World's Greatest Lead
Back in the 40s there was a man named OC Cash who claimed, tongue-in-cheek, to be the World's Greatest Baritone.
Maybe you've heard of him - he sang with the Okie Four. Another member of the quartet was J. Frank Rice.
Cash gave him the title and took great pride in telling everyone J. Frank was 'The Sweetest Lead This Side of Heaven.'
We believe if OC had ever heard Robert 'Diz' Disney sing, he would have been similarly impressed.
Diz is a second-generation barbershopper and a celebrated singer. His Dad was Frank Disney,
a Baltimore policeman and a member of the Patapsco Valley Chapter of Catonsville, MD.
He was also the lead of The Windjammers, a comedy quartet who (ironic for Frank's occupation) dressed as Keystone Cops.
In 1957, Dad took his 10-year old son to his first Anne Arundel Sons of the Severn Chorus Chapter rehearsal.
He later moved to the Patapsco Valley chapter.
Their music director was the legendary Barbershop Harmony Society Hall of Famer Freddie King, later the bari of the Oriole Four,
1970 quartet champs, and gold medal director of the Dundalk, Maryland chapter's Chorus of the Chesapeake
(1971 International Chorus Champs).
Patapsco Valley was the first chorus he took to International. Freddie would become an influential mentor.
Diz was impressed with Freddie and barbershop but hadn't yet joined.
Even though he was hooked for life, Diz wasn't old enough to become an official member.
The Society rules prohibited kids from joining before they were 16. The chapter supported youth and made an exception.
They accepted him at 15.
He began singing in high school as a member of the Canto High School Chorus. He was also versatile in several instruments.
He played the guitar very early on and took up the bass fiddle, drums, and piano and performed in his high school's jazz band, The Swingsters.
Diz served as the Director of the Anne Arundel Sons of the Severn Chorus for 12 years. When he started, they only had 19 members.
In their first contest with Diz up front they won the Small Chorus Award. During his tenure they grew to nearly 95 men.
He also was the director of the Catonsville, Maryland Sweet Adelines for four years.
Bob has had a nice long career in barbershopping.
Each of his quartets was distinctive, entertaining, and popular, thanks in part to Diz's talents.
Diz's first chapter quartet was in 1963 at the age of 15. They called themselves The Unknown Four.
Diz laughingly admits, 'We should have stayed that way.' The quartet included Freddie's half-brother
Jay Pugh (Bs), Bruce Allender (Br), and Mike Hall (T)(Diz's cousin). None is still singing today except Diz.
They were all still in high school and it didn't last long but Diz got his first taste of singing close harmony with three other guys and he LIKED IT!
His next quartet was his first to compete. They were called The Stereophonics w/ Bill Norris (T), Ted Hicks (L), Jim Farrell (Bs),
and Diz on Bari. They were also short-lived.
His third foursome was more legitimate. They were also very good. They became a popular chapter quartet called
the Union Jacks. The members before Diz were Kurtis Brown (T), Forrest Williams (L), Barry Brown (Bs), and Tom Welzenbach (Br).
Tom was the brother of Bob, who sang lead with the soon-to-be 1970 International Quartet Champion, Oriole Four.
Before Diz joined them, the Union Jacks qualified to represent the MAD and went to St. Louis, Missouri for the 1969 International,
and came in a strong 15th place - with Tom as the Bari. This was as high as they ever finished at International.
After International, Diz replaced Tom on baritone. Over the summer Diz had to quickly learn their
complete repertoire including contest songs. Most would remember them for their version of Berlin's
When It's Night Time in Dixie Land.
That October, in his very FIRST appearance with them, they won the 1970 Mid-Atlantic District quartet championship.
In early 1977 the Baltimore and Ohio Connection was born.
Barry Brown from the Union Jacks was on bass, George Wagner sang tenor, Ted Tarr was the bari, and Diz took the lead part.
They decided to try something a little different. They created a recognizable personality for the quartet loosely associated to one of the oldest
railroads in the United States. Thanks to a suggestion of someone outside the quartet,
they created an image that included a custom outfit: a conductor's suit that included the traditional light
yellow shirt, blue tie, and a blue conductor's coat complete with hat and their own custom logo.
They had these outfits made special with some unique details.
They won the MAD Southern Division contest in the spring of (1977), then won the MAD contest in the Fall
(by most points ever) making them the 1978 District Quartet Champs.
A Singer/Arranger
Diz had started writing and arranging when he was 16. His first arrangement was Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep (Irving Berlin).
Diz recalls his first original song was done at 17 for the Stereophonics. It was called Baby, I Need Your Love.
He's written about 60 songs from scratch. Arranging four-part harmony came naturally for him.
A few years ago his arrangement of Brand New Day appeared in The Harmonizer. His Driving Me Crazy
now appears in the new Barberpole Cat Songbook Volume II sold by the Society.
It tied for the second-highest scoring song for OC Times when they won with it in 2008.
Many people are still singing his songs and arrangements.
To date, it's guesstimated that Diz has arranged over 200 songs.
The ARCADE Years
In 1982, Jim Grant (from the champion quartet Oriole Four) organized a new quartet and invited Diz to sing lead. It was called Arcade.
They began with Rick Taylor on bari, Jim Grant on bass, and George Wagner on tenor.
For this foursome, they all decided they just wanted to have 'fun'. Hence the name, which implied 'Fun and Amusement'.
In 1990 they couldn't go to International but they attended the MAD qualifying contest anyway.
The quartet believed in 'giving back' to the district. With the money they saved up Arcade hosted a PARTY.
The quartet paid for the room, the beverages, and the snacks. Cost of admission was NOTHING.
The standing room only 200 friends who showed up had a ball.
No quartet had ever done anything like this before. Arcade loved their fans and their District.
George sang in Arcade for three years and was replaced by Dave Hinman.
Arcade won the Mid-Atlantic District Quartet Championship, making them the 1992 Champs, and giving Diz his 3rd District medal!
As soon as they formed, they immediately became popular on the show circuit.
They gravitated toward songs being sung by other top groups of the time but also did some original Diz songs.
They 'borrowed' songs from The Suntones and The Easteraires - and did them well (as many couldn't).
They took advantage of Diz's strong, high, and effortless lead voice.
Arcade on Video
Thanks to Leo Larivee we found FOUR videos of Arcade made during their 1992 MAD Prelims
(great quality videos for the early 90s). Here you can see how smooth they are on
Mary's A Grand Old Name, My Gal Sal Medley, All Alone (a great tag), and a Diz original, Let's Start Over Again,
which includes some very creative references to several Barbershop icons; (Glenn) Van Tassell, (Tom) Felgen, (Terry) Clark,
(Dave) Mittelstadt, and even Jim Grant ('sang high').
Enjoy These Videos.
Mary is a Grand Old Name
My Gal Sal Medley
All Alone
Let's Start Over Again
ARCADE Reunion, 2011 Beer Blast
When Jim Grant died of a heart attack in 1992, Bill Cody replaced him.
Arcade was the 'most fun I've had in a quartet'. says Diz. They were together for 17 years (1982 -1999).
They did about 25 shows a year during their 17 years together. They broke up in 1998.
Diz organized Doc Holiday, his last quartet, in 1998. He picked his favorite tenor and bass
(Dave Hinman / Barry Brown), and future gold medalist Jack Pinto (Old School 2011) on bari.
They qualified for the 1998 International. They weren't ready and placed a disappointing 45th out of 49 quartets.
They were together for only about a year until Diz moved to Florida, where he still resides today,
married to his bride Melody Bohn Disney since 2008!
This is an exerpt from an article written by Grady Kerr,
in the August 2016 edition of 'PRESERVATION'.
Click to see the full edition.
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