The Singers Unlimited were born out of a strange combination of stark commercialism and rare innovation that somehow yielded some pretty high art. Gene Puerling had been an original member of the 1950's vocal group The Hi-Lo's, and later moved into the field of jingle singing and arranging in Chicago. Toward the end of the Hi-Lo's original tenure, Don Shelton had been a member as well, and joined Puerling in the commercial field. Along the way they joined with Len Dresslar (the voice of the Jolly Green Giant, and a member of The J's with Jamie) and vocalist/voiceover artist Bonnie Herman. This led to the formation in 1967 of a ready-to-go jingle-singing quartet, doing product images, radio call letters, and other forms of sung advertising.
Thanks to developments in multi-track recording through the late 1960's, Puerling got the idea to "fatten" or fill out the recorded sound, the intent being to sound like many more singers than just the four of them; the technology allowed him to experiment with extending not only the recorded sound of the singers, but to also extend the harmonies past the four parts they had in actuality. Puerling had written many complex arrangements for the Hi-Lo's in past years, but was limited to four notes at a time, which made the sound of those arrangements quite stark and effective.
Here then was the chance to go past those four possible notes, without sacrificing the "tightness" by adding more actual singers. By singing and phrasing against themselves on previously-recorded tracks (as most popular music is produced today), the Singers expanded their four voices into eight, twelve, sixteen, and later into practically a hundred or more! One person could sing a part twice to reinforce it, and could then add the part above or below it, then "double" that for fullness. Due to the Singers having extremely high levels of musicality and accuracy, there was no need to bring in other people to record the difficult inner harmony parts, they could do it all, and do it all they did.
The Singers Unlimited (aptly named) were now working in the jingle trade, and occasionally Puerling would take them into the studio with an arrangement, to test out his approach. Several tunes were recorded over time, but the one that caught the ear of jazz pianist Oscar Peterson, who eagerly pitched the group to his label, MPS Records of Germany, was their astounding a cappella version of the Beatles tune The Fool On The Hill. Listening to this, it is hard to imagine that there are only 4 vocalists on the record! They were signed to the German company, and working with producer/engineer Hans-Georg Brunner-Schwer and MPS music director Willi Fruth, they produced around 15 LP's in the period between 1971 and 1981, recording each in usually about a week in MPS 's studios in the Black Forest, Germany. (The instrumental tracks, on those songs that used them, were recorded in the US or Canada, and the vocal tracks were recorded in Germany.) Top arrangers and musicians have recorded with the Singers, including Pat Williams, Rob McConnell, Les Hooper, Robert Farnon, Roger Kellaway, and of course Oscar Peterson.
While the Singers have, in the US, barely scratched past the niche market of vocal jazz and a cappella aficionados, their influence is unmistakable, particularly in the recordings of groups like Take 6 (who openly thank Puerling in the liner notes of their first album). Their closest equivalent is the Manhattan Transfer, yet the Singers have a different approach, less stylized, more warm-sounding, and to these ears much more human and musical. On the other side, in Germany their music was categorized almost as pop, and they won two Grammy-equivalent "Deutsche Schallplatenpreise" awards in the 1970's.
The Singers Unlimited have not released a new recording since 1981, but it is still my hope that they will come together again to make more wonderful vocal jazz music.
Singers Unlimited history written by Chris Mezzolesta with info from various sources. I hope it's all there! :-)
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