Page 1 of 5 - The Beginning, The Barbertones
Once upon a time..........
............there was a Barbershop Quartet called the "Barbertones". They performed around Brisbane and the Gold Coast at various venues. Although they sang as a Quartet, they actually had 8 singers (a spare for each of the parts) and these 8 eventually formed the now famous chorus. In September 1986 they entered the AAMBS Quartet contest. This contest (due to the distances required from the contestants), was held via Video tape and the Barbertones entered themselves as the "Barbertones No.1" and blitzed the field by taking home the Gold and first prize of $1000.
(Click on the image below for a full screen picture)
Years went by, and in 1991 AAMBS held the first National Barbershop Convention for both Choruses and Quartets on the Gold Coast.
In preparation for this Bill Cronk (bass in the Barbertones No.1 and musical director of the original group) suggested the formation of the River City Clippers. This story is best told by the 1992 Clippers President - David Sheppard in his annual report (below).
(Click on the image below for a full screen, readable version)
As a point of interest, one of the original founding members Mike Muller is still associated with the chorus to this day, as is Cliff Callinan who was an original chorus member from 1991.
