About Pentatonix
Pentatonix are an American a cappella group from Arlington, Texas, consisting of vocalists Scott Hoying, Mitch Grassi, Kirstin Maldonado, Matt Sallee, and Kevin Olusola. Characterized by their pop-style arrangements with vocal harmonies, scat singing, riffing, vocal percussion, and beatboxing, they produce cover versions of modern pop works or Christmas songs, sometimes in the form of medleys, along with original material. Pentatonix was formed in 2011 and subsequently won the third season of NBC's The Sing-Off, receiving $200,000 and a recording contract with Sony Music. When Sony's Epic Records dropped the group after The Sing-Off, the group formed its YouTube channel, distributing its music through Madison Gate Records, a label owned by Sony Pictures.
Their debut EP PTX, Volume 1 was released in 2012, followed by their holiday release PTXmas the same year, with Pentatonix's third release, PTX, Vol. II, debuting at number 1 on Billboard's Independent Albums chart and number 10 on the Billboard 200 in 2013. In May 2014, Pentatonix signed with RCA Records. That same year, the group released their fourth EP, PTX, Vol. III, two full-length studio albums; PTX, Vols. 1 & 2, a compilation album released in Japan, Korea and Australia, and their second holiday release, That's Christmas to Me. That's Christmas to Me was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America , platinum on December 24, 2014, and double platinum on February 11, 2016, becoming the highest-charting holiday album by a group since 1962, and the fourth-best-selling album in the United States in 2014. The following year, Pentatonix released their eponymous album, their first consisting mostly of original material, which debuted atop the US Billboard 200 chart for the first time in their career, followed by a third Christmas album, A Pentatonix Christmas, in 2016, and a new EP, PTX, Vol. IV – Classics, the year after.
In September 2017, Avi Kaplan, the group’s original bass, left the group and was replaced by Sallee, who was included on their album Pentatonix Christmas Deluxe and featured on their next album PTX Presents: Top Pop, Vol. I. Sallee graduated from Berklee College of Music, where he had been a member of the a cappella group Pitch Slapped.
Pentatonix has won three Grammy Awards: they were the first a cappella act to win Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella, doing so in 2015 and 2016, and Best Country Duo/Group Performance in 2017. On February 21, 2023, the group received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Pentatonix began with Kirstin Maldonado , Mitch Grassi , and Scott Hoying , who grew up together and were schoolmates at Martin High School in Arlington, Texas. For a local radio show competition to meet the cast of Glee, they arranged and submitted a trio version of "Telephone," the hit song by Lady Gaga and featuring Beyoncé. Despite losing the competition, their singing sparked attention at their school, and they began performing. Their version of "Telephone" subsequently gained attention on YouTube.
Hoying and Maldonado both graduated from Martin High School in 2010, Grassi in 2011. Hoying went off to the University of Southern California to pursue a degree in popular music performance, while Maldonado pursued a degree in musical theatre at the University of Oklahoma. While at USC, Scott Hoying joined an a cappella group called SoCal VoCals. He found out about The Sing-Off from another member of the group, Ben Bram , and was encouraged to audition for the show. He persuaded Maldonado and Grassi to join him, but Bram suggested having a bass and beatboxer as well to support the group. Through a mutual friend, Hoying met Avi Kaplan, a highly recognized vocal bass in the a cappella community. Then, the trio found Kevin Olusola on YouTube through one of his videos which had gone viral. Olusola was shown simultaneously beatboxing and playing the cello. Olusola was born in Owensboro, Kentucky, and graduated pre-med from Yale University.
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