stars: The CARAs1997–2000Producer
Harmony Sweepstakes1997–1998Producer
Voices Only: A Cappella Originals1997Producer
Yearbook: Live from Spring Thing1997–1998Producer
Best of High School A Cappella1998–2020Producer
Naked Funk – House Jacks1999Music Director, Arranger, Vocalist, Producer
Wasting Our Parents' Money: BOCA Humor1999Producer
Drive – House Jacks2001Music Director, Arranger, Vocalist, Producer
Next – Tufts Beelzebubs2001Arranger, Producer
Disney's American Vybe – American Vybe2001Music Director, Arranger
Punch – Various2002Music Director, Arranger, Vocalist, Producer
Embodiment – BaSix 2002Producer
Only In America – Peking and the Mystics2002Producer
Code Red – Tufts Beelzebubs2003Arranger, Producer
Unbroken – House Jacks2004Music Director, Arranger, Vocalist, Producer
Fitchy & Grikko – House Jacks2005Music Director, Arranger, Vocalist, Producer
Udder Won – Moosebutter2005Vocalist, Producer
Unleash the Periscope – Colorado College Back Row2006Producer
Get Down Mr. President – House Jacks2007Music Director, Arranger, Vocalist, Producer
Good Things – House Jacks2009Music Director, Arranger, Vocalist, Producer
Christmas Cheers – Straight No Chaser2009Arranger, Producer
The Sing-Off tracks – US Sing-Off Cast, Season 1–52009–2014Arranger, Music Director, Producer
Go Nuts – Colorado College Back Row2010Producer
With A Twist – Straight No Chaser2010Arranger, Producer
Level – House Jacks2010Music Director, Arranger, Vocalist, Producer
Nota – Nota2010Arranger, Producer
Harmonies for the Holidays – Sing-Off Cast, Season Two2010Arranger, Producer
Best of The Sing-Off Season Two – Sing-Off Cast2011Arranger, Music Director, Producer
Committed – Committed2011Arranger, Producer
Songs of the Season – Sing-Off Cast, Season Three2011Arranger, Producer
Pitch Perfect Soundtrack – Pitch Perfect cast2012Arranger, Music Director, Vocalist, Producer
Act Accordingly – Gentlemen's Rule2012Arranger, Producer
Life's So Lyrical – Forte2012Arranger, Producer
Blackjack – The House Jacks2012Arranger, Music Director, Vocalist, Producer
Southern Autumn Nostalgia – Street Corner Symphony2013Arranger, Producer
Pollen – The House Jacks2014Arranger, Music Director, Vocalist, Producer
Best of BOCA2014Producer
Pitch Perfect 2 Soundtrack – Pitch Perfect Cast2015Arranger, Music Director, Vocalist, Producer
Pitch Slapped Live Performances – Stay Tuned2016Arranger, Music Director, Producer
Vocalosity – Vocalosity2016Arranger, Music Director, Vocalist, Producer
Straight No Chaser – I'll Have Another2016Arranger, Producer
In Transit – Original Broadway Cast2017Arranger, Producer
Pitch Perfect 3 Soundtrack – Cast2017Arranger, Music Director, Producer
Incredibles 2 Soundtrack – D Cappella2018Arranger, Music Director, Producer
Full Rally – Tufts Beelzebubs2018Arranger, Producer
D Cappella – D Cappella2018Arranger, Music Director, Producer
Unholy Night – Chattering Order of St Beryl 2019Arranger, Coach/consultant
D Cappella Japanese album – D Cappella2019Arranger, Music Director, Producer
SparkAppella - SparkAppella2019Arranger, Music Director, Producer
Rockin Holiday – D Cappella2019Arranger, Music Director, Producer
All Ears – D Cappella2020Arranger, Music Director, Producer