Much has changed over the last 60 years as people and places come and go, leaving some to wonder if anything stays the same.
Through all the years, the Oakland County area has relied on just one thing ? Bill Pascher will be singing in the Pontiac-Waterford Big Chief Chorus.
After celebrating 62 years of performing this past April, the chorus is glad to have 90-year-old Pascher of Clarkston on stage singing his heart out just as he has the last seven decades.
Pascher is the only remaining founder of the chorus which began with a small group of employees from the GMC Truck and Coach Engineering Building on South Boulevard in Pontiac.
‘We’d have a gathering at the lobby at the noon hour everyday and there was enough singers so that it gravitated to a harmony group and we sang any old songs we could think of,? said Pascher.
Granted a charter as the Pontiac chapter of the Society for the Preservation of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America (SPEBSQSA) on April 17, 1943, the group was known as the Merry Motormen.
Pascher credited a singer from the Oakland chapter with encouraging the men to organize after hearing about their lunch time performances.
Over the years, the chapter’s size varied from 15?120 members and the name changed in 1998 to the Pontiac-Waterford Big Chief Barbershop Chorus. Throughout that time, Pascher gained statewide recognition for his service and participation in the chorus.
In 1972, Pascher was accepted as a member of the ‘Sage Lake Roundup,? an exclusive club of 55 barbershop singers from around the country.
In 1974, Pascher was elected to SPEBSQSA Hall of Fame for the State of Michigan (pioneer district). The SPEBSQSA is now known as the Harmony Society of America.
Most recently, the Pontiac-Waterford chapter recognized Pascher as ‘Barbershopper of the Month? for May 2005.
Over the years, Pascher attended 53 international barbershop competitions as both a performer and audience member.
Pascher also dedicated time building sets and painting scenery for many of the Big Chief Chorus? annual performances.
Pascher continues to perform and attend weekly practices. Today, he believes barbershop music is in good shape in the area.
‘The Pontiac-Waterford chapter realized that we were being overlooked or ignored and given a low place in the order of things for young people to come out. That’s been overcome and to a great extent is coming around,? said Pascher. ‘It’s not just old men singing old songs. That used to be the perception. Our annual show this November will have a lot of doo-wop.?
Bill Pascher will be back on stage July 15 in Depot Park during the chorus? performance at Concerts in the Park.