By Patricia A. Scheyer
NkyTribune journalist

More than 36 years ago, Ric Jennings was invited to gather a few fellow singers to perform at a Kentucky Arts Council reception at the Carnegie Center in Covington. This was the beginning of the Brotherhood Singers.

Jennings was part of an excellent choir at Ninth Street Baptist Church whose fame was beginning to spread in religious circles in the Northern Kentucky area.

“I contacted some guys in the area who I knew liked to sing like me,” he said. “Most of the guys I sing with are flexible in their voices, and when we all came together, it was like divine intervention. Our voices blended so well and we were able to lift up our voices to praise the Lord.

He said they rarely practice, meeting about once a month to brush up on their sublime harmonies and compare performance dates.

“Choirs tend to have sections that match a person’s voice range, so a person can sing tenor or bass,” Jennings explained. “But the guys in our band are flexible enough that we can change our voices to fill a gap, like if a guy has a cold and has to sing lower, we can compensate by singing a higher part. We instinctively know how to adjust our voices to fill out the sound and produce the rich, full harmony we are known for.

Greg Page was one of the original members of the Brotherhood Singers, and he remembers that time as very satisfying and loved mixing his voice to uplift his heart and the hearts of those who listened to him.

“I grew up in Covington and sang in choir since I was in fourth grade,” Page recalled. “I was in the 9th Street Baptist choir and that’s where I met my wife, Charletta. When the small group of Brotherhood singers formed, I was one of the members. I have always loved singing. I felt like we were bringing the word of God to people. We had a lot of fun, but we were praising God and showing people the beauty of singing those praises.

Page had to leave the group after breaking a bone in his heel and required surgery. Today his health has deteriorated and he has difficulty getting around, but he still remembers being part of the Brotherhood singers as a highlight of his life.

“It’s always been a very pure effort, reaching people with the universal language of music,” he said. “I think that’s why they’re still so popular.” Everyone loves music, and most people love the sheer effort of praising the Lord. There is nothing like the feeling of singing the Gospel and bringing it to people.

The Brotherhood Singers are so popular that they are in constant demand. They have traveled to Spain, Portugal, Russia, Italy, Canada and Switzerland and performed at the Library of Congress and the Kennedy Center.

But the Brotherhood Singers are not a professional group; they are semi-professional and most keep their day jobs.

The group performs everywhere because they love to sing. The feeling of exhilaration they feel in creating their unique sound extends and encompasses those who listen, and their hearts are opened and filled with that same feeling of exhilaration. Members feel that they are using their God-given talents to praise God and spread His word to everyone they can. It’s a mission that they love and the feedback has been fantastic.

“Keep in mind that you have to sing it the way you feel it,” Jennings explained. “When you do that, it connects to the emotional state of the character, of the person hearing it.”

And it connects.

The group is in high demand and will perform in Madison, Indiana, November 2 and 10, as well as at the Metropolitan Club in Covington in November. They have a Facebook page, NKY Brotherhood Singers.

Jennings remembers a time when they were performing in Canada and they ended up opening for a festival featuring Ray Charles, because a jazz group got held up at the border and didn’t couldn’t make it to the show on time. Yhey asked the Brotherhood singers to replace them.

It’s not easy to do what they do.

Anyone who has ever sung in public knows what it means to find the right pitch or note, and having music to accompany them is essential.

The five members of the Brotherhood do not have music to accompany them: they are the music. The acapella quintet does not need to look for the notes, because they know them instinctively. But this isn’t easy for most people.

“Singing acapella is like being on a rope without a net,” Jennings joked.

Listening to the incredible mix of voices within the brotherhood, it’s clear they understand how it works.

Jennings invites everyone to come out and listen to the band sing. They even invite people to sing, because the music is familiar and it is irresistible to join in.

The group’s current members are Eric “Ric” Jennings, Eric Riley, Stace “Babydeac” Darden, Sam “Watson” Norris Jr, Mike Wright and Lavelle Thompson.

Over the years, the group has added some popular songs to its repertoire of gospel, patriotic and Christmas music.

A typical performance, which lasts 30 to 75 minutes, begins with five songs that highlight each band member’s solos, giving the audience an opportunity to see their versatility and range. Then they enjoy going into the audience, encouraging people to sing, and shaking hands with people they meet.

After getting everyone moving and singing, the group slows the pace, singing songs they know will touch the heart and soul. Then they increase the tempo again to elicit smiles and let the audience go away singing to themselves and feeling good.

Overall, it’s an unforgettable experience, put on by an unforgettable band, a band elected to the Northern Kentucky Music Hall of Fame – and a Northern Kentucky treasure.