Take 6
Take 6 (Claude McKnight, Mark Kibble, Joel Kibble, Dave Thomas, Alvin Chea and Khristian Dentley), heralded by Quincy Jones as the “baddest vocal cats on the planet!,” is the quintessential a cappella group and the model for vocal genius.
They are the preeminent and best a cappella group in the world.
With a new Gospel single coming out soon, You Deserve It, a new project entitled “Rhapsody”
coming in 2025, and 2024 Honors by Yamaha and NAMM, and recent SOLD OUT shows in
the U.S. and European 2024 Tours with good friend and collaborator Jacob Collier, the year
has brought great things for Take 6!
With their outstanding appearance on CBS’s Homeward Bound: A Grammy Salute to the Songs of Paul Simon (set for release soon), Take 6 thrilled the TV audience with their stunning rendition of Homeless! A few months later, the phenomenal group did it again – this time with friend Michael McDonald and Don’t Worry Baby on A Grammy Salute to The Beach Boys!
In November 2023, the iconic group announced their partnership with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital’s Music Gives program to raise funds to fight childhood cancer and more.
2025 will bring another recording and brand new show by this legendary group where the art of the song will meet the art of harmony as the group takes on songs first associated with jazz that transcended the genre – Rhapsody In Blue, Mood Indigo, Giant Steps, Blue Skies, and more!
With 10 Grammy Awards, 10 Dove Awards, a Soul Train Award, and they as Members of the Gospel Music Hall of Fame, this musical phenomenon has six virtuosic voices united in crystal clear harmony, against a backdrop of syncopated rhythms, innovative arrangements, and funky grooves that bubble into an intoxicating brew of gospel, jazz, R&B, and pop.
With praise from such luminaries as Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Brian Wilson, Ella Fitzgerald and Whitney Houston, the multi-platinum selling sextet has toured across the globe, collaborated across genres, and is recognized as the pre-eminent a cappella group in the world.
With their most recent recording ICONIC, TAKE 6 emerged on seven (7) Billboard Charts simultaneously, had a chart-topping song on SiriusXM (their version of the Christopher Cross song Sailing) and have seen their music played all over the world! In April 2022, the legendary group took to Capitol Hill for Grammys On The Hill to advocate for musicians rights and work.
From televised vocal to the mania over singing driven comedy-dramas like Glee and Smash, Take 6 is the original torchbearer. Major public and corporate events remind everyone of this as Take 6 has triumphed among a gathering of stars including Celine Dion, Lionel Richie, Justin Timberlake, Stevie Nicks, and Ne-Yo at Walmart’s 50th Anniversary celebration; a SOLD-OUT audience and Standing Ovation at the Songwriters Hall of Fame Awards where Take 6 captivated the audience with their rendition, performing with and honoring legendary singer-songwriter Ben E. King, on his classic “Stand By Me.” As a group that knows no musical bounds, they then brought the house down with their tribute to folk icon Woody Guthrie with “This Land Is Your Land.”
Take 6 has come a long way from their days at Huntsville, Alabama’s Oakwood College where McKnight formed the group as The Gentleman’s Estate Quartet in 1980. The group eventually became known as Alliance but when they signed to Reprise Records in 1987 they found that there was another group with the same name, so they became Take 6. Their self-titled debut CD won over jazz and pop critics and they’ve never slowed down.
What makes the music and the group last this long? The answers are direct and simple: faith, friendship, respect, and love of music. From their exceptional Christmas Show, to their innovative Symphony show, these qualities are at the heart of the Take 6 phenomenon.
