Deke Sharon

Deke Sharon (born December 12, 1967) is an American singer, arranger, composer, director, producer, author, coach, pioneer, and teacher of a cappella music, and is one of the leaders and promoters of the contemporary a cappella community.

He has been referred to as "the father of contemporary a cappella" by some authors, and "the godfather of a cappella" by others.

Deke Sharon was born and raised in San Francisco.

He started singing in choir groups at age five, including the San Francisco Boys Chorus.

He attended Town School for Boys and San Francisco University High School, where he sang lead (second tenor) in the barbershop quartet his freshman year in "The Music Man," and kept it going all four years, learning to direct and arrange a cappella.

Sharon spent his college years in Boston, graduating from Tufts University with a Bachelor of Arts in childhood studies, and a Bachelor of Music from the New England Conservatory of Music with a focus on vocal jazz, third stream (now called "contemporary improvisation"), and music theory.

In college, he directed the collegiate a cappella group the Tufts Beelzebubs, transforming the group's sound to reflect modern rock, with intricate instrumental vocalizations and the integration of vocal percussion.

The 1990–1991 Beelzebubs album Foster Street that he directed musically is credited with the creation of contemporary a cappella sound.

Sharon had to audition three times before he was accepted, as he was seen as "overzealous" during a time when a cappella was not popular, a fact which was mentioned in the book "Pitch Perfect."

Beca and Benji in the Pitch Perfect films are partially based on Sharon.

During this time, he decided to make a career of contemporary a cappella and popularize this new style, despite being laughed at and told it was impossible.

Sharon was the music director and arranger for the film Pitch Perfect, as well as singing on several of the songs, where he was credited on screen as "Male Voice #1."

He returned for Pitch Perfect 2, in which he has a brief cameo as the German judge and broadcaster.

He helped involve several professional a cappella groups and singers with the film, including The Filharmonic, Penn Masala, and Pentatonix.

Sharon also worked with the Green Bay Packers.

He returned to music-direct, arrange, and vocally produce for Pitch Perfect 3.

He had also arranged for the film, The Social Network.

The House Jacks have released seven albums (signed to Warner Brothers/Tommy Boy Records in the mid-1990s) and completed several world tours.

He has performed with many musicians, including Ray Charles, Crosby, Stills and Nash, LL Cool J, Run DMC, The Temptations, and James Brown.

Upon graduation in 1991, he moved back to San Francisco, bringing with him a handful of other collegiate a cappella singers to form The House Jacks, a pioneering a cappella group known for its original music and sound, often called "the original rock band without instruments", in part because they were the first a cappella group with a designated vocal percussionist.

The Best Arrangement award at the Colorado Harmony Sweepstakes is named after him, and he has won the best arrangement award at the Harmony Sweepstakes several times since 1991.

They have won "Best Pop Rock Album" from the Contemporary A Cappella Society, for "Unbroken" (2004), "Level" (2010), and "Pollen (2014).

He also performs as a solo artist, with groups such as the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus and at events like Singapore's "Vocal Edge" and directing DCINY's annual "Total Vocal" at Carnegie Hall as well as serving as Emcee for a cappella events, such as the annual Techapella concerts in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Studio session credits include the Wii game Just Dance Kids 2 including the songs "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", "Barbara Ann", and "Mahna Mahna".

A prolific, award-winning vocal music arranger, he has arranged more than 2,000 songs for a wide range of ensembles, including some of vocal music's best-known groups.

In December 2009, he acted as music director, arranger, coach, and consultant behind the scenes on America's first a cappella reality show competition, titled The Sing-Off, and returned in 2010 as one of the show's producers.

He also served as Executive Music Producer on the Dutch Sing Off, Sing Off South Africa and Sing-Off China, including several guest appearances as a judge and performer.

He was named "favorite arranger" in the 2010 A Cappella Community Awards and won "Best Professional Arrangement" in 2019.

He founded and directed a cappella groups at Walt Disney World/Epcot (American Vybe) and Disneyland (Groove 66).

Along with The House Jacks, he sang and performed the 2011 Monday Night Football theme song "Are You Ready for Some Football" with Hank Williams, Jr.

He worked with Straight No Chaser on their first PBS special Live in New York.

He appeared in front of the camera for the first time on Lifetime's Pitch Slapped reality show, in which he coached after school high school a cappella group Stay Tuned from Cherry Hill, New Jersey, focusing both on their musicality and emotional delivery.

The show also aired overseas in London, Israel (where its name in Hebrew means "a cappella battle") across Latin America, Indonesia and the Philippines (under the name Pitch Battle).

In 2013, he created a new professional a cappella ensemble in New Mexico: "Voasis".

In 2014 and 2015 he music-directed the Sing Off Live tour He created Vocalosity for which he was artistic producer, music director, and arranger.

They started touring in 2016 and their debut album was released on Universal Classics.

As of summer 2017 he is series music director for a new competitive choir show on BBC1 called Pitch Battle, as well as appearing on camera each episode providing insight and commentary.

He was also the third judge for the season one live finale.

He judged Eurovision Choir 2019.

In 2022 music directed "Best in Snow" for Disney+ as well as co-arranged/vocal produced the a cappella scenes in Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin.