Gene Puerling

Gene Puerling
The history of choral music in jazz just can´t be written without mentioning Gene Puerling. Puerling for us is an obvious member of our Vocal Hall of Fame for two main reasons. Firstly for his pioneering work in arranging, starting in the early fifties and from then on continously developing. Secondly as creator and long time leader of the groups The Hi-Lo´s and The Singers Unlimited. These groups for many years served as the instrument through which Puerling made his arrangements known to a large audience. The groups have given inspiration to varied groups and musicians such as Brian Wilson (of the Beach Boys), Mamas and Papas, Manhattan Transfer, Take Six and The Real Group.		Gene Puerling
Gene Puerling was born in Milwaukee on March 31, 1929. His interest was early focused on vocal music. He became a discjockey after graduating from highschool. Later he worked as a freelance singer and organized two vocal groups in the Milwaukee area. He headed west trying to start a career in vocal music, and in april 1953 he organized a group.
The Hi-Lo´s After months of debating the group settled on the name The Hi-Lo´s, this name being an accurate description of the member´s physical as well as vocal range. (Of the founding members, Puerling and Clark Burroughs stood 5'7½" and 5'5" respectively. Bob Morse and Bob Strasen were both well over 6 feet.) The Hi-Lo´s continued as a group until 1964, of course with some changes among the members.		The Hi-Lo´s
The Singers Unlimited In 1967 we find Gene Puerling in Chicago were he founds The Singers Unlimited. In this group, Puerling sang 1st bass with Len Dresslar as 2nd bass. The tenor voice belonged to Don Shelton who joined The Hi-Lo´s in 1959. The fourth member of the group was the lovely Bonnie Herman. With The Singers Unlimited Puerling developed to perfection the art of overdubbing, and the four voices were turned into a virtually unlimited number of voices, and hence the name of the group... During the first years, the group made their living singing for commercials, but in 1971 they released their first album. The Singers Unlimited made their last(?) recording in 1980.		The Singers Unlimited

To Leif and Johan´s Vocal hall of fame

Updated at 1997-03-02 by Johan Stäck.