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1985

At the start of this year, it is certain that Alliance comprises of:

1st tenor: Claude McKnight
1st tenor: Mark Kibble
2nd tenor: Mervyn Warren
2nd tenor: Keith Paschal (new!)
baritone: Jerry Hutchinson
bass: Eric Greene

Official sources say: “2nd tenor, baritone and bass graduate and leave the group."
Jerry returns to New York and begins working as a studio musician. I don't know what happens to the others.

Voices two and three (Mark and Merv) are the only carryovers from the previous lineup. The first tenor seat, a 2nd tenor seat and baritone and bass are vacant.

According to the All Access video, the first to join the remains of Alliance is David Thomas, as a second tenor.
Mark subsequently calls a baritone he knows: Cedric Dent. Cedric came to lie in Alabama earlier this year; he'll be doing a master at the University of Alabama starting the fall of 1985.

Mark explains: “We heard about Ced in Detroit by his work. He had a group called the Dent Family Trio that did harmony like us with only three voices. We heard them and were blown away! So when we had an opening we sought him out. And he agreed."

And finally... the new bass, Alvin Chea. Alvin knew of the group from an Alliance/Special Blend concert in Oakland and was very impressed by them. He himself sang in a group of friends (“Sacred Destiny", with Bobby Pena (lead), Donovan Grice (2nd tenor), Chuck Hackett (3rd tenor), Javier Romero (baritone) and himself (bass)) but Alliance was totally different...
At one time, he decided to take a one year course (one year only...) at Oakwood College. Since Alliance was still looking for a good bass, and one Alvin promissed to be a good sight reader, Mervyn looks him up to ask him to join the group. Alvin on the subject:

Actually, the back story is that he tried to track me down for a couple of weeks before I'd even talk to him. It's not that I was being deep. I was scared of him. I thought he was trying to kick my butt. It all began when he started dating a girl that I'd hung out with for a couple of weeks when I first got down there. Well, a month into the school year, I'd faded off the scene and he and this girl were wrong and strong. I thought he found out that I had been dating her and was trying to set me straight. I was avoiding him like the plague. By the time he finally tracked me down, he had a little attitude.
“Man...I've been trying to get a hold of you for a couple of weeks now..."
“Oh really...wha-what...about?"
“I want you to try out for this group."
“Oh yeah...I heard that you were conducting a choir, A-Classic is it?"
“Naw man...I mean yeah it'd be nice for you to sing in that group too, if you have the time. But, I'm talking about Alliance."
“What! Are you kidding? Of course I'd love to try out for that group."
“Cool."

Alvin prepares himself very well to the audition, and is hired instantly. Alvin tells about this audition:

My first group rehearsal happened in September of '85. I'll never forget it. I had been invited to join by Merv and he said that they usually got together on Friday nights.
Rewind to the living room where five dining room chairs were set up in semicircular fashion. There was a little brown spinet piano and a piano bench which sat empty. I took the end seat next to Dave and waited nervously while Cedric and Merv chatted. About ten minutes later, Mark arrived and took the seat at the piano bench. This was strange. Because, like lots of people, I just assumed that Merv was the main arranger. It turned out that Merv arranged for A Special Blend; but the sound of Alliance, which later became Take 6, belonged to Mark.

Mark and Merv were innovators and just had an innate feel for how things should be done. When we recorded, though we were a cappella, they insisted on putting down guide and click tracks, which instantly set us apart. And, when we used instruments, they could realistically program drums and arrange masterfully.

They too had a sense of their self-worth by having both a manager and a performance fee. Keep in mind these guys were still in their teens.

1986

Alliance still comprises of five people:

tenor: Mervyn Warren
tenor: Mark Kibble
tenor: David Thomas
baritone: Cedric Dent
bass: Alvin Chea

Alvin:

Folks were shuttled in and out of that first tenor spot like nothing. In the dorm late at night, I'd hear of a guy getting called up for an audition with the much-feared Alliance. The next day, you'd see him in the cafeteria completely dejected chewing on a veggie dog. But, for those first few months, the group that would one day be known as Take 6 was but a Take 5. We pushed on rehearsing week after week. And though there was nothing on the horizon save more rehearsals, I loved this cool new sound. Inevitably, after rehearsal, I'd see Mark and Merv shaking their heads... “Man, it just isn't there. Has anybody tracked down Claude yet?" This went on for months. Occasionally we'd hear something about Amway and Claude in Florida, but nothing confirmed. It was like spotting Elvis. I'm thinking, “Who IS this dude?"

Mark would teach the five of us our parts then would leave to sell paint at Sears. In fact, I really have to give Mark his props for holding us together through those thin years. He'd graduated the year before and had passed on several “grown-up" job offers in order to keep our dream alive. He taught his arrangements to those he could track down. In those early days, even Dave was hard to find - and he lived down the street.
Finally, one Friday night as we were setting up chairs for rehearsal, in walked a visibly relieved Mark. “Fellas, we found Claude. I sent him a tape and he promised to listen to it. And, oh yeah, he'll be here for Alumni weekend." Did you hear that? Claude is coming. They found Claude and he's coming back (pass it down). That night we rehearsed with a renewed vigor. Soon there would be six chi-chi-chilly Jordans.

Sure enough, when Oakwood's Alumni Weekend came, Claude showed up and killed it! It was great because his tone was the signature sound of Alliance. He had an amazingly smooth mellifluous voice with the charisma to boot. He was tall, dark and handsome. And when he sang, oh did the ladies swoon. Still do! What more could you want?

Finally they are with six again.

1st tenor: Claude McKnight
1st tenor: Mark Kibble
2nd tenor: Mervyn Warren
2nd tenor: David Thomas
baritone: Cedric Dent
bass: Alvin Chea

The group cannot continue using the name ‘Alliance'. It appears to be in use with another group. After reviewing about 50 names, they choose: Take 6.
Alvin: “None of us really liked the name; it was the name that we all hated the least."

Their first performance as Take 6 takes place at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center in Nashville.

1987

Because the group is performing outside campus more and more, they decide to hire a personal manager: Gail Hamilton from Choice Management. She lives and works in the Nashville area. In June, she puts up a showcase for Take 6 (and A Special Blend) at the Koinonia Christian Bookstore & Coffeehouse in Nashville. 30 gospel record company representatives (producers) are invited.
The group had been rehearsing for this event for about a year, because they only managed to come together in the weekends (30 to 40 hours per weekend).

Unfortunately, the performance is not as good as they'd hoped it would go… and only 10 representatives showed up.
Amongst them is a non invited guest: Jim Ed Norman, Nashville representative of Warner Brothers.

Cedric:

This guy showed up, and he told us the most incredible story about how he learned about TAKE 6. He said someone [Michael Martin Murphy, -red.] gave him an unlabeled cassette tape that had only a portion of one of our songs. He said the little bit of this performance on the tape floored him, and he wanted to find out more about this group. He kept this tape with him for about a year. When he heard about our showcase, he thought he would go to find out if, by chance, it was the same group. Sure enough, we sang the full version of the song he had on his tape. He immediately walked up to us after the concert and said that he would love to talk to us about a recording contract. Two days after the showcase, we had a record deal with Warner Bros.

This was a wonderful affirmation from the Lord that He was guiding our careers and opening these kinds of doors. When God does something, He always does it in such a way that is so supernatural and so miraculous that those involved can't take credit for it.

The demo Jim heard was a fragment of ‘David and Goliath', made by Doug Jansen Smith:

Doug has helped many aspiring artists meet their goals. His record for 8 hours of continuous work on a 8 second vocal part, created the demo that he used to entice Jim Ed Norman into signing multi-Grammy Gospel/Jazz artists Take 6.

(source: https://www.soundcell.com/producers.htm)

In the end, Jim signs the group with Warner/Reprise Nashville, officially as Take 6, and makes their LP's also available on the Reunion Records label, a strategy aimed at saturating both the Christian and secular markets.

Claude mentions that he had to abandon his studies at Oakwood (according to the bio of Brian McKnight ) and that they all moved to Nashville:
“After that successful show [the showcase], we literally were in the studio 20 days later, and subsequently moved to Nashville as a group during that process... it was CRAZY, and quick, but it was necessary for us to be together at that point."

Alvin:

At the very early days on Warner Bros., they didn't know what to do with us. They loved our sound but were unsure of just how to get us to entertain. A&R decided to bring in a Choreographer. Being the country division of the label, they hired someone straight out of a Branson review to work with us.
They videotaped our rehearsals on a Nashville soundstage. Song-by-song they began staging our early a cappella jams. 5-6-7-8 and *step* “Get away Jooordan..." And touch and pivot and to the side...GOOD! We rehearsed until we were heard “step and back" in our sleep. Mark, being saturated with musical talent, was not given much in the way of dance. Actually he was given none. According to Claude, Mark once single handedly sprained his ankle on a solo breakaway lay-up. I didn't see it, but I could believe it. Anyway, we finished the rehearsals and took the tapes to then-President Jim Ed Norman's house to celebrate our arrival. Jim Ed popped the tape in and we watched ourselves in action. Now remember, we are young, immature, and self-conscious. We hadn't seen each other because we were concentrating on getting our own moves right. So, as the tapes played there was a general snicker. Dude, does my voice sound like that? Now, as one particular song ended, we were supposed to strike this Vegas pose. We saw it end and chuckled at the pose. Until Dave yelled, “Wait did you see Mark?!...ha ha ha?" Stop, rewind, play...Mark had fallen behind in one of the steps and tried to catch up on the very last move. And, somehow he went from move 5 to 8 in a half-second. We ROARED! Stop, rewind, play...We hollered! Stop, rewind, play...We CRIED! It took him a long time to live that one down.

Youtube contains a clip from this era. The comment beneath the song If We Ever says:
“This was recorded at the Rosewood Music Festival the summer of 1987, Nashville, Tennessee by 3ABN. The group known as Alliance had just signed or was negociating with Warner Brothers."
David Rose , a producer of this festival, says:
“Rosewood Music Festival took place on the front lawn of my estate. The event was broadcast live in part and taped for later national television broadcasts. I did stage design, talent auditions and selection, brochure design, promotions, sponsor recruitment, program director."

This year, Joel Kibble (brother of Mark) and Peter Campbell form a vocalgroup at Pine Forge Academy, which will be singing Take 6-like songs: Special Music. Apparently, the group does not hold for long, because Peter states at a Youtube comment: “2 years later at Oakwood College we revived the group, at the Oakwood Alumni Weekend Friday Night Concert 1989."

This group comprises of:

1st tenor: David Caldwell
2nd tenor: Reggie Reid
3rd tenor (and lead): Joey Kibble
4th tenor: Arthur Hicks
baritone: Wayne Bucknor
bass: Peter Campbell

Take 6: biography

Article Index

1985

1986

1987