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Darlene Rogers: President’s Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient
A Lifetime of Music
Darlene Rogers
When the video of Darlene Rogers accepting the 2020 President’s Lifetime Achievement Award was shown on the first day of the Virtual Convention, you could feel the emotion of thousands of Sweet Adelines around the world. Darlene had passed away shortly before the convention after a long illness, but the video had been made back when she was home on hospice care to take the call from International President Joan Boutilier and members of the International Board – a call that came as a complete surprise to her!
It was arranged with a little help from her friends, Dale Syverson and Peggy Gram, both past recipients of the award, with whom Darlene developed the popular Sing, Baby, Sing series of vocal education materials. Dale told Darlene she had a Rich-Tone rehearsal to play for her so Darlene could help figure out what was wrong.
When the ruse was up, Darlene laughed, as she so often did. Her sense of humor was as well-known as her lifelong dedication to vocal music. In her 52-year career as a Sweet Adeline, Darlene influenced countless singers for whom she served as coach, director, and vocal teacher. She was a member of the Sweet Adelines International Faculty, the Education Steering Committee for Regions #10 and #25, and was a member of the 1975 Region #10 Champion Quartet, Lady Luvs. She served as assistant director of OK City Chorus and as director of Oklahoma Jubilee Chorus and Texas Harmony Chorus (formerly Greater Dallas Chorus). “Darlene sang on the front row of the chorus, and she was a great showperson,” enthused Peggy. “You could hardly take your eyes off her. The song was all over her face. She was a very joyful singer.”
Darlene was also a lifelong learner and educator, with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in vocal pedagogy. Among her many legacies is the concept and name of Personal Vocal Instruction (PVI), which is now common practice among Sweet Adelines.
“She was an avid, relentless reader of all things vocal,” recalled Dale. “She had a very impressive library of vocal texts, and I seldom had to read anything for myself because all I had to do was have a conversation with Darlene. One of our favorite things to do together was for me to come over with an idea about my chorus, and we would have the most fun conversations about vocal production. We were in the midst of doing some long-range planning about our next project when she passed. She was never done.”
Peggy and Dale illustrated Darlene’s teaching style with a story from their own experience. In 1998, both their quartet, Rumors, and Rich-Tone Chorus, directed by Dale and including three of the quartet members, won the international championship. In the warmup room prior to singing while the chorus results were tallied, Rumors found themselves with a problem. “To say we were vocally taxed is an understatement, and we did not sound good,” said Peggy. “We sent someone into the audience to find Darlene. She said, ‘Okay, let's just rewarm your voices.’ When she got through, about 15 minutes later, we were calm and relaxed. We went out and did a bang-up job on the stage, and that experience stayed with us through everything.” It inspired Peggy and Dale to create Sing, Baby, Sing, and they invited Darlene to join them. In memory of Darlene and 2013 President’s Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Sharon Babb, who passed away Sept. 9, 2020, a digital version of the first edition of Sing, Baby, Sing is being made available for free to Sweet Adelines. (See inside front cover.) Darlene’s calm, confident demeanor inspired generations.
“She believed in you,” said Peggy. “She would tell you, ‘You can do this. Here's what you need to do. It's not gonna happen overnight, but one day, you'll just realize that you are doing it, so just keep after it. If you do the exercise every day and just believe, then it's gonna happen.’ And sure enough, it would, and she'd hug you and say, ‘See? You can do this.’ We were all works in progress for Darlene, and she loved teaching. Teaching is who she was. She was truly a servant leader.”
Upon receiving the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award, Darlene said, “I was absolutely surprised. So delighted. Thank you so much. It made my day. It made my life.”
“Darlene loved Sweet Adelines,” said Peggy. “She loved the organization. She loved the members. She loved the spirit of the group. She lived who Sweet Adelines is. She really did. That’s who she was.”
