Edgewater Singers: Beginnings
What became the Edgewater Singers began as an informal group of five single friends and acquaintances who enjoyed signing together and used their collective vocal cords to gain entry to parties. They were Paul Boyd, Terry Stevenson, Claire Conley, Mike Callahan, and Beth LoHais. They gave their first concert in 1979 in Paul Boyd’s apartment on Wayne. It was just for a group of friends. They gave additional performances and after each one, their numbers grew as others wanted to join the group. In 1983 when Paul Boyd was president of the Edgewater Community council the group was persuaded to sing at the ECC’s first “Midnight in the Marine Room” benefit. By this time, they called themselves the Starlight Singers. Later they changed their name to the Edgewater Singers since most of the singers in the group lived in Edgewater. It s not known who came up with the new name.
Some time in the mid 1980s, there was a general consensus that operating informally and by general agreement was not working well and that there needed to be an artistic director. Bill Chin agreed to take on that role; however, because he was over-committed, he had to soon withdraw. Diane Aitken agreed to take on the responsibility of artistic director and continued in that role until 2006, when she retired.
–as told to LeRoy Blommaert by Paul Boyd, March 2016