SIX MAN
CONTEMPORARY
A CAPPELLA

MUSIC THAT'S
AWESOME
 

 

About our Six-man A Cappella Group

Mike Willson

Mike W. rounds out the Voice Male sound with his rich, carpet-like bass sound. He has also been known to throw out some subtly funny banter on stage. Mike, his wife, and 4 children live in Idaho Falls Idaho. Mike graduated with a degree in Computer Science and currently works for the advanced team at Juniper Networks doing networky stuff that no one in the group but Mike understands. Mike has a musical background blowing horns (trumpet) all through High School and College. Most notably and unrelated, he has played a game of one-on-one basketball with Shawn Bradley. He did not win.

John Luthy

John provides the group's vocal percussion and sometimes sings bass. He is the bringer of normalcy when it comes to keeping the rest of the unbridled on-stage group in check. As the founding member of Voice Male, he has often taken on similar leadership roles. John graduated from the Law School at BYU and is teaching at the University of South Carolina. John, his wife, and their two children live in Camden, South Carolina. John cannot claim to have had any background in percussing with his mouth. That's not something you learn. It's a gift. His wife echoes that point as he percusses sweet nothings in her ear.

Rick Murdock

Our newest member, Rick Murdock, brings a lot to the group, including his first name (Richard) which completes the set. For his day job, Rick leads the training organization at The Utah Department of Transportation and teaches as adjunct faculty at BYU and UVU. Rick lives in the Salt Lake Valley with his wife Liz and (nearly) five children. He graduated with degrees in music (BA) and public administration (MPA) from BYU. His musical background includes sneezing at the worst possible time while performing in a choral concert.

John Huff

John has a remarkably versatile voice that provides much of the bonus material in shows. He has a marginal ability to mimic things like animals and accents and animals with accents. He also sings barely tenor (meaning he's a baritone who usually sings tenor--barely). He and his wife live in quiet Honeyville, Utah, along with their 4 children, 3-8 goats, 12 chickens, 4 rabbits, 2 cats, and a wheat field. This just provides more inspiration to John in expanding his animal-sound repertoire. John received an MBA from BYU and currently works as a Product Manager helping to get new family history software invented. John's musical background includes playing the cello in 4th/5th grade, a year or so of piano lessons, a couple years in a drum and bugle corps, and lots of trumpet playing. He's a Virgo.

Richard McAllister

Richard spends his time singing in the rafters. He sings the high tenor part and supplies audiences with a surprisingly endearing sense of humor. Richard, his wife Jenny, and their 4 children live in Lehi, Utah, where Richard is a commercial real estate agent. He is also key in making sure the business of Voice Male is running smoothly. Richard has a musical background in singing to his sheep on the ranch. He has since forgotten the lyrics. Where's Richard? Right where he should be.

Mike Bearden

Mike has a beautiful wife and five children. He lives in South Jordan, Utah. Mike graduated with an MBA and currently works for American Express Travel in Marketing. He began singing in Choirs in the 7th grade where he learned to sing very high. Later on he achieved the highly coveted role of President of the High School Madrigals until he was impeached. He sings primarily tenor, but can be found making other percussive and animal noises to help enrich listeners' experience. He has also taken on the role of writing, arranging, and producing much of what Voice Male records.

 


 

The Backstory

Voice Male is comprised of 6 unique individuals who somehow found each other over 18 years ago. John Luthy came up with the Voice Male concept while singing with some of the guys in the Logan LDS Institute Choir. Initially it took nine of them to cover all the parts, but a couple of years later they decided they no longer needed the nose flute player, the cowbell ringer, and the guy who claps, so they trimmed themselves down to just 6. Actually, some members had to move on and be grown-ups, so they decided to give it a go with just 6. Over the years, they have had some pretty cool opportunities to sing in exotic locations (San Pete County) and for some pretty great people (their moms). Considering this is not their day job, they are lucky to pull together and accomplish anything at this point. They all graduated into careers ranging from Computer Networking (Nerd) to Real Estate to Law. When they are not working or singing, they are enjoying time with their supportive wives and children. The latest tally: 23 children who like to call each other Voice Male Cousins. As families grow, hair thins, and hips break, they hope to keep chuggin' along. As long as you'll keep listening, they'll keep singing.

 


 


 

Phil the Brave

 

On Thursday, February 11, 2010 Phillip Andrew Kesler passed peacefully from this life into the next. His wife, Heidi, and daughter, Eden were home with him at the time of his passing. He had fought metastatic colorectal cancer for the past three years. During that time, he continued to serve his church and to teach graphic design at Jacksonville State University. He held degrees (BA, MFA) in art from Utah State University and has been an Assistant Professor at JSU since fall 2005. He loved design, typography, and especially his students and colleagues.

Phil was also a member of Voice Male, an award-winning contemporary a cappella group based in Utah. He loved music (both vocal and piano) and poetry.

Phil was born in Midvale, UT on July 23, 1968. He served a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Taiwan. In addition to his wife and daughter, Phil is survived by his parents Claudia and Orson Kesler of Alpine, UT; and brothers: Matt (Tauna) of Liberty, MO; Dan of Taylorsville, UT; Ken of Thousand Oaks, CA; Aaron of Alpine, UT; and Steve (Morgann) of Salt Lake City, UT.

 


Tribute to Phil Slideshow

 

Visit Phil's Memorium Blog

Faith - A Poem By Phil Kesler

 

Below is the slideshow of Phil singing "I'll Be Home For Christmas" in 2009 that we played during our 2010 Christmas performances to honor him for the example and legacy he left us with. Now that the season has closed, we wanted to share it online with any of you who wanted to watch it again, or see if for the first time. Enjoy!