Sweet Adelines International 75th Jubilee Commemorative Album

Sweet Adelines began an exciting new era by relocating to an impressive 14,000-square-foot, two-story building in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA in October 2003. Personalized, engraved bricks were sold for $50 USD each and placed on a landscaped walkway at the new location through the “Make Your Mark, One Brick at a Time Campaign.” Proceeds supported the Young Women In Harmony program. Rachel Sage, Sweet Adelines membership director, launched the “Add-A-Voice Campaign” in 2002. From May 2002 through April 2003, the program garnered 1,137 new members, sponsored by 1,050 existing members. In the same time period, our organization grew from 24,625 to 27,283 members, including associate and Chapter-at-Large. In 2003, the required number of members to charter and recharter was changed to 15 members (from 20 members) plus the director. Rhythm of the Rockies (Calgary, Alberta, Canada Region #26) chartered on April 16, 2002 in only eight months, a record speed at that time. Eleven years later, the chorus won first place in the 2013 Harmony Classic Division AA competition with the highest score in the competition’s history.

Why I Sing

In 2003, I was a young, stay-at-home mother needing something for myself. Over the course of a couple months, I kept seeing signs for the Upper Chesapeake Chorus: on street corners, in the newspaper, in the grocery store. You know the song, “Signs, signs, everywhere a sign”? At some point, it seemed like God was literally sending me a sign. I listened. I remember one of my earliest thoughts being, “I can’t wait until I have the courage to sing loud enough so that others can hear me.” I have far surpassed that goal, and so many others. Sweet Adelines has given me confidence, skills, community, opportunities, education, joy, friends, and love. —Cheryl Foley, Region #19, member since 2003

4’s Company Quartet sang It Had To Be You by request to Bob Dole, military veteran and former U.S. politician, during a “Salute to the Heroes: An Evening to Remember” in Lawrence, Kansas, USA during dedication ceremonies for the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics in 2003. The Kansas City Chorus also performed.

Demographics tell us we are an aging organization and logic tells us we need to replenish and build our membership. —Carole Kirkpatrick Persinger, International President, 2002-2004

1999 Celebrity City Chorus has only NASCAR racing car in U.S. named after a Sweet Adelines chorus.

1999 First Rising Star Quartet Contest held.

1999 San Jacinto Girl Scout Council and Houston Horizon Chorus teamed up to present the "Harmony Sampler Songfest."

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