Joe Connelly (musician)

Joe Connelly (born 1965) is a successful barbershop quartet lead singer, competition judge, chorus director, and full-time coach for various barbershop quartets. Connelly gained recent fame for being the first man ever to become a Barbershop Harmony Society International Championship gold medalist four times, first with Interstate Rivals in 1987 at the age of 22, then with Keepsake in 1992, with PLATINUM in 2000, and with Old School in 2011.^[1] In 2000, he had already become the first person to win the gold medal three times. A few other singers since then have also achieved the honor of being three-time champions, including his quartet-mates Kipp Buckner and Tony DeRosa.

Joe is the son of international quartet medalist Mike Connelly, who sang baritone with The Roaring 20's. Joe currently lives in his home town of Cincinnati, after returning to the Southern Gateway Chorus as their director in 2008. He coaches men's and women's barbershop quartets and choruses around the world full-time, becoming one of the few barbershoppers who has managed to turn his hobby into a profession.^[2] He currently performs around the world with Old School, which took the silver medal in international competition in 2009 and 2010, before winning the gold in 2011.

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