The Duke's Men of Yale
Doox of Yale (formerly The Duke's Men of Yale) are an all-gender undergraduate a cappella group at Yale University. The group was founded by first-year students in 1952, and was the first TTBB a cappella group at Yale to become all-gender in 2017.
Doox of Yale | |
---|---|
![]() A Duke's Men crest and letterhead from the 1950s | |
Background information | |
Origin | New Haven, Connecticut, USA |
Genres | A cappella |
Years active | 1952–present |
Members | Tenor I: Peighton Lotwis '26 Hope Keithahn '25 Salma Laraki '26 Caroline Fai '25 Tenor II: Emma Fusco '26 Clay Jamieson '24 Ethan Kopf '24 Baritone: Daniel Zhang '26 Gabby Montuori '24 Krishna Davis '25 Charlie Karner '25 Quincy Rosenzweig '26 Bass: Albert Gang '24 Jason Han '25 Business Managers: Krishna Davis Hope Keithahn Pitch: Ethan Kopf |
Website | http://www.dooxofyale.com |
History
The Duke's Men formed in 1952 when Basil "Duke" Henning, a former member of the Whiffenpoofs and the master of Saybrook College, stole an arrangement from the 'Whiffs' and presented it to four of his first-year students.[1]
In the fall of 2017, the Duke's Men became Yale's first historically all-male a cappella group to abolish gender restrictions.[2][3] The group is widely considered to be a feeder to the Whiffenpoofs, and its announcement placed additional pressure on the world's oldest collegiate a cappella group to begin admitting non-male singers;[4] within a year, the Whiffenpoofs followed suit and admitted the group's first female singer in its 109-year history.[5] In 2018, the Duke's Men changed its official name to Doox of Yale, a longtime nickname that better reflected the ensemble's gender inclusivity.[6]
Competition and media
Doox has been successful in a number of competitions, most notably the International Championship of College A Cappella. In 1996 Doox was the best male group and won first runner-up honors at the ICCA Finals at Avery Fisher Hall in New York City, along with awards for soloist Michael Sagalowicz and arrangement.[7] The same year, the group performed for President Bill Clinton at the White House Christmas party.[8] In 2005, the group took first place in the New England regional final of the ICCA.[9][10] Most recently, the group took first place in the 2009 Northeast Quarterfinal, with member Sam Tsui ('11) receiving accolades for Best Solo & Best Choreography.[11] and won again at the Northeast Semi-Final at MIT on March 21, and came in 4th place at the Finals at Alice Tully Hall on April 18, 2009.
In January 2004, the group was featured in a CBS News Sunday Morning segment about collegiate a cappella.[12]
In 2006, the Duke's Men recorded a jingle for the CNBC program "Fast Money."[13]
In June 2015, three members of the group (Solon Snider, Wade Newville, and Paul Holmes) were featured on Bravo TV's scripted comedy series, "Odd Mom Out," where they sang a segment of "Give My Regards to Broadway" (arranged by Solon Snider, Pitchpipe 2014-2015).[14]
Notable alumni
- Richard Brookhiser, historian and journalist
- Django Haskins, singer-songwriter and frontman of pop-noir musical group the Old Ceremony.
- Conor Knighton, correspondent for CBS Sunday Morning.
- Holcombe Waller, singer-songwriter and visual/performing artist.
- Sam Tsui, Musician.
- Casey Breves, member of Chanticleer
- Jeremy Lloyd, part of the pop duo Marian Hill
- Henry Gottfried, actor.
- Christian Probst, cast member of Broadway's The Book of Mormon
- Michael Blume, singer-songwriter
Discography
Over the decades the group has recorded over 30 albums.[15]
Title | Year Released |
---|---|
The Duke's Men | 1953 |
The Duke's Men | 1954 |
The Duke's Men of Yale University | 1956 |
The Duke's Men of Yale | 1959 |
Zounds from the Duke's Men of Yale | 1961 |
The Duke's Men of Yale | 1963 |
The Duke's Men On the Road | 1965 |
The Duke's Men | 1966/67 |
The Duke's Men | 1968 |
Brighten Your Night | 1971 |
Istanbul and America | 1974 |
A Waste of Your Time and Money | 1976 |
Da Doox Silver | 1978 |
Off the Record | 1980/81 |
Doox et Veritas | 1984 |
Quality Time | 1987 |
da disc | 1990 |
Hot Donuts Now | 1992 |
Food | 1994 |
Mom | 1996 |
45 | 1998 |
Chunda | 2000 |
Instant Gratification | 2002 |
Nobody's Business | 2004 |
D.O.O.X. | 2006 |
Silver& | 2007 |
Gold | 2007 |
A Smooth Ride | 2008 |
What a Trip! | 2008 |
Fifty Five | 2008 |
The Chase | 2010 |
Busted. | 2012 |
The Works | 2015 |
Golden Hour | 2017 |
This Name, Vol. 1 | 2020 |
This Name, Vol. 2 | 2021 |
References
- "History". Doox of Yale. Retrieved 2021-08-10.
- "Duke's Men Of Yale Set To Welcome Singers Of All Gender Identities". College A Cappella. Retrieved 2021-08-10.
- "Yale's Duke's Men a cappella group opening to all sexes, gender identities". New Haven Register. 2017-07-24. Retrieved 2021-08-10.
- Hamid, Zainab; pm, David Yaffe-Bellany 8:07; Jul 20; 2017 (2017-07-21). "All-male singing group to abolish gender restrictions". Yale Daily News. Retrieved 2021-08-10.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - pm, Adelaide Feibel 11:01; Aug 27; 2018 (2018-08-28). "The Duke's Men a capella group rebrands as The Doox". Yale Daily News. Retrieved 2021-08-10.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - pm, Adelaide Feibel 11:01; Aug 27; 2018 (2018-08-28). "The Duke's Men a capella group rebrands as The Doox". Yale Daily News. Retrieved 2021-08-10.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - "International Championship of Collegiate a Cappella". Archived from the original on 2006-05-19. Retrieved 2006-08-27.
- am, Elise Jordan 12:00; Jun 10; 2001 (2001-06-10). "Can you sing? Then a cappella groups want you". Yale Daily News. Retrieved 2021-08-10.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - "International Championship of Collegiate a Cappella". Archived from the original on 2008-11-06. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
- http://www.acappellanews.com/archive/2005_03.html
- (November 17, 2010), "Glee vs. YouTube: Who Did ‘Umbrella’ Best?", New York Magazine: Vulture, Accessed Dec 12 2010
- (January 11, 2004), "A Cappella Frenzy, Many University Students Across America Are Spurning Heavy Metal For Music Of Voices", CBS Sunday Morning, Accessed Dec 23 2006
- am, Judy Wang 3:05; Dec 05; 2006 (2006-12-05). "A cappella groups go commercial". Yale Daily News. Retrieved 2021-08-10.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - (June 15, 2015), "Ep. 3: Dying to Get In", Accessed June 15, 2015
- "DMAA Media Archive - Albums". sites.google.com. Retrieved 2020-02-21.