Viva!: Healing and Triumph The story of the 2020 International Champion Quartet
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our friends, on the ultimate Sweet Adeline adventure — the quest for quartet gold. To all outward appearances, that was the picture presented as Viva! entered the New Orleans International Competition. However, the quartet reveals that the adventure involved much more. Viva! began in 2015, formed by a group of experienced quartet singers. Tenor Patty Cobb Baker, who is also the current president of Sweet Adelines International, sang with lead Gina Baker in 2013 International Champion Quartet Touché. Baritone Chris DeRosa, who won her first crown in New Orleans, has sung with several regional champion quartets as well as two international finalists (Crystal Clear and Journey). In 2017, bass Peggy Jones replaced original Viva! bass Joanie Jacques (who sang with Gina in Jackpot). Peggy was a member of 2016 International Champion Quartet Speed of Sound. Soon after Viva! formed, Patty’s husband, Jeff, baritone of 1996 Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS) International Champion Quartet Nightlife, was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. Patty knew her life was going to be all about caring for her husband, so she told the quartet to replace her. “They totally refused,” said Patty. “Though we had no idea how long the battle would be, the answer was the same: This is Viva!
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| January 2020
and we’re doing this together. And we did.” Jeff passed away March 1, 2017, and Viva! began rehearsing again in June of that year. In 2018, they became regional champions, scoring the highest regional quartet score (715) in Sweet Adelines history thus far. They then came in second at international competition in St. Louis with a package of Bette Midler songs from the movie For the Boys. This year’s finals package was an homage to Barbra Streisand, with gowns made by Toast of Tampa Show Chorus (#10) member Jennifer Jackson. “After doing a costume tear-away last year, with two costumes (one on top of the other!), we decided to pack (and sweat!) less this year and stick with just one costume!” said Gina. That was about the only concession to ease that Viva! made. Already a long-distance quartet — with Patty in Texas, Peggy in North Carolina, and Chris and Gina in Florida — Viva! rehearses one weekend a month, but recording their first CD consumed the first three rehearsals after St. Louis. While completing work on three of their finals song arrangements, designing costumes, planning emcee material and staging, they also did several shows — and Gina was trial scoring as a judge for the first time! “Because international came a month earlier this year and we
