Barbershop Singers ‘Brooksby Gentlemen’ Are Seven Musical Men

By Robert Doherty
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

It started about seven months ago when Ted Good gathered together six musical men to join him to form a barbershop singing group. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Unconventional Harmony

“I organized the group and Dick Emery provides the leadership,” says Good. The Brooksby Gentlemen is not a conventional barbershop quartet with four singers. The Brooksby Gentlemen instead has seven singers.

“One of the challenges with singing barbershop-style in close harmony when you have more than the typical four voices is that you are doubling your problem with entrances and so forth. It takes a lot of cooperation between the seven of us,” adds Good.

Experience Matters

The Brooksby Gentlemen consists of Dick Emery at first tenor, Don Hall and Chet Willows on second tenor, Norm Benson and Ted Good on baritone, and Dick Thornburg and John Murphy on bass. They each come from various musical backgrounds—Dick Emory having composed several pieces of music, Ted Good being a retired music teacher, and the others who have years of experience singing in their church choirs.

“We plan on singing at a Swampscott area church in April,” says Good. “We are planning to take it wherever people want us to go.”