TONY POOLE (Bass)
Tony has had a sparkling career as a professional singer and actor. He claims his first paid job was aged four, singing to the Mayor of Northampton, but his name first went up in lights as part of the Melo-macs, a doo-wah style quartet which toured UK variety halls. He subsequently appeared in West End musicals, at the London Palladium and in pantomime. He also featured in films, and auditioned for the part of James Bond, losing out to Roger Moore. Even so, it is Tony’s profile which appears on the cover of some of the early James Bond books. He also had a successful modelling career, appearing in various TV commercials, notably as the “St Bruno man” (pipe tobacco), and for PAL dog food (!!). He is married to former actress Liz Valentine, who will be remembered by many as Rita Spears in Coronation Street.

SEBASTIAN ROMERO (Tenor)
Club Vice Chairman
Although still only 23, Sebastian has been singing barbershop for some seven years. Initially this was at high school in Berlin, Germany, where he was brought up, but he subsequently sang with the Harmonaholics in Newcastle, UK, before joining Capital Chorus in September 2008. He has also sung classical music, both in his school choir and chamber choir and with the Felling Male Voice Choir in Newcastle. Sebastian is now taking a two-year BA course in Technical Theatre at the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in north London, and hopes to make a career in lighting and/or set design. Aside from singing, Sebastian plays the guitar, French horn, and a variety of recorders and native flutes. 

JOHN BEESLEY(Bass/Tenor/Lead)
Club PR Officer
John has always enjoyed performing. As a teenager he sang at weekends in a pub where his mum played piano and his dad worked behind the bar. Over the past 30 years he’s been in a number of choirs, but knew little about barbershop until a family friend suggested he give it a try and emailed a link to the Capital Chorus website. “I went along with a certain amount of apprehension” says John, “but everyone was so welcoming and encouraging that I was soon joining in and afterwards was invited along to the pub”. John, who works as a radio producer, says that he’s been learning the repertoire by singing along to his MP3 player while riding his bike. “It’s a great way of learning” he says, “but I think I’m rapidly becoming known as the neighbourhood eccentric!”

EROL-ANTONY McKENZIE (Bass)
Erol says that no-one will be surprised to hear that he comes from the Black Country: Walsall in the West Midlands to be precise. Although he sang in the school choir, he only discovered barbershop thanks to a pal at work who already sang with Capital Chorus and who invited him to hear a sing-out. According to Erol, the chorus were so good that they made him cry – and he’s been bringing tears to our eyes ever since. At his first sing-out - at a party given by the American Ambassador – everyone turned up in full uniform, including white shirts, except Erol, who wore the same but with a bright yellow shirt. Formerly in RAF Air Traffic Control, Erol is now a security trainer, covering firearms, explosives, the use of X-rays and all other security matters: he reckons that most suspects confess almost immediately when threatened with his version of MaryLou. Away from work and singing, Erol says he is a real family man: proud of his lovely 12-year old daughter and of his partner Shelley.

RAY BAXTER (Lead)
Music is in Ray’s blood. His grandfather and father were both drummers, and one grandmother was a professional pianist (though Ray adds that this was in Woolworths, where her job was to boost sheet music sales!). Ray himself has been playing the drums in rock groups since he was 17, at one stage featuring in three groups simultaneously and playing gigs six nights a week. He subsequently moved on to jazz-rock, with his group playing on the Old Grey Whistle Test and Radio 1’s Jazz Club. Although he still plays in a rock group, Ray works as a “piano tuner to the stars” to pay the bills. He has tuned for many major artists, including Paul McCartney, and his current clients include many West End theatres, the Abbey Road and Pinewood studios and Harrods.  

ROB NATHAN (Bass)
Rob’s aspirations to fame have found an outlet in such venerable institutions as The Putney Players, where he appeared as the lead Butterfly in “The Plotters of Cabbage Patch Corner” a musical play for children. He has also sung the part of the Baker and Reuben in “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”. In a more classical vein he has joined hundreds of others basses at the Royal Albert Hall’s Scratch Choral Concerts, including Handel’s Messiah and Mozart’s Requiem. Rob was trained as an Occupational Psychologist. He loves his work, which involves helping people with career decisions, and training others to do likewise. His other hobbies include creative writing and long distance cycling. During 2009 he celebrated his 60^th by cycling from Land’s End to John O’Groats, raising a large sum for two charities.

GREG NIXON (Lead/Tenor)
Early in his career Greg was a singing actor, touring schools in educational musical theatre. However, he also confesses to appearing on stage naked in one role and wearing a nappy in another! Little wonder that appearing on the risers doesn’t seem to faze him. After a brief spell with Harmony Revival in his native Stockport, Greg “followed his heart” to London in 2007, and now works as a technician in TV post-production. His hobbies include ultimate frisbee, he loves discos and remains a loyal Manchester City supporter (well, nobody’s perfect). Describing how he came to join Capital Chorus in May 2008, Greg says: “I just turned up at rehearsals one evening. I remember being really impressed by the singing…and then even more impressed at how friendly everyone was. A group of the guys took me with them to the pub after practice had finished and made me feel very welcome. I think barbershoppers are really one big brotherhood.”

AIDAN BRAND (Tenor)
Musical Director
As the son of a vicar, it’s not surprising that Aidan was singing in the church choir from an early age, initially in Guyana where he grew up and then in London. He says he’d always wanted to sing barbershop, and his wish finally came true in 1983 when he helped found Capital Chorus. He left the club to join Thames Valley Chorus (TVC) in 1988 after moving away from London, and subsequently became tenor section leader at TVC and part of their music team. Aidan has also been active in quartets: in the 1990s he was part of Bagatelle, and more recently competed with Figaro, reaching convention finals on three occasions. He rejoined Capital Chorus in 2006 and was made Musical Director in 2008. Since re-joining, the club has won the Small Chorus Award and the Most Improved Chorus Award and Aidan is hoping this is a sign of better things to come at Capital as it continues to work hard at raising its game.

MIKE COOK (Baritone)
Club Treasurer
Mike claims he sang solos at Sunday School concerts, but it took more than 40 years before he plucked up courage to try singing in public again. Even then, he only turned up at rehearsals as a result of prodding from wife Jill, who thought (misguidedly!) that it might keep him out of mischief. In the intervening years Mike travelled the world as an economist in the metals industry, achieving, he says, an unparalleled record of incorrect forecasts spread over some 25 years. His main hobby has always been playing and watching sports: cricket, football and especially tennis. He still plays tennis for his club 3^rd team: despite a combined age of 125, Mike says he and his partner regularly see off young whippersnappers in their 20s and 30s. He’s also done some amateur dramatics, and reckons his main claim to fame is playing the part of a Nigerian schoolmaster in a play on Radio Zambia (don’t ask, it’s a long story….).   

PAUL DE RIDDER (Bass)
Club Chairman
Although music has always played an important part in Paul’s life, it was not until 2002 that he was introduced to barbershop harmony singing. Back in the late 50’s and early 60’s he had a rock group in Holland named “The Silhouettes”. The band released two 45rpm records – all Paul’s own compositions – one of which (called “SHINE”) reached number one in the hit parade on Radio Veronica. Originally from the Netherlands, Paul has lived in five different countries over the years but settled in the UK in 1992. During his working life he travelled around the globe as export sales manager for a number of companies, yet always managed to find time to pursue his musical interests. He plays the guitar and has sung in a number of church choirs, both in New York and London. Chairman of Capital Chorus since 2004.

DAVE LEWIS (Lead)
Club Sing-out Secretary
Dave is proud to be one of the “more mature” members of the chorus. He’d sung in amateur shows and musicals for years, before joining Capital in 2000 as a result of a newspaper ad. Even then, he says, it took a lot of persuasion from his wife. But he’s never looked back, and as well as being the club’s sing-out secretary he also sings lead in “Just Four”, one of the Chorus’s quartets. Before retiring, Dave was a mechanical engineer in the motor industry, so he says he always had plenty of “friends” who wanted him to help them out. Today he reckons his friends are not quite so keen to use his services as he works part time as an undertaker! Away from singing, Dave was a Boys’ Brigade Captain for 19 years, specialising in drill. He was also a Battalion drill convenor and London District drill judge.