Straight No Chaser will serenade Southeast Missouri on Saturday

An effort to serenade college girls in the 1990s has led to hundreds of concerts and dozens of careers for male singers who participate in Indiana University's male a cappella group Straight No Chaser.

Straight No Chaser was built by students and continues to be run by them. Eddie Suarez, a student, became the group's business director this year.

"We practice about two hours a day, four times a week during the school year and we perform so much that we really get into a rhythm with the whole group," Suarez said. "When we're singing, it's more of a unit than a bunch of guys singing together."

Southeast Missourians will be able to see the group sing Saturday at the Charles L. Hutson Auction to benefit Old Town Cape. This is the first year for the auction to have entertainment. The auction starts at 5 p.m., and the concert starts at 8 p.m.

There are actually two Straight No Chaser groups. The original Straight No Chaser was founded in 1996 by Dan Ponce, who was at the time a member of the Singing Hoosiers.

"The Singing Hoosiers is a show choir kind of thing that Indiana University has been doing for quite a while," Suarez said. "One day, Dan wanted to start an a cappella group, mainly to sing to the sorority girls, so he handpicked 10 guys out of the Singing Hoosiers."

The group started gaining steam after its debut at an event called the IU Dance Marathon, a large philanthropy event held annually at Indiana University. Since then, it has performed at sporting events, traveled to Chicago and, of course, serenaded the sororities.

When the original members graduated in 2000, they picked their successors, and since then, there has always been an Indiana University Straight No Chaser group.

"In 2001, the original 10 guys were signed by Atlantic Records after the Atlantic Records CEO saw the group perform 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' on YouTube," Suarez said. "Since then, there have been the two groups: us, the collegiate guys who have to be in college and have fun doing it, and then the guys who do it professionally and tour the world."

The collegiate-level Straight No Chaser is nothing short of professional, however, and is considered a farm group for the touring team.

"If one of the 10 guys doing it professionally wants to start a family, they pick one of the guys who were in the collegiate Straight No Chaser to succeed him," Suarez said. This way, the professional Straight No Chaser keeps its Indiana University roots and can continue to perform as long as there is the collegiate farm group.

Indiana University's Straight No Chaser has some big performances to its credit, as well.

"We sang at an Indianapolis Colts halftime show," Suarez said. "In the spring, we're flying to Texas to do a show near San Antonio; we go to Chicago a lot, but most of our shows are in Indiana."

They also have several YouTube videos with more than a million views.

Suarez said they all balance school with the group. "We do as many shows as we can, as school allows."

Will Lockhart will be singing his final concert with the group Saturday. He joined them as a junior and graduated in May. Suarez is taking the business management duties on Lockhart's leave.

"I've really enjoyed working with the group and singing with my great friends," Lockhart said. "I want to make music and performing my career, and even if I don't get to perform, something behind the scenes would still be ideal."

To start his career, Lockhart landed a job singing on a cruise ship. Lockhart said people can expect a diverse offering for the Cape Girardeau concert.

"In terms of genres, we do everything from 1980s to Michael Buble to songs that are on the radio now to Motown; we'll mix it up a lot," he said. "It's an hour and a half set, so we're going to sing a lot of stuff."

The concert and auction are sponsored by Isle of Capri Casinos and Southeast Missouri State University. Isle helped bring in Straight No Chaser and the university donated the facility, according to Marla Mills, executive director of Old Town Cape.

Mills said the auction is always their biggest fundraiser. The money generated goes into the general operating fund for the not-for-profit.

Auction tickets include drinks and hors d'oeuvres, VIP seating at the concert and a meet-and-greet with the group after the show. Tickets for Saturday's auction are $45 and can be purchased through the Old Town Cape office at 334-8085. Single concert tickets start at $15 and are available by calling the River Campus box office at 651-2265.