Early years (1986–1990) The founding members of Rockapella consisted of
Brown University alumni Sean Altman, Elliott Kerman, Steve Keyes, and David Stix. They had each been in an
a cappella group at Brown called High Jinks, but not all at the same time. Having been in High Jinks the longest, Altman was the only connection between the other three members; when they found each other in
New York City following their graduation, they decided to form Rockapella. The band began performing on New York City street corners in 1986 with a hat at their feet and a song repertoire that consisted of a mix of
barbershop arrangements and a cappella renditions of classic
doo wop pieces that evolved to focus less on oldies and barbershop and more on contemporary rock music. Passers-by began to drop business cards into the hat, and these street corner performances led to private party and club performances around NYC. Stix left the group in 1987 to pursue his artistic career and was replaced by Charlie Evett. That same year, a dinner party performance for television personality
Kathie Lee Gifford led to Rockapella's 1988 appearance on the WABC-TV show
The Morning Show,
Regis Philbin and Gifford's NYC morning talk show before it went national. Their performance of Altman's signature arrangement of the calypso novelty standard "
Zombie Jamboree" caught the eye of producer Gerard Brown. He invited Rockapella to perform on the PBS "Great Performances" TV special
Spike Lee & Company – Do It A Cappella, which would put them into the national spotlight. However, Evett left the group to continue a career in software design in 1988 before the special's taping, and
Barry Carl was hired to take his place.
Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? (1991–1996) With a
PBS special and numerous morning talk show appearances under their collective belt, Rockapella was noticed by the producers of an up-and-coming children's geography game show
Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?. Shortly before the show's premiere, Keyes had decided to leave Rockapella to launch his legal career, but was still part of the band when they auditioned and were hired to write and perform the show's theme song as well as appearing as the comic relief house band. Keyes was replaced by
Scott Leonard, who had just returned from a career as the lead singer in a
Tokyo Disneyland electronic rock band. Between Leonard joining the band and the start of their television break, Rockapella began to pick up fame, starring in a
Whoopi Goldberg HBO comedy special
Chez Whoopi, a
Taco Bell commercial, and opened for acts such as
Chuck Berry,
Styx,
Billy Joel, and their a cappella idols
The Persuasions, who the group had met on the
Do It A Cappella special. They also performed on
Jay Leno's first
New Year's Eve episode of
The Tonight Show in 1992. Rockapella first appeared on the half-hour game show in 1991 and later continued to appear daily for five seasons, catapulting the band's four members into mid-level television celebrity status and making the Rockapella-performed theme song (which was penned by Altman and his childhood friend,
David Yazbek) as one of the best known television themes in history.
Jeff Thacher joined Rockapella as the band's permanent vocal percussionist in 1993, although he only appeared on
Carmen Sandiego during its fifth and final season two years later. While Rockapella was seen daily in homes across America, Leonard used his connections to the Japanese music market to acquire a recording contract with ForLife Records. The group released seven albums of original and cover material under this label in Japan during their run on
Carmen Sandiego and for two years after that, being the first to bring contemporary a cappella music to Japan. In August 2009, Wright announced he would be leaving the group at the end of the year to spend more time with his family; his last performance with the band was on December 22 of that same year, and was replaced by
Steven Dorian. The project to make "Bang", the title track off their newest album, the first track in Rock Band to feature full, four-instrument gameplay based on no live or synthesized instruments began in the summer of 2010, and was released for purchase on January 30, 2011 through the RBN. At the beginning of 2011, the band's cover of "
It's A Small World" from their album
Comfort & Joy, was featured in a TV commercial for the animated film
Gnomeo and Juliet. On November 16, 2011, Rockapella released a new holiday album,
A Rockapella Holiday. In 2022, Jose Rosario left the group and was replaced by Manny Houston. Bryant Vance left the group at that time as well, allowing George Baldi III to return. By mid-2023, Baldi left the group once again and was replaced by Armand Hutton. ==Personnel==