Every Tuesday Night at 7:30…

One of our former directors, Sheila Edwards, would say in every concert “the wives of these men have known where they were every Tuesday night for the last 60 (now 90) years.”

That first Tuesday night was back in 1932 when The Chevrolet Glee Club of Detroit was founded by its first director Dave Redwood, a general foreman at the Chevrolet-Detroit Forge Plant.

Over the years, the Songsters have sung at numerous Soap Box Derbies, various World’s Fairs, Chevrolet new car introductions, many Michigan (Great Lakes) Male Chorus Association (MMCA) State Sings and Associated Male Choruses of America (AMCA) International Sings.

Interestingly, on Saturday, October 9, 1948, the first day that Channel 7, WXYZ-TV, began televising, the Chevrolet Glee Club performed the first program on that station prior to the telecasting of the World Series baseball game from Cleveland.

In the late 1970’s, during a recession, Chevrolet dropped their sponsorship. Rather than give Chevrolet free publicity, the membership voted to change our name. After an extensive search, we borrowed our name from a line in an old glee club song “The Whiffenpoof Song.”

We perform throughout the year at retirement communities, nursing homes, churches and other civic functions. Our director Peggy Bartz has retired and we are looking for a new director. We are accompanied by Matt Fillion who is in his second season with us.

Every year, the Songsters joins with other members of the Great Lakes Male Chorus Association in a “Big Sing” hosted each year by a different chorus. This concert features individual and mass numbers. Check our “Concert” page for dates.

art by Tatsuro Tokuo

Our Directors:

Dave Redwood            1932 – 1968

Pat Devlin                  1968 – 1976

Ron Prowse                1976 – 1977

Mimi Gass                  1977 – 1979

Sheila Edwards           1979 – 1993

Bill Edwards               1993 – 1994

Mark Morson               1995 – 1999

Bill Edwards               2000 – 2008

Donald Milton             2008

Peggy Bartz               2008 – 2013

Eugene Branstrom      2014

Dorothy Duensing       2015 – 2016

Peggy Barry Bartz       2017 – 2021

Our Accompanists:

Mel Ziedler                 1933 – 1988

Jean Eckert                 1988 – 1994

Eileen Hagopian          1995 – 1996

Gwen Toney               1996 – 2000

Tom Kreger                2000 – 2002

Eric French                 2002 – 2006

Dennis Penney           2006 – 2016

Hwa-Ling Russell        2016 – 2019

Matt Fillion 2020- Current