All the King’s Men conquer the world

King’s College London’s all-male a cappella group was established by Freshers during their first week of term after seeing a gap in the list of societies. The success of the group started in earnest at the end of that year with their first tour to Edinburgh. In February 2011 the Men embarked on their first USA tour.

This year’s success began with winning the London regional round of the Voice Festival UK and a week later the group jetted off to California for a west coast tour visiting L.A, San Diego, San Francisco and Stanford. On their return the group then competed in the final of the VF-UK where they were crowned Voice Festival UK Champions 2012, the first non-Oxbridge group to receive the accolade.

Winning such a coveted title meant the Men could go for even greater success. With a week until the exam season began All the King’s Men flew to New York with an invitation to compete in the International Championships of Collegiate A cappella (ICCA) finals. Up against the six best groups from around the US, 350 other candidates entered this competition. All the King’s Men were the best group to represent Great Britain, Europe and KCL at the Olympics of the a cappella world. In front of an audience of 1500, in a venue where Whitney Houston had performed, All the King’s Men did what they do best and were awarded third place, making them the best all-male collegiate a cappella group in the world.

The summer months were therefore a busy period for this now international multi-award winning group and the next tour of the year took the Men to Scotland. Here at the Fringe Festival work has to be put in to selling the show to the discerning public on the Royal Mile. At the end of the busy week the Men had attracted sell out crowds and they were awarded the Edinburgh Fringe Festival wreath for their show, “It’s Reigning Men”.

A week spent with family and friends was soon interrupted with more rehearsals in London before flying out to South-East Asia to become the first British collegiate a cappella to tour in this continent. First landing in Singapore the group visited schools to take conduct workshops and perform as well as answering questions about KCL. The group also performed at the National University of Singapore, one of King’s global partners, where all students were treated to free beer and a pyrotechnic display on the stage. The next stop on the Asia trip was Hong Kong where our tour of Asia was taken to the next level. With the generous support of our sponsor, Fringebacker, we visited countless schools and universities, including performing to over 1,000 students at Chinese University. On one day an open top tour bus was provided to help us with trying to sell our first self-promoted gig in Asia at the prestigious Fringe Club, which finished up as a total success.

We are extremely grateful to everyone who has helped over the past year: our Founder and Musical Director Henry Southern; various Departments of King’s College London; the eclectic mix of societies we have sung with; our patrons Paul Phoenix and Michelle Carlin and of course every single student who has come and supported us over the past year.

All the King’s Men will be performing at the Greenwood Theatre on 26th October at 7pm. Tickets are available at www.kclsutickets.com. Students £5/Adults £10.

If you are interested in All the King’s Men performing at your event please do get in contact with our Manager, Cameron Carr at: [email protected]