InTo Music: 5 Questions With TAKE 6 Performing at SING!

TAKE 6 will be performing at the Metropolitan United Church as a part of SING! The Toronto Vocal Arts Festival on May 29th.

TAKE 6 is the most awarded a cappella group in history, with ten Grammy’s, ten Dove Awards (Gospel Music Awards), an indication in the Gospel Music Hall of Fame, Best Jazz Vocal Group honors for seven consecutive years in Downbeat’s prestigious Reader’s and Critic’s Poll, a Soul Train Music Award, BRE (Black Radio Exclusive) Vocal Group of the Year, and two NAACP Image Award nominations, amid countless other musical and humanitarian citations.

Showing the global appeal of this phenomenal group, they celebrated their 25^th Anniversary with a World Tour including stronghold favorite markets Asia, South America, eastern and Western Europe and the United States. TAKE 6 opened up new markets, including their debut tours of Australia and Canada, to rave reviews & overwhelming audience reception. From New York’s famed Blue Note to the Montreux Jazz Festival, from PBS to ABC-TV specials, their 25th year has been a success.

The Scene InTO was able to catch with the group on their successes and their future outlook.

TheSceneInTO: You’ve toured a lot and given the chance, what’s the one thing you wished someone had told you while starting out? Any life lessons from the road?

Claude McKnight: One thing I wished I had known starting out would have been to gather our fans better by phone number/email/etc to have a larger list of 25 years of fans so we could communicate with them more often.

TheSceneInTO: Where does your inspiration for music come from? Inspiration comes from many places.

Claude McKnight: I’ve never been able to quantify any place in particular. It could be something we’ve experienced. It could be thinking of a particular subject, it could be a melody line that turns into a subject.

TheSceneInTO: What’s the one festival you’ve always wanted to perform at? Any artist you’ve wanted to collaborate with?

Claude McKnight: We have been fortunate and blessed enough to play at almost every festival I can think of. The New Orleans Jazz fest is one that come to mind that we would love to play more often. I think Tony Bennett has always been someone we’d still love to collaborate with.

TheSceneInTO: How have you been able to work together for 25years? What’s the secret to such a long success?

Claude McKnight: It’s pretty simple for us. We respect and actually like each other! That goes a long way in allowing us to stay together.

TheSceneInTO: What’s next on the horizon? Anything you can share with us on future projects?

Claude McKnight: We are still finishing up our rerecord of our very first album. We are also looking at doing a duets project

Keep up-to-date with the group via www.take6.com and join them at SING! Toronto by getting tickets at www.singtoronto.com