In March 2009, over coffee after an NBC chorus rehearsal, Mike Maino was talking with Southeast Light Quartet (Tony Daniels-
bass, Carol Kingsbury-tenor, Fred Kingsbury-bari and Jerry Xavier-lead) and asked the question, "How old are you?". When they
realized that just before the Mid-Winter Convention, where the Seniors International Quartet Contest is held, they would all be
old enough to compete, a new quartet was born. Carol was willing to let her guys sing with Mike, so they found a name -
X-Men, and registered the quartet just in the nick of time to compete in the Patriot Division Seniors Contest and ultimately won
the championship, after only five rehearsals (and Tony learning to sing baritone in a hurry after singing only bass for 31 years).
Scoring higher than all the other Seniors quartets in the Northeastern District, they won the honor of moving to the next round at
the District Contest in October 2009 where they qualified to compete at the International Seniors Competition in January of 2010
in Tampa, FL and scored very well there. At the following Patriot Division Seniors Contest in April 2010, X-Men again won the
Division Seniors Championship for the 2nd year in a row, also qualifying them to compete at the District contest in October
2010. The quartet's perseverance and determination paid off because on October 22, 2010 they won that coveted Northeastern
District Seniors Quartet Championship and again qualifying them to complete at the International Seniors Quartet competition -
this time in Las Vegas on January 28, 2011. Being suckers for the limelight they have continued their dominance in the Seniors
competition world by winning a 3rd year Patriot Division championship on March 18, 2011 and will compete at the District contest
in the fall to qualify to compete at the International Seniors contest being held in Tuscon, AZ in January of 2012. The International
contest is the highest level of competition for the Seniors Quartets
and X-Men hope to someday win this glorified award.
In the Marvel Comic Book series of the X-Men super heroes, the leader of the group is Professor Xavier. Since they have an
Xavier in the quartet and he is their lead(er) he obviously adopted the nick name - Professor Xavier. For no apparent reasons the
fictional character nicknames of the others are - Fred (Cyclops) switching to tenor, Tony (Iceman) moving up to Baritone, and
Mike (Wolverine) singing his usual famous bass. They're not really super heroes but they thought if they acquire that mentality,
it might help them rise to greater heights!
Please wish them luck in their competitive endeavors.............and attempts to save the human race with their super powers.
The quartet is for hire and can be reach through the contact person Tony Daniels and qtet1@comcast.net or call 508-345-4590 |
