Pioneer District Champions

Sharplifters

(l to r)  Coburn, Wickstrom, Seeman, Mudgett

Tenor: Bill Wickstrom     Lead:  Joe Coburn

Bari: John Seeman*           Bass: Mike Mudgett

 Formed in Jan of 1967. Entered the spring contest and went on to place 27th in L.A. While in L.A. had appearances on the Joey Bishop Show, ABC News Special and several TV sitcoms at Universal City.

Crowned District Champs in the Fall of 1967.

In 1968 we qualified for International and almost hit the Top Ten in Cincinnati placing 11th just 3 points out of 10th. We did not compete in 1969 due to the transfer of both Joe Coburn to Chicago and Mike Mudgett to St. Louis. Lowell Thomas replaced Mike at bass. The USO and International ask us to go to the far East for 21 days and we accepted. Joe wasn't leaving till fall and Lowell knew our songs so we took off in August and had a blast.

In 1970 we searched for a lead and found Bill Shannon. Learned a few songs and qualified for Atlantic City placing a sub par finish of 30th. In 1971 we replaced Bill with a newcomer to Barbershop, Clay Shumard. We did not qualify and had to wait until next year. In 1972, 1973, and 1974 we qualified and placed 22nd, 16th, and 32nd.

We sang our last show in the spring of 1975. Bill Wickstrom kept a log of all our activities over the 8 years and 4 months we were together: 184 Chapter Shows in 31 States, 521 paid commercial appearances, close to 1000 rehearsals and 1.2 million miles traveled. Oh I almost forgot, 10 different countries. The Sharplifters were best known for their showmanship and clever routines, and not too bad of a singnig group either. John Seemann and Bill Wickstrom were the only 2 original members to survive the 8 plus years.

Mike Mudgett and Bill Wickstrom passed to that chorus in the sky in 1995 and 1998 respectfully.

Joe Coburn went on to sing lead with Sound Tracks placing 5th at International. Clay Shumard to the Vagabonds placing as high as 2nd Place and later with The Ritz.

* Retrospecive contributed by John Seeman -  thanks John