Top of the Charts
Peter Hollens, BMus ’05 (music performance), has come a long way since forming a cappella group On the Rocks, having Ashton Kutcher and Joe Jonas tweet about their cover of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance,” and appearing on NBC reality singing show The Sing-Off.
For starters, there have been appearances at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, multiple viral videos, six studio albums, and performances with such artists as Boyz II Men and Kid Cudi.
And his latest achievement? A number-one album.
Last year, Hollens became the first a cappella artist to reach the top 10 of Billboard’s Emerging Artists chart, and his solo album, Legendary Folk Songs, topped both the Classical Albums and Classical Crossover Albums charts. All of that is in addition to a YouTube channel that boasts more than two million subscribers, where six different videos have topped the 10-million-view mark.
A far cry from the day he enrolled at the University of Oregon—long before the days of Glee, Pitch Perfect, and The Sing-Off—when he couldn’t find an a cappella group closer than Berkeley, California. He joined the few singing groups that were available on campus at the time, but none of them were “doing pop”—the music that Hollens wanted.
So, he created one that did.
Banding together with friends and other vocalists he felt were talented, he created what was, at the time, the University of Oregon’s only a cappella group. Their first gig was singing the national anthem at a UO basketball game, and practices were held either at the School of Music and Dance or UO president Dave Frohnmayer’s house.
Frohnmayer was a noted music lover, and came from a musical family—the UO’s MarAbel B. Frohnmayer Music Building is named for his mother—and, according to Hollens, Frohnmayer’s support helped the fledgling group survive. When they were low on funds, Frohnmayer would allow them to rehearse at his house and gave them money to go on a cappella trips, and his wife Lynn even cooked them dinner on many occasions, Hollens says.
Hollens credits his experience with On the Rocks with kick-starting his career. In addition, it was also where he met his wife, Evynne, one of the founders of the UO a cappella group Divisi, which was part of the inspiration for the book Pitch Perfect.
“She was the best singer and was by far the cutest,” he said of the time he first saw Evynne, singing in the EMU amphitheater. And, so, he walked up to her and said, “You’re in this group? Why are you in this group?” He laughed while recalling the memory, and admitted, “I have no game.” It got her attention, though, and in 2007 they were married on the UO campus.
“The University of Oregon is where I found myself,” said Hollens who, ten years after his graduation, was invited back to campus to serve as the UO's commencement speaker.
Hollens also teaches students how to market themselves in the digital world, using what he learned as a professional singer to help current students.
“Going to three months of rehearsal for one or two performances of an opera versus me being in On the Rocks and learning 30 songs in a student-led group that we created and performing in front of my peers week after week was just a completely different thing,” he said.
Hollens has been working with music school dean Sabrina Madison-Cannon to incorporate courses that will teach the macro ideas that go into being an entrepreneur, and actionable ways to create a digital brand, and he has already taught one class about entrepreneurship for musicians. Hollens has been approved to teach at other universities, but he wants to teach at the UO first because of his attachment to, and desire to give back to, his alma mater.
“It was everything that I needed,” Hollens said. “The experiences I had at the University of Oregon, the people, and the community was everything for me.”
- Kenzie Farrington, writing and web associate
- Photos by Jessy Herman