History of the Singing Cadets

The Texas A&M Singing Cadets began in 1893 at Texas A&M College as the all-male glee club. In 1937, after several different directors and years in limbo, 18 students came together to cement the glee club into Texas A&M history, writing a constitution and establishing the student organization that exists to this day. In 1940, the glee club was renamed the Singing Cadets as a result of a student body naming contest. Through the efforts of directors like J. J. Woolket, Richard Jenkins, “Pop” Turner, “Coach” Boone and David Kipp, the Singing Cadets became one of the elite and most popular collegiate choral groups in the country. Though Texas A&M has changed drastically since the original nine members came together in 1893, the Singing Cadets remains as a strong reminder of the storied history and tradition that exist at the university.

The Singing Cadets travels each year across Texas, throughout the United States, and abroad spreading the Aggie Spirit through the gift of music. This gift has won the hearts of Aggies and non-Aggies alike. Brought together by their common love for and devotion to their school, the Singing Cadets is comprised of male Aggies who volunteer their time for long rehearsals and more than 70 performances each year. Their reward comes in the form of enthusiastic audiences, gracious host families and service to Texas A&M. Each member works hard to reach the group’s common goal of excellence, and through their dedication, continues to represent the Singing Cadets as the Voice of Aggieland.

Early Years

Year	Notable History
1893	First written record of the Texas A&M College’s Glee Club, with nine members made up of students and faculty. It is directed by Professor A.M. Soule and S.L. Goldberg serves as the accompanist.
1903	The group grows to 21 members and Professor Tyrrel is director.
1905	Professor T.P. Junkin, associate professor of mathematics, takes over as director and the Glee Club goes to Houston to participate in a mass chorus of 400.
1907	The Glee Club along with the A&M Mandolin Band pay their own way to attend “The Sangerfiest,” in Fort Worth. There, they meet the immortal Fritz Kreisler, who the previous year had escaped the San Francisco earthquake, saving his famous violin as his only possession.
1908	Professor Junkin leaves the college, later to become the first president of GMAC in New York.
1910	The Glee Club was reorganized by Mr. F.D. Steger “for the development of individual talent, and for furnishing music in Chapel Services, Easter, Commencement, and other similar occasion.”
1911	Twenty-two members make the trip to Waco (Baylor), Corsicana, Fort Worth, Dallas, Denton, Denison, Sherman, Bryan, and return to College Station by a special railway car. A lapel pin is awarded to the members this year as the only ornament allowed on the college uniform. Later in the spring, they produce the comic opera “The Mummy Opera,” which is a fantastic success.
1918	Mr. D. Ford takes over as director.

Formative Years

Year	Notable History
1937	After many years rocking along in a shaky organization, 18 Aggies with spirit and determination band together to put it on a stable foundation. This includes writing a constitution which ultimately leads to the organization that it is today. Professor J.J. Woolket, the head of the Department of Modern Languages at the College becomes director, being drafted in by an official faculty sanction.
1940	As a result of a naming contest, the A&M Glee Club becomes the Singing Cadets. The Singing Cadets attract national attention when they perform in a radio broadcast at the 1940 Sugar Bowl gridiron contest. Singing Cadets completes its first recording along with the Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band, as well as performing with them during halftime of football games. Tours during this year include Beaumont, Orange, Huntsville and Conroe.
1942	Richard W. Jenkins, son of William O. Jenkins, becomes the first full-time director. Marion D. Lyle serves as accompanist. Jenkins immediately embarks on a program to make the Singing Cadets well-known throughout the South by touring schools, colleges, clubs and various other groups, traveling in chartered buses. This includes the National Fred Waring Glee Club Contest, where the Singing Cadets place sixth, despite being only participants from a college that does not have a music department. At this time, the organization is divided into two clubs — a traveling club consisting of 84 members and a freshman club composed of 51 members. Universal Pictures personnel began production of the picture “We’ve Never Been Licked,” and the Singing Cadets is selected for all choral music under the direction of Ken Darby, leader of radio’s “The King’s Men.”
1943	Ewell Porter, six-year director of music in the Bryan Public Schools, becomes interim director. Tours during this year include SHSTC at Huntsville, Tyler, Henderson, Texas State College for Women, Corsicana, Camp Swift, San Antonio USO and New Braunfels. R.W. Jenkins leaves Texas A&M on Nov. 22 to become Associate Professor of Music at NTSC.
1944	William M. “Pop” Turner becomes director. James Oates serves as accompanist.
1945	Tours include Baytown, Austin USO, Camp Swift, Denton, the P.O.W. camp at Huntsville, Waco, Fort Worth, Stephenville and College Station.
1946	“Pop” Turner attends Fred Waring’s Summer Music Workshop and brings back many new techniques and choral arrangements to make the Singing Cadets a better organization. Leonard N. Perkins serves as student director and accompanist. Tours include Grapeland, Denton, Dallas, San Antonio (Brook Army Medical Center) and Corpus Christi for the 66 members. The intermission of their programs is filled with a Barbershop Quartet complete with handle-bar mustaches, polka dot ties and aprons.
1948	L.N. Perkins and Miss Laverne Hunt serve as co-accompanists. The Singing Cadets sing for the inauguration of Frank C. Bolton as fifteenth president of Texas A&M. Tours include San Antonio, Texarkana, Fort Worth, Beaumont, Austin (sang for the University of Texas at Austin in Gregory Gym), Wichita Falls, Denton, Corpus Christi and Dallas.
1949	Tours include Dallas (State Fair), Arlington, McKinney, Fort Worth, Denton, Corpus Christi and Austin (legislature) for the 60 members The Cadets debut a new quartet known as the Aggienizors.

Recent Years

In the early and mid 50’s under the direction of “Pop” Turner, the Cadets went on tour after tour, staying in the homes of Aggie families. They sang for local churches and at banquets for distinguished guests, including at General Eisenhower’s visit to A&M in 1951. The Singing Cadets performed for the State Legislature on Texas Independence Day in 1953. Ironically, the day after the performance, the Senate introduced a bill to make Texas A&M co-educational. The number of members varied from 40 to 60, of which 45 were a part of the touring choir. They sang at Aggie Muster, in Guion Hall each Mother’s Day for an annual concert, for annual faculty Christmas programs and during Aggie Follies. Tours reached across Texas and Monterrey, Mexico (in 1952), spanning Laredo, Tyler, Houston, Wichita Falls, Amarillo, NTSTC, TSWC, Alice, Harlingen, Brownsville, San Antonio, Brownwood, Goliad, Orange, Marlin, Waco, Sherman, Denton, Dallas, Lamesa, Yoakum, Brenham, Baytown, Liberty, Greenville, Pasadena, Gatesville, San Angelo, Longview, West Columbia, Gonzales and others.

Year	Notable History
1960	Robert L. Boone becomes director after Dr. Turner leaves to become the head of the Department of Music at Stephen F. Austin State College. He begins immediately to increase the already wide popularity of the Cadets. Soon, the Singing Cadets are soon averaging 50 shows each year, in over 20 cities and towns throughout the state. Mrs. June Biering serves as the accompanist for the group.
1963	On Easter, 50 Singing Cadets stop to sing at every street corner in the pouring rain at Six Flags Over Texas. Mr. Charles Meeker first hears the Singing Cadets then, and the following fall, is very influential in helping the organization gain national recognition by inviting the Singing Cadets as feature performers on the Miss Teenage America Pageant, a nationally televised event that the Singing Cadets would participate in for eight years.
1968	Mrs. John Connally, wanting to present some Texas talent to promote the 1968 Hemisfair, asks the Singing Cadets to appear with her on the Mike Douglas show from Philadelphia that also featured Anita Bryant.
1970	Singer Sergio Franchi appears with the Singing Cadets at the Miss Teenage America Pageant and is very impressed by its version of “No Man Is An Island.”
1971	Mr. Franchi requests the Singing Cadets sing backup to his version of “No Man Is An Island” on the Ed Sullivan Show and to perform a solo spot as well. However, an earlier group runs overtime, and the Singing Cadets is bumped. As a result of this cancellation, the Singing Cadets is asked by the Ed Sullivan Show to return the next year. Unfortunately, Mr. Sullivan dies a few months later and the show is cancelled. The Ed Sullivan appearance leads to a 45 rpm single being released into the national music scene by Sergio Franchi and the Singing Cadets of Texas A&M. In the spring of 1971, “No Man Is An Island” is released and despite surging sales in the College Station area, never cracks the Billboard’s Top 100 Pop Chart. Senator John Tower invites the Singing Cadets to sing for a worship service at the White House. In attendance is President and Mrs. Nixon, David and Julie Eisenhower, U.N. Ambassador George Bush, three cabinet secretaries and Heavyweight Champion Joe Frazier. The group performs three hymns for more than 300 hundred guests in the East Room of the White House. Afterwards, a reception in the State Dining Room is held, and the members mix with notables present. On the front steps of the White House after the reception, the Singing Cadets perform an impromptu concert for the press corps and White House staff. President Nixon comes out, greets each member and talks informally for about 30 minutes. Later, he tells the press corps that the Singing Cadets are one of the “finest choral groups in the land, ” and that Mrs. Nixon “could have listened all day”, according to the Dallas Times-Herald.
1973	Singing Cadets perform at Texas Governor Dolph Briscoe’s inauguration.
1974	International Tour: Romania Through the efforts of Congressman Olin E. Teague, Mrs. John Connally and Sergio Franchi, the American Council of Nationalities Service and Friendship Ambassadors asks the Singing Cadets to tour Romania for three weeks. Texas Governor Dolph Briscoe commissioned each cadet as Official Ambassador of Goodwill for the State. While in Romania, the Singing Cadets is greeted by formal receptions and festive dinners at many of the towns visited, even appearing on Romanian national television. In keeping with the tradition of out-of-town tours, the group stays in peasant family homes for one night.
1976	Texas A&M’s Centennial Year. Singing Cadet history by two joint performances with the Houston Symphony Orchestra, one in Rudder Auditorium and one in Houston’s Jones Hall. Singing Cadets performed to a packed Kyle Field at the halftime Centennial show when the Aggies played Texas Tech.
1979	National Tour: Hawaii, highlighted by a second place finish at an International Choral Festival.
1980	Singing Cadets perform with the Aggie Band at the Penn State game halftime show dedicating the Kyle Field expansion.
1981	Singing Cadets perform the pregame show and the National Anthem in the Astrodome at a nationally televised Astro/Dodger game.
1983	International Tour: Mexico (Mexico City, Acapulco, Cuernavaca) that is highlighted by a second place performance in an international choral festival and a globally broadcasted morning show appearance.
1986	Texas’ sesquicentennial birthday bring celebrations statewide and the Singing Cadets perform at the Washington-on-the-Brazos, the San Jacinto Battlegrounds and the Texas A&M Sesquicentennial celebrations.
1987	International Tour: Europe (Germany, Switzerland, France, England and Wales) highlighted by a performance in front of thousands at the Charles Dickens Festival and a joint concert with the Welsh Mixed Chorus.
1988	Tours include Alvin, Lake Jackson, El Campo, Sinton, Corpus Christi, McAllen, Alvin, La Grange, Austin, Rockwall, Plano, Dallas, Ennis, The Woodlands, Kingwood, Seabrook, Fredericksburg, San Antonio, New Braunfels, Ft. Worth, Longview, DeKalb, Marshall and the State Convention of the National Guard in Ft. Worth, travelling 3,200 miles overall. Singing Cadets sing for the National Convention of the National Guard in San Antonio, a local television special, a concert for the Texas State House of Representatives in the Capital Rotunda, the International Communicators National Convention and at commencement, where President Bush was the speaker. Tours include San Antonio, Temple, Belton, Nacogdoches, Jacksonville, Rockwall, Granbury, Abilene, Big Lake, Coleman, Waco, Austin, Tomball, Houston, West University, Kerrville, Columbus, Huntsville, Gainesville, Dallas and Arlington.
1990	Four state conventions this year including the Daughters of the Confederacy, State Rotary, Air Force Association and John Sharp Recognition Dinner. Tours include Lubbock , Groesbeck, Ennis, Dallas, Eastland, Coleman, Odessa, Ft. Stockton, Del Rio, Kerrville, Austin, Ft. Worth, Houston, Houston, Kingwood, Tomball, Plano, Greenville, Rockwall, Fredericksburg, San Antonio and New Braunfels. International Tour: West Germany and Hungary
1991	Tours include Dallas (Clayton Williams Dinner with President Bush), Bryan, Rosenberg, Lake Jackson, Victoria, Corpus Christi, Edinburg, McAllen, Eagle Pass, Uvalde, Austin, Houston, Henderson, Greenville, Dallas, Houston, Liberty, Texas City and a television special on the Patriotic Show with the 61 members traveling over 3,100 miles.
1993	National Tour: Hawaii
1995	Mr. David Kipp becomes the 13th director of the Singing Cadets.
1996	National Tour: New York City and Washington DC
1999	International Tour: England
2001	International Tour: England, Scotland and Wales
2003	National Tour: New Mexico and Arizona
2004	International Tour: Australia
2007	International Tour: South America
2010	International Tour: South Africa Holly Moore joins as accompanist for the Singing Cadets.
2013	International Tour: China
2016	International Tour: Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary
2017	National Tour: Kennebunkport, Massachusetts and New York Performance at George H.W. Bush’s Home. The Singing Cadets performs at the One America Appeal Concert. It is here that the group has the opportunity to sing with the then all living Presidents: Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
2018	National Tour: Washington and British Columbia Performances for Barbara and George H.W. Bush’s funerals.
2019	International Tour: Greece and Bulgaria Bryce Reed Joins as accompanist for the Singing Cadets. The Singing Cadets establish a second barbershop quartet known as the Quad.
2020	National Tour: Wisconsin (cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic)
2022	National Tour: Florida
2023	International Tour: Greece Performance for the 25th anniversary of the Bush School of Government and Public Service.
2024	Performance at George and Barbara Bush 41@100. National Tour: Colorado
2025	Performance at the IMC Tenor-Bass Consortium. International Tour: Malaysia and Hong Kong