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STADIUM SERENADERS: Jenkins,
McCutcheon, Jones, Lemon, Bergeron and Fonoti
sing for their teammates.
Linda A. Cicero |
the first year they sang
together in the locker room, their teammates would walk
past and giggle. Just a little.
The second year, “It was, ‘Whoa, that’s
pretty good,’” says running back and baritone
J.R. Lemon.
And this year, as they launched their third season?
“They’ve been asking, ‘Why didn’t
you all pick us to be in the group?’” says
defensive tackle and bass Julian Jenkins.
“Or, ‘Where are the tryouts?’”
wide receiver and tenor Marcus McCutcheon adds.
“Or they want to be background dancers,”
says running back and tenor Ray Jones, dropping his
jaw for effect. “They want to do choreography!”
“But we pretty much tell them, ‘You can’t
cut it.’” That’s middle linebacker
and baritone David Bergeron.
Yes, even the football team has an a cappella group.
And although their patter might be worthy of Comedy
Central, it’s their singing that has garnered
attention. All four songs. Their style is grown-up Boyz
II Men, with colorings of Stevie Wonder, Luther Vandross,
Shai, As Yet and the Stylistics. “It’s in
keeping with doo-wop traditions and pop,” says
Jenkins, ’06, an Atlanta native who says he loves
both classical and country.
The helmet-clad sextet—which collectively weighs
1,390 pounds—has an informal history. “Coach
[Buddy] Teevens thought it would be a fun way to get
some support on campus,” says McCutcheon, ’06.
“He asked at one of our meetings if there was
anybody who’d like to sing.” Bergeron takes
the hand-off and runs with it: “And we got together
on our own.”
They hadn’t come up with a name when they stepped
on stage for their first concert, at Orientation 2002.
“Amon Gordon [’04], who plays with the Cleveland
Browns, was our founding father,” says Bergeron,
a redshirt senior. “He grabbed the mike and said,
‘Sexual Chocolate.’” Which, in case
you were wondering, is a reference to a singing performance
in the 1988 Eddie Murphy flick Coming to America.
Sexual Chocolate sings at Orientation each fall, and
TBS aired a clip of them during the September 25 Stanford-USC
game. Cell phones started ringing as soon as the musical
huddle ended. “A lot of people in Hawaii saw it
and called,” says defensive end and baritone Taualai
Fonoti, ’06, who hails from Honolulu.
Growing up, the group members sang in church and school
choirs; Bergeron even performed at Carnegie Hall with
his high school show choir. Today, they practice in
the locker room after games and sing for their teammates
at water-park field trips and Sunday night barbeques.
“When the mood is right,” begins Jones,
’08, looking to Lemon, ’05, to finish the
sentence on cue: “we break out the pipes.” |
