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Take 6 has come a long way from their days at Huntsville, Alabama’s Oakwood College where Claude McKnight formed the group as The Gentleman’s Estates Quartet in 1980. When tenor Mark Kibble heard the group rehearsing in the dorm, he joined in the harmonies and performed on stage that night. When Mervyn Warren joined shortly afterward, they took the name Alliance. Yet, when they signed to Reprise Records/Warner Bros. in 1987, they found that there was another group with the same name, so they became Take 6. Says McKnight: “Take 6 was all about a democratic process of sitting in a room together and throwing a couple of hundred names at each other and Take 6 was the one that got the most yay votes [laughing.] It pretty much was a play on the Take 5 jazz standard and the fact that there are six of us in the group, so it became Take 6.” Their self-titled debut CD won over jazz and pop critics, scored two 1988 Grammy Awards, landed in the Top Ten Billboard Contemporary Jazz and Contemporary Christian Charts — and they’ve never slowed down.What makes the music and the group last this long? The answers are direct and simple: faith, friendship, respect, and love of music. The multi-platinum selling sextet says of their longevity, “We are family in the sense that we care deeply about each other, which helps keep us together. We have times when it gets tough, but we pull together because of the love and respect we have for one another. The group’s willingness to let members do other projects also adds to the brand and the cohesiveness of the group,” says Joey Kibble. Kibble is a motivational speaker and Alvin Chea does voiceover work session-singing on dozens of TV shows, feature films and commercials with his uniquely recognizable bass vocals. Two of the members have solo projects in the works, others produce outside acts, Mark Kibble arranges for A list artists and McKnight is working on a documentary. “It adds even more credibility and depth to the group as a whole, enriched by each of our outside skills and experiences,” Kibble adds.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
The Birchmere, 3701 Mt Vernon Ave, Alexandria, VA 22305-2408, United States,Alexandria, Virginia
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