About Us
The phenomenon now known as "The UMBC Mama's Boys" started at the beginning of Fall 2003. Freshmen Jeeves Murphy and Jordan Hadfield, each with extensive backgrounds in Acapella singing, had been taking about continuing their love of music by starting a college singing group at UMBC, as no such group existed at the time. Meanwhile, in the basement of Potomac Hall, freshmen Chett Miller, with a background in contemporary Acapella, and Ray Remesch, who had been in his high school choir and a few rock bands, were in Chett's room listening to some Best of College Acapella CDs. Chett half-seriously suggested starting a contemporary a cappella group on campus, as most colleges have at least a few, and Ray agreed. Through some miracle, Ray and Jeeves were introduced by a mutual friend, and the two parties combined their efforts.
They set out to find voices, soliciting friends, friends of friends, friends of friends of friends, random people walking by doing their laundry... anyone they could find. In the beginning, there were only maybe one or two loose meetings a week, in which they would sing some barbershop tags and one or two classical songs that Jordan and Jeeves had from other groups they sang in. Finally, Ray came to rehearsal with an arrangement of "Do Right," by Jimmy's Chicken Shack - and the group was never the same again. They finished that first semester with a repertoire of two and a half songs, Happy Birthday, and the Star Spangled Banner. During Spring 2004, the first semester the group was recognized as an official organization, they started having three regular rehearsals a week, worked up to seven songs, and held their first concert at the end of the semester. Since that first year, the group has been performing much more often, coordinating events with other college groups, working on more challenging arrangements, and taking on new members through an intense audition process.
And this is only the beginning...
September 11, 2005