Finest Hour
Background information
GenresBarbershop
Years active2014–present
MembersJames Williams – tenor
Eddie Williams – lead
Nick Williams – baritone
Jonathan Pipe – bass
Past membersPhil Cuthbert – bass
Websitefacebook.com/FinestHourQuartet/

Finest Hour is the 2017 European barbershop quartet champion.[1] The quartet also won the 2016 British barbershop quartet championship in Harrogate in May 2016.[2][3][4] Finest Hour went to Las Vegas for the international competition in 2017, placing 28th in the world. Since then, their qualifying score of 83%,[5] the UK record for a male quartet, scored in May 2018 in Harrogate, qualified them again to represent the British Association of Barbershop Singers (BABS) at the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS)'s 2019 international competition held in Salt Lake City, where they placed 22nd.[6]

History

The three Williams brothers – James (tenor), Eddie (lead), and Nick (baritone) – have sung together from a young age, and had sung with their father, Nigel Williams (bass), as a quartet named "Homespun". Homespun competed at the BABS Conventions for many years, placing third in 2013.[7][8] They were a crowd favourite but over time Nigel decided to step down. In 2014, Phil Cuthbert, a long-time family friend, stepped in to help form their new quartet, "Finest Hour".[9] After placing third in their first national competition in 2015, they went on to win the gold medal in Harrogate in May 2016 with a record-high score of 82.9 per cent.[3][4][10]

In October 2016, Finest Hour was the guest quartet at the Irish Association of Barbershop Singers (IABS) Convention held in Cork.[11] In April 2017, Finest Hour performed in a concert at Loughborough College.[12]

At the May 2017 BABS national convention in Bournemouth,[13] Finest Hour scored 81.8 per cent, the highest by a quartet that weekend, and qualified to compete at the July 2018 BHS International Convention in Orlando, Florida.[14][15]

The quartet qualified for the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS) International Convention in Las Vegas in 2017 and, in their first time representing the British Association of Barbershop Singers (BABS), placed 28th out of 55 quartets across the world who reached that level of competition.[16]

In October 2017, Finest Hour competed at the European Barbershop Convention, representing BABS, where they achieved 1st place with a score of 79.4%.[1] After this contest, Cuthbert decided to step down and Jonathan Pipe, a fellow singer with The Grand Central Chorus in Nottingham, transitioned to the quartet's bass voice part. Pipe had previously sung with the 'House Lights Up' quartet in Spain, which placed third at the Spanish Association of Barbershop Singers convention in Benalmádena in 2015.[17][18] The official bass handover took place at the BABS prelims competition in November 2017.[19] Notably, in May 2018, Finest Hour were asked to be the guest quartet at the Sweet Adelines Quartet of Nations Region 31 convention at the Sage Gateshead.[20] Finest Hour attended the BABS 2018 convention in Harrogate, Pipe's first ever time competing on the quartet stage in the UK, to compete for a qualifying score for the 2019 international competition. The new rules meant the highest scoring quartet of the weekend gained automatic qualification,[21] which Finest Hour won with a UK record score of 83%.[5]

At the BHS international competition at Salt Lake City in July 2019, Finest Hour placed 22nd out of 57 quartets at that level, only one scoring point behind their nearest competitor,[6] and just thirteen points away from becoming the second British quartet in history (after Reckless in 2017) to make the International semi-finals.[22][23]

Contest placement

BABS National

20152016
3rd[24]1st[3]

BHS International

20172019
28th[16]22nd[6]

European Convention

2017
1st[1]

Recordings

  • This Is Us – (2016)

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 "2017 EU Male Quartet Final Scoresheet" (PDF). Ladies Association of British Barbershop Singers. 29 October 2017. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
  2. ↑ "An introduction to: Barbershop". Making Music. 6 January 2017. Retrieved 10 August 2017. Finest Hour, a quartet from Chesterfield and Preston, won the Gold Medal in the 2016 national competition of the British Association of Barbershop Singers
  3. 1 2 3 "2016 Scoresheet" (PDF). BABS Guild of Judges. 29 May 2016. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
  4. 1 2 James, Ian (September 2016). "The Chairman Signs In" (PDF). Harmony Express. p. 3. Finest Hour has given BABS its first ever straight 'A' quartet champions with a stunning 82.9% overall.
  5. 1 2 "2018 Scoresheet" (PDF). BABS Guild of Judges. 27 May 2018. Retrieved 8 June 2018.
  6. 1 2 3 "Official Scoring Summary – Quartet Quarter-Finals, BHS 2019 International Convention" (PDF). Barbershop Harmony Society. 3 July 2019. Retrieved 4 July 2019.
  7. ↑ "2013 Quartet Final" (PDF). BABS Guild of Judges. 5 May 2013. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
  8. ↑ Williams, James (17 May 2013). "HomeSpun Quartet Semi-finals BABS 2013". Retrieved 12 August 2017 – via YouTube.
  9. ↑ "Finest Hour Quartet". soundcloud.com. Harmony UK Podcast. September 2016. 5:00. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
  10. ↑ Williams, Nick (30 May 2016). "BABS 2016 Quartet Final – Finest Hour". Retrieved 16 August 2017 – via YouTube.
  11. ↑ Blackley, Nelson (December 2016). "Grand Central wins IABS International Chorus Contest" (PDF). Harmony Express. p. 20.
  12. ↑ Sayer, Peter (April 2017). "Top Harmony Groups in Concert" (PDF). Newtown Linford Magazine. p. 18. Retrieved 20 August 2017.
  13. ↑ Wilson, Kate (29 May 2017). "WATCH: Barbershop singers perform on the steps of the BIC". Bournemouth Daily Echo. Newsquest. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
  14. ↑ "2017 Quartet Final" (PDF). BABS Guild of Judges. 28 May 2017. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
  15. ↑ "Grand Central Chorus at the 43rd BABS Annual Convention Bournemouth 26–29 May 2017". Grand Central Chorus. 30 May 2017. Retrieved 11 August 2017. 'Finest Hour' successfully achieved a qualifying score (81.8 – the highest quartet score of the weekend)...
  16. 1 2 "Official Scoring Summary, BHS, International Convention, Quartet Quarter-Finals, Las Vegas, Nevada" (PDF). Barbershop Harmony Society. 5 July 2017. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
  17. ↑ Spanish Association of Barbershop Singers (5 August 2017). "Finest Hour Quartet". Facebook. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  18. ↑ "SABS National Quartet Contest Results, Final Results Order" (PDF). Spanish Association of Barbershop Singers. 2015. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  19. ↑ "2017 BABS Qrt – Finest Hour – MC". British Association of Barbershop Singers. 15 November 2017. Retrieved 15 November 2017 – via YouTube.
  20. ↑ "Newcastle 2018 Convention Programme". Quartet of Nations Region 31. 2018. Retrieved 8 June 2018.
  21. ↑ "Contest Rules v10.0" (PDF). Babs Guild of Judges. 2018. Retrieved 8 June 2018.
  22. ↑ "Official Scoring Summary – Quartet Semi-Finals, BHS 2019 International Convention" (PDF). Barbershop Harmony Society. 4 July 2019. Retrieved 10 October 2019. The Maelstrom quartet placed 20th after scoring 2479 points in the quarter-finals; Finest Hour scored 2466 points.
  23. ↑ "Official Scoring Summary – Quartet Semi-Finals, BHS 2017 International Convention" (PDF). Barbershop Harmony Society. 6 July 2017. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
  24. ↑ "2015 Scoresheet" (PDF). BABS Guild of Judges. 24 May 2015. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
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