Officially known as the Dallas Metropolitan Chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society, The Vocal Majority was formed by 12 men who gathered on December 2, 1971. Their vision was to create a chapter that would become the finest singing group in the world. The Chorus was born and Ray Anthony became the first director in April of 1972.
With the burning desire to compete, The Vocal Majority won its first Southwestern District Chorus Championship in the fall of 1973. During the summer of 1974, VM entered its first international competition with seventy-three men who brought home a third-place finish. Director Ray Anthony persuaded VM member Jim Clancy to take over the role of director in August of 1974. In 1975, when The Vocal Majority returned to international competition in Indianapolis, they brought home their first gold medal. Regrettably, the Chorus was financially unable to attend the 1976 international swan song performance. In 1977 during the Houston Southwestern District Chorus competition, VM was awarded its third championship. In their quest to win in Cincinnati in the summer of 1978, the Chorus endured a heart-breaking 10-point loss to the Louisville Thoroughbreds. As Clancy recalls…“That one loss was the best thing that ever happened to us, because learning to overcome that loss helped us develop heart and character. It (the loss) is when the real heart and soul of The Vocal Majority began.”
The Vocal Majority has medaled in every international competition in which it has competed. The medal count includes thirteen gold medals, four silver medals and one bronze medal. The men of the VM are honored to have earned an unprecedented ten gold medals in a row from 1979 to 2006. The Vocal Majority won its thirteenth Gold Medal in 2018 in Orlando. Barbershop Harmony Society rules only allow choruses to win gold every three years.
The chorus has also performed at home in many of our United States, as well as abroad in Canada, England, Scotland and Wales. In addition, the VM has sung in front of U.S. Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush and have been privileged to share the stage with The Four Freshmen, The Lettermen, The Oak Ridge Boys, The Suntones, the Texas Boys Choir, The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, Glen Campbell, Jimmy Dean, Bob Flanagan, John Gary, Lee Greenwood, Jack Jones, Johnny Mann, and most recently, Voctave.
The Vocal Majority is proud to present their extensive discography, spanning from nostalgic yesterdays of 1975 running through the 2023 release of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.” All recordings are available online via digital format download. You can also stream Vocal Majority music on Spotify, Pandora, Amazon Music, YouTube, or your favorite streaming platform. In 2023, Vocal Majority was streamed more than 7.1 million times.
