Canada’s most beloved vocal quartet, The Nylons will be crooning seasonal favorites and some of their classics on the Port Theatre stage, Thursday, Dec. 8 at 7:30 p.m.
With seven gold and platinum recordings, the four member vocal group is a true international success story. Known for their great a cappella sound, dazzling harmonies and smooth arrangements, The Nylons immense appeal has taken them across North America, Europe, Australia, China and Japan.
The Nylons continue to perform worldwide to passionate audiences and critical acclaim and the Port Theatre audience can expect a vibrant concert from the group with classics including The Lion Sleeps Tonight, Silhouettes, Up On The Roof, as well as selections from their new exciting CD Skin Tight.
The Nylons have been on the music scene for the past 30 years. Now the group returns with their first studio record since 2006 — and their soulful harmonies sound better than ever.
Peppered with a slick jazz flavour throughout, Skin Tight is the catchiest collection of signature Nylons harmonies to date.
The Nylons have never needed a band — they just needed their voices, their joy, and their ability to entertain audiences and the energy and spark the group had when it started back in 1979 is still present.
There have been — counting the current line-up — a total of 12 members in the group’s 27 years. Claude Morrison is the only original member still in the group, although Arnold Robinson, who joined in 1981 and who retired in early 2006, comes close to Claude’s longevity.
Now, all these years later, the Nylons still matter with Morrison, Garth Mosbaugh, Gavin Hope and Tyrone Gabriel making up the current group.
Mosbaugh, who lives in Squamish, joined the group in 1994 and said it has been a good match for him ever since. The group is based in Toronto but Mosbaugh said although he lives on the West Coast he manages to make it work.
There have been 17 albums for The Nylons so far and on the latest 17-track album Mosbaugh wrote the track Cry Baby.
The album overflows with skillfully re-imagined classic songs including a cover of the Doobie Brothers classic track What A Fool Believes featuring saxophone virtuoso Dave Koz, and a heartfelt version of Michael Jackson’s Gone Too Soon — a dedication to their late founding group member, Canadian singer/actor Denis Simpson.
If it has been a while since you have been to a live performance of The Nylons, Mosbaugh admitted they no longer hang a nylon from their microphones.
“We lost the prop when we started using wireless microphones,” he stated.
He said with so many songs in their repertoire to draw from, the audience can expect to hear some of the titles that they made famous as well as some seasonal favorites.
Joining The Nylon’s celebration of the human voice on stage will be The Sinclair Singers
Under the direction of Sharon Sinclair. The choir has been entertaining Nanaimo audiences since 2006.
The 20-voice young adult group enjoys singing a wide variety of styles and their repertoire is sung mostly a cappella.
Last spring they competed in the B.C. Provincial Festival of the Arts and were selected as First Runner Up for the province.
Tickets for the Dec. 8 performance can be purchased online at www.porttheatre.com.
reporter@pqbnews.com