Voices Of The South welcomed Ken Hatton as Music Director in January 2013. Ken brings a wealth of musical talent and experience, and the chorus is excited to be singing under his direction.

Ken joined the Louisville #1 KY chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society in 1971, and earned four gold medals with the Thoroughbred Chorus in International Chorus Contests. He first served as an Associate Director under mentor, Jim Miller, from 1975 until 1985, and held the position of Music Director from 1993 until 1996 and again from 1998 until 2000, leading the chorus to two sixth place finishes and one fifth place medal.

His quartet, Bluegrass Student Union (www.harmonize.com/bsu), won the 1974 Cardinal District Championship, and earned the coveted gold medals in the 1978 International Quartet Competition. They performed in 47 states with Ken as lead singer before retiring in 2006. Ken earned a second Cardinal District Championship in 2000 and status as an International Semi-Finalist lead in 2001 and 2003 with two other quartets, “The Sensations” and “Exchange.”

Ken served on occasion as Guest Clinician for the Society’s Harmony Explosion camps for high school singers from coast-to-coast, and helped revitalize the Cardinal District’s program in 2007. From 2001 to 2003, he served as Faculty Leader and Music Director of the Barbershop Chorus of America during 4 tours of mainland China, and in 2005, Ken was invited to coach ten barbershop ensembles in New Zealand and Australia.

Beginning in 2003, Ken pursued an interest outside of the barbershop culture, resulting in 3 solo recordings and performance tours around the world aboard the Queen Elizabeth II ocean liner as a band singer. Ken starred as “Harold Hill” in the Hardin County Performing Arts Center’s Pro-Am production of Meredith Willson’s “The Music Man in 2008. He performed regularly with the Kenny Ray Dance Band (www.kennyraysinger.50webs.com) and the Don Krekel Orchestra for several years, and organized and conducted the Thoroughbred Youth Chorus in 2011. Ken relocated to Birmingham, Alabama in early 2013, where he writes a cappella and band arrangements, and serves as Music Director of “Voices of the South,” the male chorus representing the Central Alabama Chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society.