User:Stewartgerard/The A.Y.U. Quartet

The AYU Quartet (aka: As Yet Untitled) is an A Cappella Quartet from Ypsilanti, Michigan. Since 1991, they have entertained a constantly growing fan base all over the world, mixing acappella music with high energy and comedy. Building from the Detroit, MI area and then moving to San Diego, California and later reaching Milwaukee, Wisconsin and parts of Canada and Mexico, A.Y.U. has never wanted to limit their touring to just one particular region. In fact, due to online music downloading sites, they now find themselves selling as many CD's and tracks in Argentina and China as they do in parts of this country where they regularly perform. Following the release of two studio albums in the 90's, A.Y.U. focused for many years on perfoming rather than on studio work, but in 2010 they released a new studio album to great success.

Formation
The group, Scott Hensel, Calvin Clark, Mike McCafferty, and Ryan Drummond were carpooling one day in 1991, and a Boyz II Men song came on the radio. They just started singing along to the song and out popped 4-part harmony! That very night, as they were singing for fun, a gentleman overheard them and asked if he could hire them to sing that song for his friend's retirement party. The guys accepted and their first live gig was born. The four soon got their next few gigs, singing "It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday" and several other songs that they came up with such as "Under The Boardwalk" and "The Lion Sleeps Tonight". Everywhere they sang, someone would approach them afterwards and say, "Hey, would you guys sing at....". AYU sang anywhere for any reason. Concerts, meetings, parties, weddings, funerals, street fairs, wineries, bakeries, dinner theaters, theme parks, cruise lines, baseball games, festivals, radio shows, etc etc etc. And the concerts started taking up more and more of their time.

S.C.R.A.M.
In 1994, they released their first full-length album on Skyhen Records entitled "S.C.R.A.M." (meaning Scott Calvin Ryan And Mike). This album, with 18 tracks, was a hit piece of merchandise at their live shows. In 1995, the snowball effect of the group had turned into an avalanche. The group was now working full-time doing Dinner Theatre and more live shows than they could count. The holiday season that year was especially busy. The second week of December 1995, the group did TWENTY FOUR GIGS in ONE WEEKEND. 9 performances on Friday, 8 on Saturday, and 7 on Sunday. It was then the group decided to move the business to the West Coast.

Atomic Young Ultrasonics
In 1996, the boys finished up studio work on their second album for Skyhen Records, "Atomic Young Ultrasonics" (playing off the fact that no one ever seemed to correctly decipher what the "A.Y.U." in "The A.Y.U. Quartet" stood for). This album would eventually out-sell "SCRAM" and become the quartet's best-seller. Also this year, the quartet moved it's offices to San Diego, California and began to perform all over Southern CA. As the years went on, the concert locations stretched from California to Wisconsin, to Michigan again, and then back to California. They had a strong following both in the Midwest and in California and their concert schedule reflected that. Then something odd happened: The group was starting to gain a following on the internet.

Acappella Yuletide Uproar
Through the magic of digital music sales and A.Y.U.'s astounding success on CDBaby.com, their fan base continued to grow and grow. Over time, they have sold their music in all 50 states of the U.S., and in 27 different countries across the globe...23 of which they've never been to as a group! Through the success of their first two albums in recent years, the group earned enough money to fund a weekend recording session in Los Angeles to finally lay down the Christmas album that they never got to make. "Acappella Yuletide Uproar" hit the airwaves in December 2010. It sold out two times online that December, and was still selling well into January of 2011.

Studio albums

 * ''S.C.R.A.M. - 1994 album by The A.Y.U. Quartet
 * ''Atomic Young Ultrasonics - 1996 album by The A.Y.U. Quartet
 * ''Acappella Yuletide Uproar - 2010 album by The A.Y.U. Quartet