Johnson '01 nominated best college male singer

It's enough to make Garrett Johnson '01 want to sing.

The Contemporary A Capella Society — the only organization that evaluates college a capella music on a national level — recently chose to honor Johnson as one of four finalists for the Best Male Collegiate Soloist award.

Johnson got his start in a capella here at Princeton where he is a member of the all-male Tigertones. Music, however, has been a part of his life since childhood.

In addition to singing both in high school and at church, he has played the trumpet since he was seven and the piano since he was 12.

A music major at the University, Johnson said he wants to be a professional musician.

"I really plan to be a recording artist — primarily I want it to be in jazz," he said.

Though the Tigertones sing a variety of styles, he still professes that jazz is his first love and notes that his favorite trumpet player is Clifford Brown. "I could tell you his life story, but I don't think you want that," he joked.

"My father is also very musical," he explained. "I want to try and sing just like he did."

Johnson said he devotes a minimum of 10 hours a week to Tigertones rehearsals. He said additional hours are required for shows and recording sessions. He has arranged and composed songs and has served as the group's musical director.

"As the music director of the Tigertones for two years, he was the lifeblood of the group musically — in terms of his directing ability — and pretty much single-handedly elevated the quality of aspects of our performances in ways that I and most of the group had never realized we could improve upon," said friend and fellow Tigertone Alan Poussaint '01.

Johnson also serves as an RA in Rockefeller College. "His advisees love him," Poussaint said. "They are in his room to the point where they answer his phone."

Fellow Tigertone Matt Prowler '01 said Johnson "has an electric personality . . . people are drawn to him."

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Members of his group have nothing but the highest praise for Johnson, both musically and otherwise. "He literally is one of those guys that everybody knows and loves . . . really. I can honestly say that he is one of the five most charismatic people I have ever met," said Poussaint. "He's also the most musically talented individual I have ever met and I would say is or is close to being a musical genius."

Deke Sharon, a representative from CASA, explained the nomination process. "Candidates are chosen by a nominating committee that listens through every single track on seventy-five plus albums and then chooses the four that they feel are the most powerful technically and emotionally."

The nomination came as a shock, Johnson said. "I heard about it in an e-mail from a Tigertones alum," he said.

CASA heard Johnson on the Tigertones' newest album, "A Night Out," which had been sent in by current president Graeme Ramshaw '02.

"To put things in perspective, just within his own group he was up against 14 other guys . . . if you do the math, he's competing with over 1000 people total from his and other groups. That, in and of itself, speaks highly of his vocal ability," Sharon said.

"It's a great honor to be one of four finalists. I hope I win, but if I don't, it's enough to even get nominated," Garrett said. "I'm very happy that someone heard my voice and liked it."