Pentatonix They won The Sing Off in 2011. They made a guest starring appearance on America′s Got Talent as non−competitors a couple of years after that. The founding members are:- Scott Hoying (tall blond guy, natural baritone but has an impressive five−to−six octave range, can go all the way up to high tenor and down to bass, sings the bass lines when the usual bass singer takes the lead);
Kirstin "Kirstie" (Rhymes with "Thirsty") Maldonado (the only female member, natural mezzo soprano, but can go down to low alto and as high as upper soprano, also can sing in whistle notes that are off the scale); For a time in 2018 between the group’s tours, had the female lead on Broadway in the production of “Kinky Boots”. Mitch Grassi (a true contra−tenor, can hit high notes in his chest voice with ease and go WAY higher in his falsetto, also with ease); Avriel "Avi" Kaplan (dark beard and long hair), true basso profundo, trained as an opera singer, also can go up into the tenor range; and Kevin "KO" Olusola (beatboxer extraordinaire, also is a world−class cellist who plays cello on some of their songs, has a beautiful high tenor voice and gets occasional lead vocal solos as well, graduated pre−med from Yale and speaks several languages including Mandarin Chinese). Kirstie, Scott & Mitch grew up together in Arlington, Texas, and began performing together as children in local youth musical theater. They ended up in high school together and performed in the choir. While there, they formed an a cappella group called The Trio which had several performance videos go viral on CZcams, most notably a cover of Lady Gaga′s "Telephone". The three of them are best friends and consider themselves to be almost siblings. Scott & Kirstie (who were a class year ahead of Mitch) both graduated high school in 2010 and went their separate ways to different colleges, Scott at USC and Kirstie at Oklahoma. While at USC, Scott joined a USC−based a cappella group called the SoCal VoCals, where he met alumnus Ben Bram, who was now an arranger and vocal coach for the NBC TV show The Sing Off, an a cappella competition show. Ben convinced Scott to get The Trio to audition for the show. The three reunited (Mitch had to skip high school graduation ceremonies to go) in Los Angeles for the audition. They found out that the rules had changed, so they needed at least five members to audition. Ben put them together with Avi (a native of Visalia, California), who he knew from Avi′s performing days at Mount San Antonio College in California. They found Kevin (from Kentucky) through one of his CZcams videos that had gone viral featuring him playing the cello and beatboxing at the same time, a talent that Kevin coined as "Cello−Boxing". Kevin arrived in Los Angeles literally the day before the audition! Scott came up with the name "Pentatonix" after the pentatonic scale. They performed a re−arrangement of "The Telephone" for the audition and passed, despite having been together as a five−piece group for less that 24 hours! They won The Sing Off that season (all of the performances are available on CZcams), in which they received a substantial cash prize AND a record contract with Epic Records. They pooled their prize winnings together and all moved to Los Angeles, and all got apartments right next door to each other in the same building. But just a week later, Epic dropped them because the marketing people didn′t think an a cappella group could sell records. Instead of giving up, they were determined and began recording their own songs on CZcams, hiring Ben Bram as their producer and arranger. These usually consisted of the five of them sitting on a couch and performing cover songs live. Several of the videos went viral, and Sony (the parent company of Epic) decided to give them another chance by placing them on one of their smaller labels, Madison Gate. They released two secular EPs and one Christmas EP on Madison Gate, all of which were strong sellers. But when their cove r of a medley of songs by Daft Punk not only went super−viral, but also won them their first Grammy, they were promoted all the way up to RCA Records, Sony′s top label. They began writing and producing their own songs in addition to their covers, began putting out a Christmas album just about annually (which has become their best−selling genre), and have had multi−platinum album sales, sold−out world tours, and have won two additional Grammys. Avi began getting burned out with all of the touring and heavy recording schedule, was suffering from anxiety and personal problems, and learned that his mother had been diagnosed with cancer in 2017. He announced he was departing from the group and taking some time away from the music industry. Matt Sallee (from Baltimore) joined them in September 2017. He did only become official when they renewed their RCA contract in February 2018, but he recorded with them in September as a featured artist and went on their Christmas tour as a featured artist, as well. When he attended the audition for the group, he had already mastered the Bass part for most if not all their past catalogue. He was successful and has proved that he fits in well with the group. If you think there have been other changes to the line up - look again. This is the ONLY change. Kirstie and Mitch are like chameleons and change looks frequently. After a year away from music, Avi has now returned as a phenomenal solo artist in the Folk/Americana/Roots genre. Ben Bram has been in charge of their production, including arranging and directing from the beginning. He is often referred to as the sixth member. Scott and Kevin are major players in the arrangements, but every member contributes. A good watch is "The Recording of Evergreen" where a camera was invited into the studio for the second week of recording/ Also, all members are songwriters for both Pentatonix and their own solo work. Ed Boyer who mixes everything of theirs (even the HWB Livestream) is the one who pulled Ben Bram into the sing off in the first place. They were nominated for a 4th Grammy for their album Evergreen, but didn't win. Kirstie became a new mum which caused a pause in touring after their Evergreen Christmas tour 2021. Mid March 2023 Kirstie has announced that she is engaged to Ben Hausdorff, their videographer. No dates YET! They have a star on the Hollywood walk of fame installed in February 2023. They are the only a capella group with a star! They came 3rd in the 2023 Masked Singer performing as "California Rolls" being unmasked in May 23. Things you need to know because if you get these wrong Pentaholics will come after you with pitch forks and torches! Ha Ha!! 1- There is NO Auto-Tune; what you hear is actually what they sing. They really are that good. One exception is the 90's Dance Medley where Cher used autotune as an effect - so they had to. 2- What produces everything that you hear in the video, you see in the official video. If there is an instrument used in the music, you see it on screen. In the 2022 Christmas album, there are some instruments not featured throughout the album. 3- They never release something on video they can’t reproduce with the exact same quality live on-stage.
If you watch the first episode of season 3 of the sing off, including the intro and judge’s comments, they discuss how the group formed. Basically Scott got his childhood besties (Kirstie and Mitch, all 3 from Arlington, Texas) to agree to the Sing Off Competition and then they found Kevin (via CZcams) and Avi (through Ben Bram, who helps arrange and produce their music (check out the recording of evergreen)), and entered the competition. When Avi left to do solo stuff, Ben found Matt, who auditioned and instantly gelled with the group.
According to Penta-lore, Avi went to a barber college for his pre-Sing Off haircut and later admitted that was not his best decision. So this is his barber college discount haircut growing out. Loved your reaction, as always. Peace …
I don't know if you knew this, they just released their version of Creep. It's just audio but it is an interesting listen. They did it for the show "The Masked Singer" and with instrumentation. Thought you might be interested in hearing with with full instrumentation.
This was a great reaction, thanks for checking this one out. Not a lot of reactors I've seen do this one! They just released their new cover of 'Creep' from their performance on the Masked Singer show you should totally check it out!
There is a 15-minute "Beginner's Guide to Pentatonix" put together by a fan that introduces the members and goes through their history, but... It's from 2019 so doesn't cover the years since. AND it's made up of short clips from their music videos, with text narration overlaid. Some people feel the clips are spoilers for future reactions; IMO they are so short the spoilage is not serious, and may let you see some songs you want to react to in the future.
Yes, this is really early, December, 2012, when they were still trying to get their CZcams channel going and just before they started to really take off, starting with the success of their 2012 Christmas EP, PTXmas. In the really early days they used the couch in their apartment for video shoots, then when they could afford a videographer they used free, outdoor settings. Once they started to get successful they hired a stylist, Candace Lambert and filmed in studio locations.
You should check out their performances on the Sing Off from 2011 - that's when they officially became Pentatonix. Scott, Kirstie, and Mitch sang in high school together in Arlington, TX, and they found Avi and Kevin prior to auditions. Sing Off 3rd Season - Pentatonix Performances (includes intros, performances, judges' feedback, outros) 1st Performance - ET (Katy Perry) - czcams.com/video/9STdbGrfCLA/video.html 2nd Performance - Your Love is My Drug (Ke$ha) - czcams.com/video/xt7smksoCiU/video.html 3rd Performance - Piece of My Heart (Janis Joplin) - czcams.com/video/1JhP40Tp7Rk/video.html 4th Performance - Video Killed the Radio Star (The Buggles) - czcams.com/video/BaIfu1Ni57o/video.html 5th Performance - Love Lockdown (Kanye West) - czcams.com/video/4Ur7TKyBCLk/video.html 6th Performance - Britney Spears Medley - czcams.com/video/WsIXMvmCEHg/video.html 7th Performance - Born to Be Wild (Steppenwolf) - czcams.com/video/rZMgUxPGiqQ/video.html 8th Performance - Stuck Like Glue (Sugarland) - czcams.com/video/iW7zIUkxaSA/video.html 9th Performance - OMG (Usher) - czcams.com/video/S5iYQ8KJYRo/video.html 10th Performance - Let's Get It On (Marvin Gaye) - czcams.com/video/2eM7ApWuy3g/video.html 11th Performance - Since You've Been Gone/Forget You Remix - czcams.com/video/ytOGNG6Yd_0/video.html 12th Performance - Dog Days Are Over (Florence and the Machine) - czcams.com/video/TAX2D56LgO0/video.html
Kevin's family has moved around a bit, but when they found Kevin at Yale, the rest of his family was living in Kentucky. Now his parents live in California. Avi is from Southern California.
👋👉The Trio, Scott, Kirstie and Mitch are childhood friends from Arlington TX. Avi is from California Kevin is from Kentucky Matt is from Maryland REACT to the LIVE version which Quincy Jones introduced them. Quincy is excited, je knows them and is a fan of PTX
💥👉YOU WOULD REALLY LOVE the LIVE version of this song. The video is Quincy Jones presents PENTATONIX!! IT IS MIND BLOWING 🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯 I can't leave you the link because YT will delete my comment
![[Official Video] Save the World/Don't You Worry Child-Pentatonix(Swedish House Mafia Cover)-REACTION](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/xO90HYydfd8/mqdefault.jpg)
![[Official Video] Save the World/Don't You Worry Child-Pentatonix(Swedish House Mafia Cover)-REACTION](/img/tr.png)
Pentatonix
They won The Sing Off in 2011. They made a guest starring appearance on America′s Got Talent as non−competitors a couple of years after that.
The founding members are:-
Scott Hoying (tall blond guy, natural baritone but has an impressive five−to−six octave range, can go all the way up to high tenor and down to bass, sings the bass lines when the usual bass singer takes the lead);
Kirstin "Kirstie" (Rhymes with "Thirsty") Maldonado (the only female member, natural mezzo soprano, but can go down to low alto and as high as upper soprano, also can sing in whistle notes that are off the scale); For a time in 2018 between the group’s tours, had the female lead on Broadway in the production of “Kinky Boots”.
Mitch Grassi (a true contra−tenor, can hit high notes in his chest voice with ease and go WAY higher in his falsetto, also with ease);
Avriel "Avi" Kaplan (dark beard and long hair), true basso profundo, trained as an opera singer, also can go up into the tenor range; and
Kevin "KO" Olusola (beatboxer extraordinaire, also is a world−class cellist who plays cello on some of their songs, has a beautiful high tenor voice and gets occasional lead vocal solos as well, graduated pre−med from Yale and speaks several languages including Mandarin Chinese).
Kirstie, Scott & Mitch grew up together in Arlington, Texas, and began performing together as children in local youth musical theater. They ended up in high school together and performed in the choir. While there, they formed an a cappella group called The Trio which had several performance videos go viral on CZcams, most notably a cover of Lady Gaga′s "Telephone". The three of them are best friends and consider themselves to be almost siblings.
Scott & Kirstie (who were a class year ahead of Mitch) both graduated high school in 2010 and went their separate ways to different colleges, Scott at USC and Kirstie at Oklahoma.
While at USC, Scott joined a USC−based a cappella group called the SoCal VoCals, where he met alumnus Ben Bram, who was now an arranger and vocal coach for the NBC TV show The Sing Off, an a cappella competition show. Ben convinced Scott to get The Trio to audition for the show. The three reunited (Mitch had to skip high school graduation ceremonies to go) in Los Angeles for the audition.
They found out that the rules had changed, so they needed at least five members to audition. Ben put them together with Avi (a native of Visalia, California), who he knew from Avi′s performing days at Mount San Antonio College in California. They found Kevin (from Kentucky) through one of his CZcams videos that had gone viral featuring him playing the cello and beatboxing at the same time, a talent that Kevin coined as "Cello−Boxing".
Kevin arrived in Los Angeles literally the day before the audition! Scott came up with the name "Pentatonix" after the pentatonic scale. They performed a re−arrangement of "The Telephone" for the audition and passed, despite having been together as a five−piece group for less that 24 hours!
They won The Sing Off that season (all of the performances are available on CZcams), in which they received a substantial cash prize AND a record contract with Epic Records. They pooled their prize winnings together and all moved to Los Angeles, and all got apartments right next door to each other in the same building.
But just a week later, Epic dropped them because the marketing people didn′t think an a cappella group could sell records.
Instead of giving up, they were determined and began recording their own songs on CZcams, hiring Ben Bram as their producer and arranger. These usually consisted of the five of them sitting on a couch and performing cover songs live.
Several of the videos went viral, and Sony (the parent company of Epic) decided to give them another chance by placing them on one of their smaller labels, Madison Gate. They released two secular EPs and one Christmas EP on Madison Gate, all of which were strong sellers.
But when their cove r of a medley of songs by Daft Punk not only went super−viral, but also won them their first Grammy, they were promoted all the way up to RCA Records, Sony′s top label.
They began writing and producing their own songs in addition to their covers, began putting out a Christmas album just about annually (which has become their best−selling genre), and have had multi−platinum album sales, sold−out world tours, and have won two additional Grammys.
Avi began getting burned out with all of the touring and heavy recording schedule, was suffering from anxiety and personal problems, and learned that his mother had been diagnosed with cancer in 2017. He announced he was departing from the group and taking some time away from the music industry.
Matt Sallee (from Baltimore) joined them in September 2017. He did only become official when they renewed their RCA contract in February 2018, but he recorded with them in September as a featured artist and went on their Christmas tour as a featured artist, as well. When he attended the audition for the group, he had already mastered the Bass part for most if not all their past catalogue. He was successful and has proved that he fits in well with the group.
If you think there have been other changes to the line up - look again. This is the ONLY change. Kirstie and Mitch are like chameleons and change looks frequently.
After a year away from music, Avi has now returned as a phenomenal solo artist in the Folk/Americana/Roots genre.
Ben Bram has been in charge of their production, including arranging and directing from the beginning. He is often referred to as the sixth member. Scott and Kevin are major players in the arrangements, but every member contributes. A good watch is "The Recording of Evergreen" where a camera was invited into the studio for the second week of recording/
Also, all members are songwriters for both Pentatonix and their own solo work.
Ed Boyer who mixes everything of theirs (even the HWB Livestream) is the one who pulled Ben Bram into the sing off in the first place.
They were nominated for a 4th Grammy for their album Evergreen, but didn't win.
Kirstie became a new mum which caused a pause in touring after their Evergreen Christmas tour 2021. Mid March 2023 Kirstie has announced that she is engaged to Ben Hausdorff, their videographer. No dates YET!
They have a star on the Hollywood walk of fame installed in February 2023. They are the only a capella group with a star!
They came 3rd in the 2023 Masked Singer performing as "California Rolls" being unmasked in May 23.
Things you need to know because if you get these wrong Pentaholics will come after you with pitch forks and torches! Ha Ha!!
1- There is NO Auto-Tune; what you hear is actually what they sing. They really are that good. One exception is the 90's Dance Medley where Cher used autotune as an effect - so they had to.
2- What produces everything that you hear in the video, you see in the official video. If there is an instrument used in the music, you see it on screen. In the 2022 Christmas album, there are some instruments not featured throughout the album.
3- They never release something on video they can’t reproduce with the exact same quality live on-stage.
Well done!
If you watch the first episode of season 3 of the sing off, including the intro and judge’s comments, they discuss how the group formed.
Basically Scott got his childhood besties (Kirstie and Mitch, all 3 from Arlington, Texas) to agree to the Sing Off Competition and then they found Kevin (via CZcams) and Avi (through Ben Bram, who helps arrange and produce their music (check out the recording of evergreen)), and entered the competition.
When Avi left to do solo stuff, Ben found Matt, who auditioned and instantly gelled with the group.
Babytonix!!!! Foreshadowing how GREAT they would become.
According to Penta-lore, Avi went to a barber college for his pre-Sing Off haircut and later admitted that was not his best decision. So this is his barber college discount haircut growing out. Loved your reaction, as always. Peace …
I love that I enjoy their old videos as much as the new ones. They hold up well over time
I don't know if you knew this, they just released their version of Creep. It's just audio but it is an interesting listen. They did it for the show "The Masked Singer" and with instrumentation. Thought you might be interested in hearing with with full instrumentation.
There are video options of them doing it after the unmasking on the show.
This was a great reaction, thanks for checking this one out. Not a lot of reactors I've seen do this one! They just released their new cover of 'Creep' from their performance on the Masked Singer show you should totally check it out!
There is a 15-minute "Beginner's Guide to Pentatonix" put together by a fan that introduces the members and goes through their history, but... It's from 2019 so doesn't cover the years since. AND it's made up of short clips from their music videos, with text narration overlaid. Some people feel the clips are spoilers for future reactions; IMO they are so short the spoilage is not serious, and may let you see some songs you want to react to in the future.
Yes, this is really early, December, 2012, when they were still trying to get their CZcams channel going and just before they started to really take off, starting with the success of their 2012 Christmas EP, PTXmas. In the really early days they used the couch in their apartment for video shoots, then when they could afford a videographer they used free, outdoor settings. Once they started to get successful they hired a stylist, Candace Lambert and filmed in studio locations.
Love this song. Thanks fir the great reaction!
Penta-babies. Trio was 19/20, Avi and Kevin 23/24. I think Beginners Guide to Pentatonix is a good idea and not really too spoiling.
Avi was 21 Kevin was 22 😉
@@Bonofox1 Thank you for correction.
Thank you for reacting to this early Pentatonix video. I love this mashup.
Way to let voices shine
You should check out "The Kevin Show/Kevin's Fifth", it will give you the info you're looking for, I enjoy your reactions. Welcome to the rabbit hole!
You should check out their performances on the Sing Off from 2011 - that's when they officially became Pentatonix. Scott, Kirstie, and Mitch sang in high school together in Arlington, TX, and they found Avi and Kevin prior to auditions.
Sing Off 3rd Season - Pentatonix Performances
(includes intros, performances, judges' feedback, outros)
1st Performance - ET (Katy Perry) - czcams.com/video/9STdbGrfCLA/video.html
2nd Performance - Your Love is My Drug (Ke$ha) - czcams.com/video/xt7smksoCiU/video.html
3rd Performance - Piece of My Heart (Janis Joplin) - czcams.com/video/1JhP40Tp7Rk/video.html
4th Performance - Video Killed the Radio Star (The Buggles) - czcams.com/video/BaIfu1Ni57o/video.html
5th Performance - Love Lockdown (Kanye West) - czcams.com/video/4Ur7TKyBCLk/video.html
6th Performance - Britney Spears Medley - czcams.com/video/WsIXMvmCEHg/video.html
7th Performance - Born to Be Wild (Steppenwolf) - czcams.com/video/rZMgUxPGiqQ/video.html
8th Performance - Stuck Like Glue (Sugarland) - czcams.com/video/iW7zIUkxaSA/video.html
9th Performance - OMG (Usher) - czcams.com/video/S5iYQ8KJYRo/video.html
10th Performance - Let's Get It On (Marvin Gaye) - czcams.com/video/2eM7ApWuy3g/video.html
11th Performance - Since You've Been Gone/Forget You Remix - czcams.com/video/ytOGNG6Yd_0/video.html
12th Performance - Dog Days Are Over (Florence and the Machine) - czcams.com/video/TAX2D56LgO0/video.html
Kevin's family has moved around a bit, but when they found Kevin at Yale, the rest of his family was living in Kentucky. Now his parents live in California. Avi is from Southern California.
Avi is from central California. Visalia is nothing like SoCal (and I mean that in the best possible way).
@@UserHorologium thank you for the correction.
👋👉The Trio, Scott, Kirstie and Mitch are childhood friends from Arlington TX.
Avi is from California
Kevin is from Kentucky
Matt is from Maryland
REACT to the LIVE version which Quincy Jones introduced them. Quincy is excited, je knows them and is a fan of PTX
Recommend their new track, Creep.
Few grew up together and ended up at julieart where they finished formin not sure on exacts but thats what my mind said
💥👉YOU WOULD REALLY LOVE the LIVE version of this song. The video is Quincy Jones presents PENTATONIX!!
IT IS MIND BLOWING 🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯
I can't leave you the link because YT will delete my comment