The Dapper Dans performing in Disneyland, California (October 2016)
The Dapper Dans are a barbershop quartet that performs at Disneyland in Anaheim, California (since 1959),[1] at the Magic Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort (since 1971), at Hong Kong Disneyland in Lantau Island, Hong Kong (from 2005 to 2008) and a quartet (from the UK) performed at Disneyland Paris from the grand opening in 1992 until 1995 and were known as The Main Street Quartet.
The Paris quartet, known as “Nickelodeon” before joining the park, comprised Martin Baker, Mark Grindall, Steve Green and Jim Mullen and later, John Ward, Stuart Owen and Paul Garrett. The quartet continued together after leaving Disney, winning a bronze medal from the British Association of Barbershop Singers and have performed at Disneyland Paris for the 25th and 30th anniversaries and in 2020 returned to Main Street USA in costume for a VVIP special event. The Main Street Quartet continue to perform in the UK and Europe. The original Bass, Mark Grindall, still works extensively in Barbershop as a successful vocal coach and choral director.
In the 1993 The Simpsons episode "Homer's Barbershop Quartet", The Be Sharps' singing voices were partly provided by the Dapper Dans. Before working on the episode, Jeff Martin had seen one of the quartet's performances and enjoyed it. When the episode's production began, he contacted the quartet, and they agreed to make a guest appearance in the episode. The Dapper Dans' singing was intermixed with the normal voice actors' voices, often with a regular voice actor singing the melody and The Dapper Dans providing backup.[2]
Members of the Dapper Dans have included the Barbershop Harmony Society international collegiate quartet gold medalists Aaron Stratton, Paul Hesson, Chad Bennett, and Eric Monson; film and TV actor-comedian Monty Jordan; prominent LA session singer Jim Campbell; and Grammy Award winning Audio Engineer[3] Tom Knox.[4]
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