Dan Kane

PRIME – December 2014 On 37 years of concerts, and what comes next By Debbie Gardner debbieg@thereminder.com To say that performing has been an integral part of Dan Kane’s life is an understatement. He was just 16 when his dad, Jim, volunteered the then-Cathedral High student as the new leader of 15 adult singers who had been performing under the direction of Kane’s teacher and mentor, Jackie Hague. The year was 1977, and over the next 37 years the Dan Kane Singers grew from that small group into today’s well-respected powerhouse of vocal talent. This December, that chapter of Kane’s musical career closes. Here’s what he told PRIME about the experience. Q: You announced in September that the Dec. 14 concert at HOur Lady of the Cross in Holyoke would be the Dan Kane Singers final Christmas concert. How do you wind down a performing group that is so popular, and so sought after? Yes, this will be the end of the stellar 150 member singing group, The Dan Kane Singers. After 37-plus years we have to say goodbye to our phenomenal audience with hearts filled with both happiness and sadness. All 1,000 tickets to the Dec. 14 concert sold out in a day. We were very honored by that. Our group has changed and evolved over the years as all large organizations must. But throughout those changes, our goal of donating funds to our community never faltered. We were somewhat cautious about some venues that we have typically played at and the dynamics that are changing in today’s society, not for the better. We have to keep our audiences in mind and this seems like a good time to bow out on a very “high note.” When you are dealing with enormous audiences and such logistics, there are so many things to consider. Dan Kane and Friends is a smaller sub-group of the bigger group with about 20 members, and it will continue a very rigorous performance schedule. Music is so important in all of our lives; I think many of us will pursue musical opportunities in varied and different forms and venues. Q: Looking back over the past 37 years, do you have a performance that was the most memorable? Yes, if I may, I have two events among hundreds that will surely stay with me for my entire life. At the top of the list would be the first time The Dan Kane Singers sold out The MassMutual Center for our annual Christmas Show. You would have to understand the magnitude, the nerves and the tremendous expenses that are involved in putting something like that together at that gigantic scale. Our reputation, music and pride were put on the line for everyone to see, for an undertaking such as this had never been attempted before with any local singing group. So with big, huge TV screens, high tech lighting and state-of-the-art sound, we brought a truly professional Christmas Show to the MassMutual Center like no others had done before. With the help of the Big Y Corporation, we had a tremendous sellout and did for three years in a row. Now that is an accomplishment. Our extremely talented vocalists shined like never before and proved to everyone that they were an original group like no other. The second unforgettable performance would be having the chance to play a private fundraiser for President Bill Clinton in Washington D.C. My thanks go out to Congressman Richard Neal, my former teacher at Cathedral High School, who brought my dad and me to Washington D.C. to perform at this very exclusive event. To have an opportunity to play for the President, regardless of anyone’s politics, was extraordinary. This, too, was near the time where President Clinton was embroiled in the history making Monika Lewinski scandal. It was a chance that comes rarely in anyone’s lifetime. Best of all, I got to share that with my dad who sang at the event with me. Q: Every performing group has the one concert or venue they would like to forget. Does the Dan Kane Singers have a concert you wish you could do over? You are right all performers have concerts we wish we could do over again or forget completely. The one disaster that will always stick out in my mind was at Cape Cod. This gorgeous church hired my entire group to perform one Sunday afternoon in celebration of their anniversary one summer several years ago. They paid for the concert, chartered three enormous buses and held a beautiful reception for us. When we arrived we learned that their fliers/posters listed the wrong date for the event. Needless to say, we played for the smallest crowd of our entire career and went home on the longest three-hour bus ride you could possibly imagine. We lovingly look back and laugh now, that is showbiz! The singers were troupers through all of it, thank goodness. Q: Again looking back, what do you hope The Dan Kane Singers have brought to their audiences over the years? We hope we have made our audiences happy. We love them and without them we would have nothing. That right there is worth everything! When a performer, or group of performers, builds a large “following,” magical doors open that could never open without that popularity. We hope our inspirational Christmas Concerts have touched many lives with the magic and beauty that Christmas and faith bring. Personally I hope that the public will acknowledge this all-volunteer group and recognize what they accomplished, and that no other group had done it before or ever will do it again. There are several “better,” “trained” and more professional groups out there but there are no groups with more natural talent and heart than the Dan Kane Singers. Perhaps too, the hundreds of thousands of dollars we donated to charity changed the lives of some people in our community. We all worked very hard to try to do that. Q: In an interview about your final Christmas concert, you mentioned you were looking for “new challenges.” Have you a plan for your own future after the Singers? My “real” job is, and has been, as a special education teacher in the City of Westfield for the past 32 years. That profession gives tremendous joys and new challenges unto itself. Through the years I have brought music into the lives of so many kiddos in my class that thought the rotten music of today was the only music out there. Musically, I will keep coaching young voices and stay active with my large singing camp during the summer. You should hear those kids sing! Imagine a day camp for two weeks just for children that love music and singing. That is heaven to me; I wish they had that when I was young! There are and have been several truly outstanding young voices that we have mentored. Many of those young singers have pursed music on a professional scale due to in part, opportunities that the Dan Kane Singers’ stage afforded them. More quality young singers have come from our music programs than any music institution around here. I will strive to continue that work. It is a thrill to guide exceptional bright young stars of tomorrow. If singers do not perform in public often, they do not succeed. You can not learn to drive a car by going up and down your driveway. A singer has to get out there with the audience in order to sharpen and hone their vocal talents, stage presence and repertoire. I offer a taste of real world performances not artificial ones. That is why many of our young singers have done so well. If my students find just half of the joy in music that I found, then my work is complete. My teachers gave me life-changing musical moments in my childhood that utterly transformed me. I am just paying back the debt owed, hopefully paying it in full.