E-mail a friendNaturally 7
airdate October 14, 2008
Raised in the Seventh Day Adventist Church in New York City, the members of Naturally 7 have a sound that defies traditional a cappella music. They create a full-band sound using the human voice—a style the group describes as "vocal play"—and offer a wide-ranging repertoire that includes self-penned compositions. Since winning a pair of prestigious competitions in NY and San Francisco, they've charted multiple hit singles in Europe and become an international phenomenon. They are currently touring, opening for Michael Bublé.
Group members explain the difference between traditional a cappella music and vocal play. (1:10)
Full interview and performance. (7:51)
Naturally 7
Tavis: These handsome young men make up a group called Naturally 7. I was at the Montreux Jazz Festival earlier this summer, celebrating my friend Quincy Jones' 75th birthday. And they came out on stage and absolutely wrecked the Montreux Jazz Festival.
I rushed backstage and said, "Whenever you are in the L.A. area, please honor me by coming on my program. They were in Vegas this past weekend, opening for my friend Jay Leno for his Vegas act, so they were in the area, and here they are. Again, they're called Naturally 7 - Roger, one of the founders. Tell me about the group Naturally 7, how you guys got together.
Roger "N'glish" Thomas: Pretty much we've got two brothers and friends just got together in church, started singing traditional a capella. Then we kind of like just wanted to be unique on the planet, so we kind of kept looking for that niche.
Tavis: So the difference between - you don't call yourselves an a capella group, you call it vocal -
Thomas: Vocal play.
Tavis: And the difference between a capella and vocal play is?
Thomas: A capella's when you sing without instruments - everybody knows that. Vocal play is when you become the instruments.
Tavis: So you guys can do how many instruments among the seven of you?
Thomas: Let's see - 1,006 - no, no, I'm just kidding. (Laughter) We don't know, we've never counted.
Tavis: Yeah, but a whole bunch of them. All right. So anyway, Naturally 7 is the name of the group, and I'm going to let them do their thing. Thanks for watching this show, and I'll see you next time from PBS. Enjoy this performance, and as always, keep the faith. Take it, guys.
[Musical performance by Naturally 7]
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