Deke Sharon

Deke Sharon
vocalizing an electric guitar, on stage with the House Jacks, 2006
Background information
Birth name	Kurk Richard Toohey, Jr.
Born	(1967-12-12) December 12, 1967 (age 49)
Origin	San Francisco, California, USA
Genres	A Cappella
Occupation(s)	singer, arranger, composer, director, producer, television producer, and teacher
Instruments	vocals,instrument mimicry
Years active	1991–present
Labels	Tommy Boy Warner Bros. Records, Hot Lips Records, Artelier, Atlantic Records, Sony Music Latin, Epic, Universal Records, Universal Classics
Associated acts	The House Jacks, Tufts Beelzebubs, Straight No Chaser, Nota, Committed, Street Corner Symphony
Website	http://www.totalvocal.com

Deke Sharon (born December 12, 1967) is an American singer, arranger, composer, director, producer and teacher of a cappella music, and is one of the leaders and promoters of the contemporary a cappella community and a pioneer of the contemporary a cappella style, referred to as "the father of contemporary a cappella" by some authors.

Deke Sharon was born and raised in San Francisco. He started singing in choirs at age five, including the San Francisco Boys Chorus, in which he toured America and performed with Pavarotti. He attended Town School and San Francisco University High School, where he sang in and directed a quartet all four years after singing lead in the barbershop quartet his freshman year in "The Music Man."

Sharon spent his college years in Boston, graduating cum laude from Tufts University and the New England Conservatory of Music where he studied with Ran Blake, Dominique Eade and Alan Fletcher (composer).

In college, he directed the collegiate a cappella group the Tufts Beelzebubs, transforming the group's sound to reflect modern rock, with intricate instrumental vocalizations including being the first to integrate vocal percussion. The 1990–1991 Beelzebubs album Foster Street that he directed musically, co-produced and largely arranged is credited with giving birth to the contemporary a cappella sound. In fact, he had to audition three times before the Bubs accepted him, as he was seen as "overzealous" during a time when being excited about a cappella was uncool, a fact which was mentioned in the book Pitch Perfect and was part of the inspiration for the character of Benji in the film Pitch Perfect.