The Hamilton College Performing Arts Series presents the multiple Grammy and Dove Award-winning a cappella group Take 6 on Friday, Sept. 30, at 8 p.m., in Wellin Hall.
The Take 6 story began at Oakwood College in Huntsville, Ala., in 1980, when freshman Claude V. McKnight III formed a quartet known as the Gentlemen’s Estate Club. When tenor Mark Kibble heard the group rehearsing in, of all places, a campus restroom, he joined in the harmonies and performed onstage with the group that same night. Mervyn Warren joined shortly after, and the group briefly took the name of Alliance.
They performed in local churches and on campus for the next few years, with personnel changing frequently as older members graduated and new voices arrived on campus to replace them. After college, the group signed with the Warner Brothers label in 1987 and changed their name to Take 6. Their self-titled debut album, released the following year, scored two Grammy Awards and landed in the top 10 on Billboard’s Contemporary Jazz and Contemporary Christian charts.
Today, Take 6’s style covers the rich tradition of the doo-wop and gospel groups of the 1950’s as well as the second wave of jazz and pop vocal groups that emerged in the 1990’s. The current group includes Claude McKnight, David Thomas, Mark Kibble, Alvin Chea, Tony Huerta, Joel Kibble and Christian Dentley.
Tickets for this event are $20 for adults, $15 for senior citizens and $5 for students. Group discounts and subscriptions are available. All seating is general admission. The choir of Utica’s St. Matthew’s Temple Church of God in Christ will give a pre-concert performance in Café Opus at 7:20 p.m. For tickets or more information, call 859-4331.
