SPOTLIGHT Wins the Gold … In Its Own Backyard
Meet Your 2006 International Champion Quartet

By Chris Noteware

We’re ready for our next contestant. Would you close the doors, please? And now …
Anyone who has ever had the pleasure of standing in front or our membership and “introducing” a competitor has experienced the joy that fills the stage after a chorus or quartet is introduced. There is no better audience, unless it’s The Pitch Pipe audience.
It is my pleasure to introduce your 2006 International Champion Quartet SPOTLIGHT!
Our new “Queens of Harmony” are four women who have been singing their hearts out in our organization for quite some time. While their blend and unit helped get them the crowns, knowing them as individuals has been great fun for me. Let me introduce each one to you.

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The year 2005 was a very important one for Patti Britz, bass. She was blessed with her first grandchild, Mackenzie, in March, received a degree in Business Administration in June and got her crown in October. “It doesn’t get any better that that!” says Patti. “I feel like every woman in the world should belong to Sweet Adelines. I want to shout it from the rooftops what a great organization this is and how life-changing it can be!”
Joining Sweet Adelines in 1990, Patti learned her lessons quickly about singing. Almost immediately after joining Shoreline Sound, (then Eastpointe) she began singing in a quartet that was comprised of four chorus members. She learned what quartet singing was all about and was instantly hooked. "Being a member of REGALE, BLACK TIE, and especially INNOVATION was instrumental in my road to success." Becoming a single parent in 1992, she said her three sons, Jason, Denny and Jordan, ate a lot of pizza so she could attend rehearsals. Sweet Adelines created a balance for her busy life, and her children all agreed she came home a happier mom after she'd been singing.
Some of her biggest lessons in life have come from her experiences competing and the connection she enjoyed with the coaching that is such an important part of developing an excellent voice.
Patti remembers sitting in the audience at her first International convention in San Antonio in 1991 and watching her lead LeAnn win with Swing Street. She said right out loud, "Someday I want to do that". Never in her wildest dreams did she think it would be with LeAnn. Her enthusiasm for the barbershop world and love of what she does is evident. She is our organization’s best PR person and the week in Detroit topped it all. And what a week it was for her!
Here’s her list of great moments:
• Coming off stage in the semi-finals giggling and hugging her quartet buddies.
• Setting her sights on the crowns as they announced the second place winner (she’d been there before).
• Seeing her mother, Millie, in tears at the foot of the stage with her father Pat.
• Having her daughter-in-law Chrissy there to support her along with her sons.
• Eating dinner with her escort Jordon at the top of the Renaissance Center.
• Being the opening act for the Spinners.
• Praying for a big, beautiful crown and waking up the next morning and finding it wasn’t a dream.
At rehearsal the Tuesday after winning, Shoreline Sound Chorus greeted her with makeshift crowns and a royal reception. “The smiles were priceless,” says Patti. “This is the greatest organization!”

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Baritone Kerry Denino has been in Sweet Adelines since 1984 thanks to her mother and mentor Char Gurney. Her father Roy Gurney has been in the Barbershop Harmony Society for over 35 years and introduced the family to the barbershop style. Kerry’s mom is an expression judge and master director, and her father is an avid quartet singer. Char made sure Kerry was always involved. “My parents would play tapes in the car of award-winning quartets to keep me from getting car sick! I was exposed to the finest barbershop singing and would pick out the different parts.” Well, bless those parents, because Kerry picked out the baritone and at 13 joined Sweet Adelines, and was on her way. Her first competition was on the international stage in Las Vegas as a chorus member and her first quartet, THE HAPPY GIRLS, was Kerry and a three-way mirror! Joining SPOTLIGHT, in January 2005, Kerry brought years of experience to the quartet. The experience she gained from singing with SECOND GENERATION, RIGHT CHOICE and SUCCESS EXPRESS gave her just what she needed to reach the final goal.
Kerry found someone whose passion matched hers when she met and married Steve Denino. “He was the cute one in the front row,” Kerry met him when they were teenagers and Steve sang in her Dad's chorus. Steve’s singing career includes two silver medals with UPTOWN SOUND and 25 years as a barbershop singer. After 14 years of marriage, the couple enjoys their home in Grove City, Ohio with their children Amanda (7) and Nicholas (4). Already avid music lovers, Kerry’s children enjoy a stay-at-home mom who fills her days with scrapbooking, reading, gardening and home décor.
“My favorite memory of International in Detroit was the feeling I got walking off stage after our first set. I was so pumped and thrilled that I started to bawl. I am delighted to be a part of this quartet and feel very blessed to have made three wonderful friends.”
Are those your HAPPY GIRLS you saw in that three-way mirror Kerry?

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Tenor Kendra LaPointe has been living with a “Queen” all her life. Coming into Sweet Adelines at the tender age of 13 was something her mother Vicki Gibson (bass of 1975 Champion Quartet FRONT OFFICE FOUR) had prepared her daughter for since birth. Father Ken Gibson (silver medalist with the VAGABONDS, 1976) was holding a very tiny child that day in the Lansing, Mich. airport, when Kendra’s mommy returned home as a champion quartet member. Thirty-one years later and history repeated itself in the Gibson family!
While Kendra hasn’t had much experience in quartetting, she enjoyed singing with her mom, dad, and sister Brooke in THE GIBSON FAMILY QUARTET for several years. She was 11 and Brooke was eight when they began. Joining the Water-Wonderland Chorus in Region 17 gave her more time with mom who was the director as well as many chances to appear on the international stage with the chorus the first being in Miami, Fla. in 1989. Two regional competitions gave her fourth place quartet medals with MATRIX, and when her mom retired from directing in 1997, Kendra became interim director and then director.
Meeting her husband at a barbershop district contest was certainly a plus for Kendra. She and David have been married for seven years and have two sons, Luke (5) and Aiden (3). Our champion tenor enjoys being a stay-at-home mom, working as a consultant for Mary Kay Cosmetics and creating scrapbook products for www.Stickapella.com.
Joining SPOTLIGHT in Nashville in 2002 won Kendra a bronze medal with the group. Her enthusiasm for the craft of barbershop is evident in the fact that while being in this quartet might be enough for most; Kendra enjoys her “spot” with a vocal jazz, mixed-sextet group called VOCAL MONTAGE. Three men and three women, all barbershoppers — mom and dad, Karen and Marv Moran and Norm Thompson, gives Kendra another chance to do what she does so well.
Winning the gold at 31, the same age her mother Vicki was at her crowning, and being so close to home made it very special. And speaking of crowns, “People ask me how heavy is that crown?” "Not heavy at all,” says Kendra. Standing on stage after their win, joined by family and friends, her five-year-old said it all;” I told you that you would be a queen someday!”
There’s always room for one more “Queen” in a barbershop family!

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“Every time you win, it’s like the first time.” Whether you believe it or not, that’s how Lead LeAnn Hazlett feels about her experience. And she should surely know! Many remember that beautiful voice leading the way in SWING STREET, 1991 International Champion Quartet.
“What I can’t believe is that I almost didn’t join Sweet Adelines. I took voice lessons in high school from a lady in Bowling Green, Ohio. I had been singing since junior high and after high school I attended BGSU for one year as a Music major. I took an Intro to Opera class and was singing a song that “sounded” really low. Three girls came up to me and asked me to sing bass with them. We went off to a practice room and of course I couldn’t hit those notes. They were ready to get rid of me when a barbershopper who happened to be in the room said, ‘Have her sing lead.’ So I did.”
We’ve been hearing lead from LeAnn since 1982. With the support of her family, parents Carol and Charlie, older brother Jim and wife Linda, younger brother Jerry and wife Michelle and the loves of her life, nieces and nephews Meaghan, Courtney, Aaron and Coty, LeAnn has much to her credit. She is a charter member of the Pride of Toledo Chorus in Region 17, first joining the Toledo Seaway Chorus. After a few years, she wanted something more and Region 2 provided her with just the thing! Spirit of Detroit Chorus has enjoyed many trips to the International stage under her direction.
LeAnn’s parents had the pleasure of hearing her compete for the first time in Detroit and she sighted this as her best personal moment. 'Walking off stage after the first set' was the best quartet moment for her. “It takes a village … and we found a magical combination this last year with Jean Barford — who had been with us from the very beginning, Debbie Connelly and Chris Noteware. We had certain goals to achieve and they sure gave us everything we needed. Thanks go out to our guiding lights …you too George!”

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Hopefully you now know some things you didn’t know about SPOTLIGHT. Each wanted to be sure that their regions (2, 4 and 17) were thanked for all the support they have received along the way. Shoreline Sound, Spirit of Detroit and Scioto Valley Choruses gave the four of them memories and more! The organization’s quick and efficient handling of our relocation from New Orleans to Detroit made their journey not only possible, but also homegrown. It is SPOTLIGHT’s hope that their year as reigning queens will bring them to your home.

 

 

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