The Dealer's Choice

In 1973 the Dealers Choice Quartet won the International Quartet Championship and surprised everybody as only the sixth quartet to win the gold medal on their very first attempt.

This overnight success took less time than most, only about two years, to achieve. The Dallas Big D Chapter quartet first formed in July of 1971 with Al Kvanli (of the Roustabouts) - tenor, former Texas Boys Choir member whose dad sang with the Fort Worth chapter, Gary Parker - bass, Louie Mulligan singing lead (later of the Main Attraction) and Bill Thornton (from the Playbills) singing bari. The DC (as they came to be known as) had some unique voices to blend together so the road was a bit rough learning to balance chords.

In late 1971 while singing in the back of a bus returning from a singout, they woodshed a few songs with Brian Beck(of the Doo Dads). The sound really clicked and so some changes were made. Bill moved to lead and Brian was asked to sing bari. Thankfully no hard feelings were held by Louie who became one of their biggest fans. They also transferred to the new Dallas Metro chapter. In March they placed a respectable fifth at pre-lims in Arlington.

After being coached by the likes of Harlan Wilson, Mac Huff, Don Clause,and others they were a "new" quartet. So, now with confidence renewed the quartet was excited and anxious to tryout their new sound for the judges at the 1972 Lubbock Region 5 pre-lims. They won by a huge 150 point margin and felt confident that this was the start of something big.

So confident was the DC that for the ninety days before the international contest they rehearsed EVERYDAY, sometime as long as four hours. By the time the Portland contest came around they were ready. After the first round they led by 19 points and after the second set they lead by 61 points and by the end of the contest the DC lead everybody by 104 points. The announcement of the Dealer's Choice winning the championship was quite a thrill and a shock. Unlike other winning quartets, the DC did not do a lot of shows immediately after winning the championship. They were virtually unknown and it took a few years for their popularity to grow. By 1975 they were doing about 30 shows a year out of town. One performance that stands out is one in December of 1973 in Boston with the Boston Common who were, reportedly crazy.

Over the years the DC produced several albums such as the release of "Dealer's Choice In Concert which was released by the Ontarion District as a live recording of their 1974 District fund raiser, Songs Like Daddy Used to Play in 1975,Choice II which contained their famous 18 minute "Riverboat Medley", The Last Session which was released only on cassette tape. At this point Greg Lyne had replaced Brian who had moved to California. Their last recording was released after a reunion of the DC in 1988 with Greg Clancy singing Tenor. The album entitled Like The First Time (1989) included many favorites of the past and a few like Mr. Piano Man, Hello Mary Lou, and their popular Beach Boys Medley.

Check out our special limited-time offer on recordings from the DEALER'S CHOICE!
The Anthology collection contains every song recorded by our 1973 International
Quartet Champions, including never released bonus cuts available in CD format only.

Select CD for complete track list.