The Gaynotes (2)

The Gaynotes is the Barbershop Harmony Society's 1958 International Quartet Champion. The quartet first got started in 1954 with Larry Stayer on tenor, Howard Rinkel on lead, John Loots on baritone, and Dick Galloway on bass. The quartet competed in the 1955 regional contest to attempt to qualify for the 1955 international and placed 5th but did not qualify. Soon after, Dick moved away and a young bass with a crew cut, Morris “Mo” Rector, joined them as the new bass. The quartet came in a strong second that year in the 1956 Southwestern District contest to the Lads Of Enchantment. The next May, they failed to qualify for international once again. By now, they had become a very popular show quartet. They had already traveled 75,000 miles and sang for over 250,000 people. They finally won the district championship in 1956. Unfortunately, Larry Stayer had already decided to retire from the active quartet traveling. They soon found Tulsa chapter member, Harold Jones, as Larry’s replacement. Harold had never sung in a quartet before and used his handheld tape recorder to learn all 13 of the Gaynotes songs and was ready for shows in only two weeks. They finally were able to qualify for international in 1957 and earned 3rd place bronze medals in Los Angeles, CA. At this contest, they used one of their most popular songs, “Bye Bye Blues.” The Gaynotes qualified for the 1958 international to be held in Columbus, Ohio and began preparing. They had coaching from Sweet Adeline champion, arranger, and coach, Nancy Bergman, as well as society field representative, Floyd Connett. The quartet decided to drive the 967 miles from Tulsa to Columbus. Along for the ride was young barbershopper, Brian Beck. The contest was held at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Columbus. The Gaynotes sang “Keep Your Sunnyside Up” and “Gee, I Wish I Had A Girl” in the quarter finals, “Last Night On The Back Porch” and “Can’t You Hear Me Callin’ Caroline” in the semi-finals, and “All American Girl” and “You Brought Ireland Right Over To Me” in the finals. They won it all that night. This was the first international contest that was filmed. They began traveling all over the country singing for several different chapters and shows. They only missed one of their 1,500 shows due to an illness. They released their first album in 1959, it was called, “Strictly Barbershop.” This album featured many of Mo’s arrangements such as “Oklahoma.” The album was re-released in the chord record series in 1963. After years over traveling, the Gaynotes decided it was time to release a second album. They had such a large repertoire and were unable to choose to they made two albums. The first was called, “Strictly Square.” It featured songs such as “I’m All That’s Left Of That Old Quartet.” A few of the songs on this album were stacked stretching the quartet to a mini chorus, this was a first for a barbershop album. The second album was called, “Strictly Swinging.” This album featured more modern arrangements with instrumental tracks. Both albums were released in 1967. The Gaynotes retired in December of 1966 when Mo and his family relocated to Texas. They came out of retirement for a show in 1975 which was their last full performance as the original four. They sang a few more times in the late-80’s with Dale Radford replacing Harold as tenor. The championship version of the quartet reunited for the last time on November 15, 1988 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their championship. Sadly, all of the members have since passed on. We lost John Loots on July 14, 1990 in an automobile accident at the age of 69. Mo Rector died in an automobile accident on December 6, 2003 at the age of 69. Dale Radford died on November 19, 2004 at the age of 74. Larry Stayer died on October 12, 2009 at the age of 79. Howard Rinkel died on January 27, 2012 at the age of 84. Harold Jones died on April 10, 2020 at the age of 94.