Since 1962, the world has been in awe of The Swingles’ innovating talent, bushing the boundaries of the capabilities of the human voice. In honor of National Coming Out Day 2020, five-time Grammy-award winning vocal group The Swingles are releasing a new music video of the classic “Hallelujah I Love Him So” by Ray Charles. This is the first time the group has openly changed pronouns, deliberately honoring and reflecting the sexual orientation of current members. The soloist, Jon Smith, is an openly gayman and has changed the pronouns to “him,” with the full support and encouragement from the group.
The group first sang this version of the song for a wedding of close friends and then publicly debuted the arrangement at Robbie Scott’s Jazz Club in 2019. In their August performance at the Live from London festival, Smith enhanced his soulful performance with flamboyance and the epic use of a rainbow fan, eliciting a flood of comments on the livestream consisting of combinations of “Yaaaasss” and rainbow emojis allover the screen. Even more powerful were the messages that followed. LGBTQ+ fans and supporters around the world posted pictures and sent messages regarding the event and how amazing it was to see the LGBTQ community represented on a global stage.
As always, The Swingles put on an amazing, authentic and historic performance. Enjoy!