The Swingles

French group , Amsterdam, Netherlands in 1964 The Swingle Singers were formed in Paris in 1962 and directed originally by Ward Swingle (who once belonged to Mimi Perrin's French vocal group Les Double Six). They began as session singers, mainly doing backing vocals for singers such as Charles Aznavour and Edith Piaf. Their original lineup was Anne Germain, Claude Germain, Jeanette Baucomont, Christiane Legrand, Claudine Meunier, Jean-Claude Briodin, and Jean Cussac, with Legrand (sister of Michel Legrand) the original lead soprano. The French group typically performed and recorded with a double bass and drums as accompaniment. In 1973, Ward Swingle disbanded the original French group when he and his family moved to England. Until 2011, the group consisted of eight voices: two sopranos, two altos, two tenors and two basses. However, when alto Lucy Bailey left the group in 2011, the Swingles announced the decision not to replace her, but to continue as a seven-person line-up. The Swingles are curators of the London A Cappella Festival, based at Kings Place. • Sarah Alison (alto, USA) (as of April 2025) • Laura Moisey-Gray (alto, UK) (as of April 2025) • James Botcher (tenor, UK) (since September 2024) • Owen Butcher (tenor, UK) (since February 2024) • Jamie Wright (baritone and vocal percussionist, UK) (since January 2020) • Tom Hartley (bass, UK) (since June 2022) ==Performances and releases==

An early hit for the group was Bach's "Air on the G String", recorded with the Modern Jazz Quartet; it has been used as the theme tune to a popular Italian TV Show, Superquark, as well as the Swedish Children's program, Beppes godnattstund, hosted by Beppe Wolgers. Luciano Berio wrote his postmodern symphony Sinfonia for eight voices and orchestra in 1968 with the Swingle Singers in mind (appearing on the original premiere recording with the New York Philharmonic). They also premiered Berio's A-Ronne in 1974, which they later recorded. in movies (Bach's Fugue in G Minor (BWV 578) in Thank You for Smoking, Mozart's "Horn Concerto No. 4" in Wedding Crashers, Bach's "Prelude No.7 in E flat [The Well Tempered Clavier – Book 2 BWV 876]" in Milk). The English group sang with French pop star Étienne Daho on his songs "Timide intimité" and "Soudain" from his 1996 album Eden, and with the Style Council on their song "The Story of Someone's Shoe" from the 1988 album Confessions of a Pop Group. They appeared several times on the BBC Television sketch show The Two Ronnies in the early 1970s. == Discography ==

• Jazz Sebastien Bach (Philips, 1963) • Anyone for Mozart? (Philips, 1964) • Going Baroque (Philips, 1964) • Les Romantiques (Philips, 1965) • Place Vendome with the Modern Jazz Quartet (Philips, 1966) • Rococo a Go Go (Philips, 1966) • ''Concerto d'Aranjuez: Sounds of Spain'' (Philips, 1967) • J. S. Bach (Philips, 1968) • Jazz Von Bach Bis Chopin (Philips, 1968) • Noels Sans Passeport (Philips, 1968) • Jazz Sebastian Bach Volume 2 (Philips, 1968) • Sinfonia/Visage with Luciano Berio, The New York Philharmonic, Cathy Berberian (CBS, 1969) • American Look (Philips, 1969) • Bitter Ending with Andre Hodeir (Epic, 1972) • Les 4 Saisons (Philips, 1972) • The Joy of Singing (Philips, 1972) • Attention! The Swingle Singers (Fontana, 1973) • Swinging Bach (Fontana, 1974) • Jazz Meets Baroque (Fontana, 1976) • Swingle Bells (Columbia, 1978) • Swingle Skyliner (Columbia, 1979) • Folio (MMG, 1980) • Instrumentals (Polydor, 1986) • Christmas (Polydor, 1986) • Sinfonia Eindrucke with Orchestre National De France (Erato, 1986) • Nothing but Blue Skies (Trax, 1988) • 1812 (Swingle Singers, 1989) • The Bach Album (Swingle Singers, 1990) • A Cappella Amadeus: A Mozart Celebration (Virgin, 1991) • Around the World/Folk Music/An A Cappela Song Collection (Virgin, 1991) • Notability (Swingle Singers, 1993) • Bach Hits Back (Virgin, 1994) • Pretty Ringtime: English Twentieth Century Songs (Swingle Singers, 1994) • New World (Swingle Singers, 1995) • The Story of Christmas (Primarily a Cappella 1998) • Screen Tested (Swingle Singers, 1998) • Ticket to Ride (Swingle Singers, 1999) • Keyboard Classics (Swingle Singers, 2002) • Mood Swings (Primarily a Cappella 2002) • Retrospective: The 40th Anniversary Show (Sounds Good 2003) • Unwrapped (Swingle Singers, 2004) • Ferris Wheels (Swingle Singers, 2009) • Weather to Fly (World Village 2013) • Snapshots, Volume 1 (2020) • Snapshots, Volume 2 (2021) • Theatreland (2024) == Past members ==

In 2025, the past members include: ⁎ = Swingle Singers 1962-72 (Only founder Ward Swingle was in both The Swingle Singers and Swingle 2/The Swingles.) ==References==