Unashamed Quartet
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Unashamed Quartet ministered in music form 1994 to 2004.
The Unashamed Quartet is one of Canada's favorite gospel quartets. But what makes them most unique is their youthful age. All four members are under twenty-four years of age, and love listening and singing gospel music. They have been ministering in music together now, for just over five years, and they definitely have long musical careers ahead of them. Unashamed Quartet - Black & White Shot The Unashamed Quartet started their beginnings at Temple Baptist Christian Academy in Cambridge, Ontario. At this Christian High School they would practice songs to sing at Temple Baptist Church for special music in their services. Soon, word of mouth spread and now the quartet is a group that is now ministering approximately seventy times a year. They travel regularly in Canada and sometimes venture in the US for a couple of dates. They have definitely found out that if you give the Lord your life, He will use you. It's not often that a new group arrives on the Canadian scene, and within the space of a year, "rocket" from virtually unknown, to CGMA Covenant Award winners; but that is precisely what happened to "Unashamed" from Cambridge, Ontario during the past few months. Thus it was a very surprised and delighted group of young men who humbly stepped to the stage to accept the award for, Best Traditional Gospel Group of the year at the 1996 Covenant Awards. While traditionally it seems the Covenant Awards have often gone to better known CGMA artists, this recent departure from the usual, proves that newcomers to the CGMA are well accepted by it's membership and that hard work and dedication to real music ministry are still recognized in this association, and ultimately do pay off. So you may be asking, where did these guys come from and how (and when) did they get started? Much like the Cathedral Quartet who originated as a "house" group within Akron, Ohio's Cathedral of Tomorrow, Unashamed are a product of the Temple Baptist Church in Cambridge, Ontario. The roots of their ministry began some 8 or 9 years ago when a couple, Mr & Mrs. Graham Jones, wanted to get young people in their church involved in singing together. A group was formed which included current Unashamed bass singer Ryan Brueckner. Membership in this group was so popular it had to be expanded to a double quartet, but then later disbanded when the Jones' took full time teaching positions at the Temple Baptist Christian Academy. Somewhere around 1991, and with the Jones' encouragement, former members of the double quartet formed two new groups. One of those groups included Ryan & his brother Eric along with Scott Watson and Aaron Morrell. The other was comprised of Tony Fisher, Jon Limmer Jon's sister Marilyn and Steven Connell.. After some time, these two groups eventually joined forces resulting in a new group that included Ryan, Tony, Jon and a new vocalist Matt Grieve along with accompanist Sara Vistretzan, who collectively adopted the name "Unashamed" based on Romans 1:16 "For I am not ashamed of the gospel". This configuration of 5 Temple Baptist Academy students had been together about 3 years, performing primarily in their own church (with the notable exception of a 3 week tour with their youth pastor in the maritimes) until shortly before they were introduced to the audience at our 1995 Convention in Burlington, Ontario. (In fact each of the Unashamed group members actually knew each other and attended Temple Baptist Christian Academy together, from Jr. kindergarten through high school!) When Jon Limmer announced his retirement from the group in February 1996, Unashamed were already planning the recording of their first album so it was truly an answer to prayer when the Lord supplied a replacement just a couple of weeks later in March '96, in the person of Mike Helwig. This new version of Unashamed (Mike, Tony, Ryan & Matt) first appeared in Tavistock Ontario in concert with CGMA artists, Decision and Joan Elliott. In June of 1996, Unashamed travelled to Westport, Ontario to record their first album at Summit Sound. This self titled debut album was subsequently released in both CD & cassette and completely sold-out almost immediately, requiring several re-orders of product within the first 6 months after it's release. Immediately following the release of their first album, the group made it's way the US National Quartet Convention in the state of Kentucky, where Unashamed placed in the top 8 of over 60 groups entered at the '96 NQC Talent Search. Their lead singer Matt also placed in the top 10 soloists competing in that division at the same event. With a brand new album and even international recognition from their US experience, Unashamed found it's itinerary filling quickly, but were still surprised to learn of their nomination by CGMA members for best Traditional Gospel Group of 1995-96. You can imagine their shock when at the 1997 Covenant Awards their name was called as winners of this prestigious award, and Matt also received a Covenant Award as Best Lead/Tenor. While relative newcomers to the CGMA, you can see that the present members of Unashamed have actually been singing much of their young lives. Ryan & Tony gained much of their musical experience in their church groups, while both Matt & Mike came from gospel singing families. Matt recalls some of his fondest childhood memories being driven to school by his dad singing along with Cathedral quartet tapes in the car, while Mike credits his dad (also a Cathedrals fan and a member of the Proclaimers) for his love of gospel quartet music. This past February (6 months after the release of their first album) Unashamed returned to Summit Sound to record their second album, "Unashamed - Plenty Of Time". This new project is already being received enthusiastically by Unashamed fans everywhere and showcases Unashamed truly coming of age. Both Unashamed albums are enjoying considerable "air-play" on Canadian Christian radio, and this group have also been guests on the 100 Huntley Street television programme on several occasions. As I had the opportunity to interview this group for Gospel Music News, they pointed out how thankful they are for the Lord's protection as they have been travelling more and more over the past couple of years. Currently all the members of Unashamed are single... but that is about to change, with the marriages of Matt to Sandra Bosman - Aug. 8th and Mike to Leslie MacGougan - Oct. 4th. Off the road, Mike works in a family flooring business with his dad, while Matt is a full-time employee of Red Lobster. Tony is also employed part-time by Red Lobster but is a full-time student at Heritage Baptist College & Theological Seminary, working toward a bachelor of Religious Education with a Minor in Music. Ryan is also a full time student at "Heritage" working on his Bachelor of Religious Education with a Christian School Education Major. The members of Unashamed unanimously list their Kentucky trip to the NQC, the recording of their 2 albums at Summit Sound and their CGMA Covenant Award as some of the most memorable events in their Christian music career to date. Looking to the future, group members are very interested in pursuing Christian music in as full-time capacity as is possible. Unashamed are four very young men pursuing a music style that some might consider more traditional than what one might expect from guys this age. While they term their music "Contemporary - Southern Gospel" their appeal is universal, since young people can identify with them due to their age and folks of all ages can appreciate their music, which is based on good old 4 part quartet harmony. As their album producer, I got a big "charge" out of listening to them record several quartet classics that I had learned more years ago than I care to admit... that they thought were brand new songs! In one case, they could hardly believe that a song from a recent "Singing Americans" album had originally been arranged and recorded by "Jake Hess and the Imperials" over 30 years ago. Most important to their music ministry, when you meet Unashamed, you can quickly sense a very deep commitment to Jesus Christ by each group member. Their concerts are not only professionally presented and well performed, but they are also very strongly focused on a solid message that points the listener to the need for a very personal relationship with Jesus Christ.. If you have not had the opportunity to hear Unashamed be sure to catch them in person or pick up one of their recordings as soon as you have the opportunity to do so. I'm sure you won't be disappointed. I believe CGMA is very fortunate to have such a variety of excellent member groups representing such a diversity of musical styles from traditional to contemporary and even extending to alternative Christian music styles.. Unashamed are truly a breathe of fresh-air on the Canadian Gospel Music scene, combining old and new and we should all be very proud that they are a part of our Canadian Gospel Music Association!
Canadian Gospel Music Association - 1998/99 Traditional Group of the Year - 1998/99 Favourite Male Vocalist of the Year - 1996/97 & 1997/98 Tradtional Group of the Year - 1997 Traditional Album of the Year National Quartet Convention - 2nd Place Finish at the 1997 Group Talent Competition
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