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Morning Open Thread Thursday July 10, theme: The Four Freshmen [1]
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Date: 2025-07-10
Welcome to Morning Open Thread, a daily post with a MOTley crew of hosts, who choose the topic for the daily posting. We support our community, invite and share ideas, and encourage thoughtful, respectful dialogue in an open forum.
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Note: I use a ‘theme’ for my diaries, in an attempt to keep my writings on a cohesive path while I compose the diaries. It is also fun to see comments that fit within that theme. However, here in MOTland, all topics are welcome, it is an open thread. There are no demerits for being so-called ‘off-topic’. Thanks!
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My theme for July Thursday MOT diaries: groups with ‘four’ in their name. I selected the groups listed below, but any ‘four’ group will fit into any week’s theme.
3rd: Brothers Four, 10th: Four Freshmen, 17th: Four Preps, 24th: Four Seasons, 31st: Four Tops
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>>>This diary is about the musical group The Four Freshmen
Words below from this Wiki: Four Freshmen
The Four Freshmen is an American male vocal quartet that accompanied themselves on guitar, horns, bass, and drums, among other instrumental configurations.
The group was founded in 1948 in Indiana and reached its peak popularity in the mid-1950s.
Brothers Don and Ross Barbour grew up in a musical family, and had sung with their cousin Bob Flanigan as kids. In 1947, classmate Hal Kratzsch convinced the Barbours that forming a barbershop quartet would be a great source of income, so they formed a barbershop quartet called Hal's Harmonizers. Kratzsch knew from instinct how to sing the bottom part; Don, with his wide vocal range, was tapped to sing the second part; and Ross, a natural baritone, took the third part. To sing the top part, they recruited classmate Marvin Pruitt.
In the meantime, they started accompanying themselves with musical instruments. Soon, the group dropped out of school and drove to Chicago, where they met agent Dick Shelton. He named them as the Freshmen Four, which they reversed to the Four Freshmen. They made their debut at Fort Wayne's 113 Club on September 20, 1948, and nearly lost the job since the manager had never heard jazz chords, but his daughter had a crush on Kratzsch, allowing them to stay for a week.
The Four Freshmen were an important influence on Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson. He listened to their albums, and the teenage Wilson made a point of seeing the Four Freshmen perform live.
The Four Freshmen are also credited with influencing The Lettermen, The Four Preps, and The Manhattan Transfer, among other vocal groups.
Shangri-La
I Remember You
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