1992 National Finals Harmony Sweepstakes A Cappella Festival

8th Annual

The Harmony Sweepstakes A Cappella Festival is the premier American showcase for vocal harmony music. The annual national competition draws from hundreds of vocal groups from around the country with regional competitions in eight cities. The winning group from each festival is flown to perform in front of celebrity judges and a sold out house of enthusiastic a cappella fans at the National Finals.

1992 National Finals Champions

Acme Vocals

Acme Vocals performs a wide variety of musical styles - bluegrass, gospel, folk, pop, heavy metal, and rap - and combine a comedic flair with incredibly rich sounding vocals. Their performances have produced critical acclaim and a national following. Their credits include performing on "CBS this Morning" and on Garrison Keller's American Radio Company. They have also displayed their talents at such nation events as the NBA Playoffs and MLB's All-Star Game and have opened for such national opened for stars as David Brenner and Jay Leno. Acme Vocals recently was nominated the top entertainment act in the nation by colleges belonging to the National Association for Campus Activities, the largest college entertainment booking organization in the country. They have harmonized together for more than five years and have traveled extensively throughout the United States, performing at more than 200 concerts yearly.

1992 Results
1st	Acme Vocals

1992 Participating Groups

TBA

1992 Judges

Johnny Colla

A recognizable fixture on the Bay Area music scene for decades, singer/songwriter/saxophonist Johnny Colla played with such artists as Sly and the Family Stone and Van Morrison before becoming a founding member of Huey Lewis and The News. Johnny co-authored many of the band's hits, including "Heart of Rock and Roll", "If This is It", and "Power of Love”. HLN’s first big hit, “Do You Believe In Love,” features Colla’s signature vocal sound carrying the chorus, overdubbing up to eight tracks.

As the primary vocal arranger for HLN (performing a cappella numbers at their concerts), Colla credits his influences as diverse as 50’s Doo-Wop to the Beach Boys. Johnny’s most recent solo release, “I Hear Other Voices!!” spotlights his passion for vocal harmony, the human voice, and all that it is.

Yavette Holts

President of Presence Productions, San Francisco's premiere, booking agency, started in the late 1980's with the idea of helping Bay Area musicians land quality performance opportunities. Regionally, as well as nationwide. Since then, Presence Productions has developed an extensive roster of some of the best known bay area recording artists, including the likes of Connie Champagne and World Entertainment War.

Allan Kleinschmidt

Press and Marketing Director with the internationally renowned a cappella vocal ensemble Chanticleer. He has been working in the bay area entertainment community for the past 13 years holding positions with the San Francisco Ballet, Beach Blanket Bingo, the Magic Theatre and a host of commercial theatre productions, most notably Lanford Wilson's "Talley's Folly," Tom Lehrer's "Tomfoolery" and "Footlight Frenzy" by the Fleeting Moment Company. Mr. Kleinschmidt also has performed as a singer with the San Francisco Choral Society, the Bach Choir and the San Francisco Chorus. Before becoming involved with the arts community on a fulltime basis, Alan worked as an entertainment columnist and writer.

Matthew Kaufman

Founder and president of Beserkley Records, groundbreaking independent record label and home of such artists as Jonathon Richmond and Greg Kihn. Mathew currently manages and produces soon to be famous artists as well as produces documentaries on the Russian Revolution for television.

Bonnie Simmons

Bonnie has been programming her mix of singer/songwriter folk, rock, soul, country, and R&B on KPFA since the late 1980’s. One of the best loved personalities of Bay Area music radio, she was raised in New York, and then moved to San Francisco from Denver in 1968 and became a pioneer of free form radio.

During her eight years, from 1970 to 1978, at the legendary KSAN, she was program music director and disc jockey. After leaving KSAN, she worked at Warner Bros, promoting Prince as well as the first Dire Straits and Rickie Lee Jones albums, amongst others, and also worked at Hightone Records. She moved in and out of radio at KFOG, LIVE 105, KOFY-FM, KVRE, KDBK “Double 99” and KUSF.

As the Audio Director for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, she created the disc jockey audio exhibit and many of the exhibits involving sound at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum in Cleveland, Ohio.

Bonnie managed the band Cake for eight years, and represented Noe Venable and Etienne de Rocher for many years. For the past nine years she has spent a lot of her time working on the three day free music festival in Golden Gate Park, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, and currently serves as the Executive Director for the Bill Graham Foundation.

Complete list of 1992 participants

National Finals Recordings

Interested in Performing?

We are always seeking groups who would like to participate in our events.

Groups of any style are welcome, but you must have between 3 and 12 members. We have a rule book which explains many of the details of the event, which you can see by clicking here. All groups must audition in order to compete. Generally this is done by sending a current tape and photo, although live auditions are sometimes arranged. The purpose of the audition is to make sure the group is appropriate for the Festival and to help the Director determine the performance order. If a group has competed previously, the audition process may be waived.

How to enter

Please send music and photos to the regional director :

Our Hall of Fame - The Harmony Sweepstakes National Champions