Midnight Ramblers - History

History

The Midnight Ramblers were founded in 1998 by Jon Huang, then a sophomore at the University of Rochester. Jon, an experienced a cappella singer who was eager to start his own musical group, dreamed of a group where academic and musical excellence would be equally encouraged, unlike many of the other extra-curricular musical ensembles on campus at the time. He also envisioned a group that would enhance school pride through active participation in official college events and continual involvement in the campus community. Lastly, Jon wanted to provide a unique opportunity for a new pool of talent, focusing on crowd-pleasing pop and rock styles instead of the classic a cappella repertoire. Inspired by the Rolling Stones title, Jon christened his creation “The Midnight Ramblers.”

The nascent ensemble gave its first performance on April 30, 1998 in the Welles-Brown room in the University’s Rush Rhees Library. Their premiere set included “Some Kind of Wonderful”, “Good Lovin’”, “Truly Madly Deeply”, and “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”. This small private performance proved to be the first of many for the fledgling group.

Since their inception, the Ramblers have continually worked toward realizing Jon’s original goals of performance and innovation. In ten years, they have released eight full-length studio albums, including the newly debuted Ça C'est Bon, which has garnered critical acclaim from across the a cappella community. Their music has been featured on numerous a cappella compilations including Sing 3, Sing 4, Voices Only 2007, Voices Only 2009, and Best of College A cappella 2008. They also placed third in the nation at the 2005 International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella finals held at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City.