Sean Altman
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| Sean Altman | |
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 Singer-songwriter Sean Altman
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| Background information | |
| Born | May 9, 1961 San Diego, California |
| Origin |  Riverdale, The Bronx, New York City |
| Genre(s) | A cappella power pop comedy |
| Occupation(s) | singer, songwriter |
| Instrument(s) | Tenor |
| Years active | 1986-1997 (band) 1997-present (solo) |
| Label(s) | For Life Records Chow Fun Records |
| Associated acts | JEWMONGOUS The GrooveBarbers Rockapella Loser's Lounge |
Sean Altman (born May 9, 1961) is an American musician and songwriter. He is a founder and former lead singer of the singing group Rockapella and a pioneer of the modern a cappella movement. He was a member of Rockapella from its inception in 1986 until he left the group in 1997 to pursue a solo career.
He is perhaps most famous for his role on the long-running PBS children's geography gameshow, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, which aired from 1991 to 1996, and for which Rockapella served as the house vocal band and comedy troupe . Altman (along with childhood friend David Yazbek) co-wrote the show's now-classic theme song and is remembered in particular for his trademark blond braids, which were ceremoniously removed in the final episode.
As a solo artist, Altman has released three solo albums on Chow Fun Records (seandemonium, alt.mania, Losing Streak); a holiday album with The GrooveBarbers, an acapella quartet comprised of some original Rockapella members and best known for its appearances on national TV commercials for Astelin nasal spray; and an album with What I Like About Jew, a comedic song duo which broke up in early 2006. In December 2006, Altman founded the solo comedy song act JEWMONGOUS and, in 2008, he released that act's debut album "Taller Than Jesus", about which The Washington Post wrote "Witty and outrageously lampooning...full of catchy melodies, clever arrangements and lyrics that yield satiric gems."
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[edit] Early life
Altman grew up in the Bronx, New York, in Riverdale.[1] His musical talent was recognized early on, as he starred in many school musicals and claims to have charmed female classmates with "hallway serenades." At age seventeen, Altman turned pro, performing on the NYC nightclub circuit with David Yazbek as Moon Pudding, a Simon and Garfunkel-styled teen duo. At Brown University, Altman majored in political science, but focused most of his energy on his singing, performing in both the High Jinks, a college a cappella octet, and Blind Dates, a rock group that released two national college radio hits. Altman continued with Blind Dates after graduating from Brown in 1984, moving from Providence to NYC in search of a record deal. The group dissolved in 1987, just as Rockapella's career began.
[edit] Rockapella
[edit] Beginnings
After graduating from Brown together, Altman and fellow High Jinks member Elliot Kerman joined classmates Steve Keyes and David Stix to form a new a cappella group called Rockapella. Rockapella began its career humbly, performing on street corners in NYC while Altman still focused primarily on his Blind Dates work. The group's repertoire consisted of a mix of barbershop arrangements and a cappella renditions of classic doo wop pieces. As the group grew in experience and Altman honed his vocal arranging skills, they began to focus less on oldies and barbershop, and more on contemporary rock music.
A dinner party performance for TV personality Kathie Lee Gifford led to the group's 1988 appearance on the ABC-TV show Live with Regis and Kathie Lee. Rockapella's performance of Altman's signature arrangement of the calypso novelty standard Zombie Jamboree caught the eye of producer Gerard Brown, who invited Rockapella to perform on the PBS "Great Performances" TV special Spike Lee & Company - Do it A Capella, which featured established acapella acts Take 6, Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Rockapella's idols The Persuasions. Elektra Records released Rockapella's live recording of "Zombie Jamboree" as a single, and the group's recording career was launched.
[edit] Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?
Producers of a fledgling PBS-TV series called Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego? took note of Rockapella's charms and signed the group to appear as the house vocal band. The half-hour geography game show aired daily for five years (295 episodes), 1991-1995, catapulting Rockapella into mid-level TV celebrity and making the Rockapella-performed theme song (penned by Sean and childhood pal David Yazbek) into one of the best known TV themes in history (TVT Records - Television's Greatest Hits).
[edit] Departure
Altman left Rockapella in April 1997 to better focus on his solo career. He promptly released his debut CD "seanDEMOnium", about which the Philadelphia Daily News wrote: ""Imagine Dion meeting Marshall Crenshaw at the Beatles' house, with the Kinks, Beach Boys, Four Seasons and Persuasions all dropping by for a song swap. The words have a cynical edge, but what really grabs you is the old-fashioned sweetness and punch of his neo-doowop vocals playing off incredibly hook-happy tunes."
[edit] Solo career
After releasing seanDEMOnium, Altman assembled a backup band, played NYC rock clubs for two years, garnering accolades for his live shows. The Village Voice called him "an absurdly talented performer... a power-pop mensch and an aspiring teen cult leader." He released alt.mania, his second CD of original music in 2003, about which Hits Magazine wrote: "This record rocks....Rockapella mastermind, internet entrepreneur and divorce´ Altman tells barbed, musically diverse tales of romantic misadventures....A dark, funny, resilient, postmodern concept album about love and loss."
He is the only three-time winner of the Contemporary A cappella Society’s “Original Song of the Year” award, and has also been a "Best Male Vocalist" award recipient. He currently records and performs a cappella with some other ex-Rockapella members in The GrooveBarbers (featured as The Astelins in TV commercials for Astelin nasal spray), bittersweet pop songs as a solo artist, and comedy songs in JEWMONGOUS. He has vocal-arranged and produced a cappella albums for the groups Minimum Wage and Kol Zimra. Sean was named “Best Male Artist” in the 2005 International Acoustic Music Awards and was a 2005 Kerrville New Folk finalist. He is a member of The Loser's Lounge tribute series in New York and serenades hospital patients as a volunteer with Musicians On Call. In 2003 Altman married operatic soprano Inna Dukach. They reside in Harlem, New York City.
[edit] Discography
- seanDEMOnium (1997)
- alt.mania (2002)
- Losing Streak (2005)
- Glory (GrooveBarbers) (2005)
- Unorthodox (What I Like About Jew) (2006)
- Taller Than Jesus (JEWMONGOUS) (2008)
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Sean Altman official website
- JEWMONGOUS
- The GrooveBarbers
- Rockapella
- Sean Altman at the Internet Movie Database
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