Doo-Wop

and

Barbershop 

The Convertibles quartet performs a wide-ranging mixture of music throughout northeastern Illinois. The group has its roots in four-part barbershop harmony, but ever since the Convertibles formed in 1997 they've grown musical branches in new directions. Audiences are likely to hear a mixture of doo-wop music from the Fifties and pop music from the Sixties, plus a few jokes -- and a few surprises. 

The Convertibles can also sing traditional barbershop standards from the Forties and earlier. But when we remember sitting with our girls, parked side by side in four identical '57 Chevys on Lover's Lane, watching that blue moon floating above in the still of the night, we always return to our roots in the Fifties.

Lead singer Lou Gonzalez is a retired union pipe-fitter with great pipes. Ron Welch, who sings the deep, dark, low-down notes in the bass clef, is the retired chief of a village fire department. Tenor Tom Weidenhoefer is a retired teacher who has a special talent for choreography and for telling some dreadful jokes. And baritone Glenn Kersten, suburban reference librarian, is truly a legend in his own mind. All four Convertibles live in the south suburbs of Chicago.*

For a performance sample, please click here.