I. Murray Phillips, B.Comm., CAE

Barbershopper…Bass, Greater Montreal Chapter SPEBSQSA,

and Bass, Key of Eh?

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Contents

Barbershop History

Contact Information

Biographical Information

Contact Information

imphillips@sprint.ca   This is my email address, and you are on my web page.

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Biographical Information

I was born in Montreal and was raised in Fort Chambly, where I went to St. Stephen's Elementary School. It was ten miles each way with the snow blowing in my face . . .even in the summer. Chambly County High School in St. Lambert, Quebec was next (check the CCHS +CA Online Club) and then Acadia University, in Wolfville Nova Scotia.

I met Mary, my wife there. She is a bari in a quartet called Dreamcatchers, and is a member of the Montreal Chapter of Harmony Inc. She joined Barbershop first!

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Personal Interests (Barbershop History)

I joined the Pierrefonds Chapter of SPEBSQSA in April 1995. I was hooked from day one. The harmonies were just great and I had been singing all my life.

Key of Eh? is the name of the quartet I sing with. We have been together for nearly five years, and we have a lot of fun. We all seem to enjoy the songs that Boston Common made famous, so we sing a bunch of them. We have sung at NED's Mountain Division Contests and at the NED District Competitions. We had fun and we'll be back!

In 1996, the Pierrefonds Chapter merged with the Montreal Chapter to make the Greater Montreal Chapter. We have been doing pretty well in the last four years. We have increased membership, sung in competition seven times and improved our points each time. We placed second in the last Mountain Division Contest by one point. There is a spirit of adventure about the chapter that should help to carry us forward. I had the honour of being the President of the Chapter for 1998 and 1999, and I am Co-Chairman of the 2000 Northeastern District Convention and Contest, and the 2003 International Convention and Contest.

I have been very lucky. In August 1996 at NED Harmony Pilgrimage, I got to sing with Marquis, 1995 International Champs. Randy Chisholm was a generous and talented person (and a Canadian to boot!), Jay Hawkins and Paul Gilman coached our quartet, and Dale Fetick is a great tenor and I was thrilled to have the opportunity to sing with all of them. (Except Jay, of course! :-))

What makes that a bitter sweet memory is that Randy was taken from us by a blood infection the next year. Marquis also sang for me in the hospital in 2000 with Denny Gore singing lead. They retired following Bolton Landing in 2000.

At the Burlington Chapter Show, in May 1997, I got to sing with Silver Medallist Quartet FRED, just before they won their Silver medals. I even got to wear the terrific FRED Jacket. Thanks guys.

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Last Revised: November 22, 2000

 

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