Humble Beginnings by Michaela Johnston

        From backyard Bluegrass family jams and “end of the pack” contest placements, in the wise words of music sensation Drake, “we started from the bottom, now we’re here.” Where “here” is exactly, I don’t know, but boy we’re having fun!

From Porch Singin' to Chord Ringin'

        Many people may not know that Nathan first learned his love of vocal harmony by singing with his family bluegrass band in his hometown of Hillsboro, Missouri. He was always a shy boy, and never wanted to participate in the family “jam sessions.” One day, an ice storm knocked out the power on their street so badly that his family and his grandparents had to go stay in a hotel for awhile. While they were there, Nathan’s grandpa taught him how to play the guitar. The first song he ever learned was “The Canon Ball Rag.” It was all downhill from there! He became and avid performer singing and playing the guitar, not only with the family band, but all around his hometown. He played many concerts in local restaurants and wrote original songs. He wrote and performed an original song at his high school graduation! (Also, fun fact, he was the senior prom king!)

        He had never heard of barbershop until he stumbled upon YouTube videos of multi-track tags by Simon Rylander. He then fell down the YouTube rabbit hole and became obsessed with videos of Vocal Spectrum, Crossroads, and the Ambassadors of Harmony, amongst others, falling in love with the harmonies of barbershop! He figured that those groups were so amazing that they must be based in New York City or LA! Little did he know that he would be roommates with Eric of Vocal Spectrum, be taught by Jim Henry of Crossroads, marry me and become the son in law of Mike Slamka of Crossroads, and become a member and win a gold medal with the Ambassadors of Harmony.

        When it came time to go to college, he knew he wanted to pursue music. He high school music teacher recommended the University of Missouri-St. Louis because she went to college with the music professor there. He prepared his audition materials and nearly died when he went to his audition. The professor his teacher went to school with, and the person he was going to audition for was none other than Jim Henry! He immediately recognized him from the videos he had seen of Crossroads and AoH! He was extremely nervous, but passed his audition and through UMSL he learned all about barbershop and how accessible it had been to him the whole time!

While in college, Nathan was in a few chapter quartets and college quartets. He placed as high as 4th with Dominant Prep and New Edition (both with Aaron Pollard who went on to win the Next Gen contest with Frontier, and Bryan Zeigler who went on to win the BHS quartet contest with After Hours). In Nathan’s very first contest, he won a gold medal with AoH and a 4th place medal with Dominant Prep! I told him that wasn’t normal… not a bad first contest experience! We went on to form Double Date with our BFFs Blair and Ravi, which you’ll hear a bit more about later. Nathan currently sings in the 3rd place BHS medalist quartet, Quorum, with Puck Ross (past medalist with The Allies), Chris Vaughn (BHS quartet champion with Gotcha), and Gary Lewis (BHS quartet champion with Platinum and Max Q)! 

        He still loves to sing with his family band and recognizes that before he sang in front of thousands of people all over the world, he first found his love of music and harmony singing in his mother’s living room and back porch. 

Nathan with his family band in 2016
Nathan with his family band in 2016

Fourth Generation 'Shopper

        I am a forth generation barbershopper, and a third generation quartet champion. While that may sound impressive, no one in the Slamka family found success right away! My dad and grandpa (and uncle and second cousin) won in the 2003 BHS champion quartet, Power Play. They were together for 15 years before they won and competed in 12 international contests before finally winning the gold. They made their international debut in 39th place (out of 51), then went on to place 24th, 14th, 17th, 14th (again), 10th, 11th, 7th, 5th, 5th (again), 3rd, and finally 1st! I grew up watching them compete and perform, and while watching them I learning three (main) things: 

  1. Sing from the heart or don’t bother (which was their quartet slogan), 
  2. NEVER give up on your dream, and 
  3. It takes HARD work to become a champion! 

        I got in my first quartet when I was 14 (with my sister Mackenzi who was rocking out baritone at age 11) called Chromatix! We competed at the 2007 SAI Rising Star contest and finished 13th… out of 19. (That was actually an amazing contest with SO many future SAI stars getting their start including: Jenny Allen (Socialites 13th, went on to win Rising Star with Barbie Shop and Royal Blush, and placed as high as 2nd in the SAI quartet contest with Windsor), Heather Havens (The Chordettes 9th, went on to win Rising Star and the SAI quartet contest with ClassRing), Ali Hauger (Whole Lotta Harmony 8th, went on to win Rising Star with Whole Lotta Harmony and GQ, and has placed as high as 3rd with GQ in the SAI quartet contest), Ashley Wright (Sweet Synergy 4th, went on to win the SAI quartet contest with Speed of Sound), amongst MANY others who’ve gone on to win Rising Star and make the top 10 in the SAI quartet contest! Chromatix decided to part ways after that contest because my sister and I were so young at the time and needed to focus on elementary and middle school. 

        In college I got into two more quartets- Double Date and ClassRing- who both went on to win championships. Double Date won the BinG World Mixed contest in 2014 and 2016, and ClassRing won the Rising Star contest in 2014 and the SAI quartet contest in 2018 (making us the 2019 Queens of Harmony). While I have experienced success, it is all due to the lessons I learned at a young age. Both Double Date and ClassRing get consistent comments that we give genuine, heart felt performances (1-sing from the heart or don’t bother). In both quartets we continued to strive to reach our goal, which used to be contest oriented and have now reached beyond that- performing all over the world and creating legacies that will hopefully leave a positive impact on the barbershop community (2- NEVER give up on your dream {and we don’t intend to!!})! And lastly, in both quartets we’ve literally poured our blood, sweat, and tears into becoming the best we can be, knowing that we will never truly “arrive” at perfection, but striving for it anyway (3- it takes HARD work to become a champion)! Something I’ve had to learn for myself is that truly becoming a champion means so much more than a medal or a crown. A true champion is someone who gives back, is kind and supportive towards others, and continues to strive for musical success even after the contest has been won. I hope that I exude these qualities, and will endeavor to work towards being a true champion on and off the stage.