The music of Black America: The Boys Choir of Harlem

The Boys Choir of Harlem (also known as the Harlem Boys Choir) is a choir located in Harlem, New York City, United States.

Founded in 1968 by Dr. Walter Turnbull at the Ephesus Seventh-day Adventist Church in Harlem, the choir grew to be more than just a performing group. The Choir Academy of Harlem also for some time ran a school overseen by the New York City Department of Education and had at its peak a student body of over 500 boys and girls, though they were evicted from the school facility in 2006.

The choir is internationally known. Performers receive rigorous voice training and perform many types of music, including classical, hip-hop, R&B, jazz, and gospel music. Over 150,000 people see the choir live each year across the United States as well as in Canada, France, Japan, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. The Boys Choir of Harlem are also the recipients of a Grammy. Unlike its Austrian cousin, the Vienna Boys Choir, the Boys Choir of Harlem does not adhere to a policy of including those young men who have not reached puberty. The range of the music performed is such that it requires natural boy sopranos whose voices have not yet changed and more mature voices of teenagers like tenor and bass voices.

The choir has performed on soundtracks for films including Glory, Malcolm X and many Spike Lee films and has performed for Presidents at the White House, and dignitaries at the United Nations. It also performed live for the visits of Nelson Mandela and Pope John Paul II. It performed on Chicago rapper Kanye West's song, "Two Words" and "Jesus Walks." The choir also performed "America the Beautiful" to open WrestleMania XX. Following the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, the choir performed "God Bless America" at the Cantor Fitzgerald memorial service in Central Park, as seen in In Memoriam: New York City 9/11/01. The boys' voices have also appeared on albums with Michael Jackson, Kathleen Battle, Luciano Pavarotti, Quincy Jones, Kiss and many more.

In 1995 they performed in The Wizard of Oz in Concert: Dreams Come True a musical performance of the popular story at Lincoln Center to benefit the Children's Defense Fund. The performance was originally broadcast on Turner Network Television (TNT), and issued on CD and video in 1996.

The choir for many years enjoyed the sponsorship of the City of New York, which gave them free use of the Arthur Schomburg School on East 127th Street in Harlem by former NYC Mayor David Dinkins. However, the choir has lost this support through a series of scandals. First, a lack of financial controls led to the program running up a $5 million deficit. Second, in 2001, the choir's chief counselor sexually abused a student and Dr. Turnbull did not fire him or report the abuse to authorities. As a result, in early 2006 Dr. Turnbull and other choir staff were kicked out of their long-time home. The Choir has now relocated to the Metropolitan Community Methodist Church.

The majority of the choir's members are African American or Hispanic.

Dr. Walter Turnbull died at age 62 on March 23, 2007 in a New York City hospital. He had reportedly suffered a stroke months earlier.

Information Source: Wikipedia

This video features Soprano Kathleen Battle with the Harlem Boys Choir in the mid 1990's.