Gene Cokeroft

Barbershop tenor vocalist, choral director, vocal coach, and musical arranger. Born on August 28, 1935 in Birmingham, AL and started singing at a very young age. He moved to Miami, FL in 1941 at age 6 soon met his lifelong friend and quartet brother, Bob Franklin. He was introduced to barbershop in the early 1950’s and sang in his first major quartet, the Memory Four, when he was in college placing 6th place with them in the SPEBSQSA international contest in 1956. In 1957, he began a new quartet that would go on to become notably the greatest barbershop quartet of all time, the Suntones. Gene was the tenor of the Suntones and they won the 1961 SPEBSQSA International Championship. Gene continued performing with them actively until 1993 and did a second show run with them again from 1999 to 2012. During his time with the Suntones, he performed regularly on the Jackie Gleason Show for 4 1/2 years and made an appearance on the Mike Douglas Show. He sang several solos as the tenor of the Suntones but his most notable one was his solo in “Danny Boy.” Aside from the Suntones, he sang in other quartets such as the “Numb Notes”. He did the majority of the Suntones’ musical arrangements and went on to arrange music for several other top quartets. He directed the Miamians Chorus to an international championship in the early 60’s and he actively directed them for over 40 years. Gene married Iris Cokeroft in 1971 and they began writing music together. Gene coached several quartets, choruses, and barbershoppers in general and was a mentor to many young men in harmony. One of the most notable quartets he coached was the 2019 SPEBSQSA International Champions, Signature. Outside of barbershop, he worked for the Orange Bowl Committee which had Gene and the Suntones in their parades. Gene was inducted into the Barbershop Harmony Society’s Hall Of Fame as a member of the Suntones in 2005 and on his own in 2009. Gene passed away on July 23, 2015 at the age of 79 after a battle with cancer. A year and a half after his passing, the Miamians put on a special tribute show in his honor featuring the Suntones and several other quartets he mentored.