The Voice Squad

The Voice Squad

The Voice Squad is an Irish group made up of Phil Callery, Fran McPhail and Gerry Cullen. It specialises in unaccompanied harmony singing, combining three distinct voices into close arrangements of traditional songs. Although this style is not presented as part of the core Irish singing tradition, each member comes to the group with experience rooted in individual traditional singing, and that background shapes the group’s sound.

Style and influences

The group is associated with a harmony approach that is compared to English family singing groups such as The Watersons and The Copper Family. Its strongest influences are described as coming from Irish traditional songs and from the individual styles of the three singers. Fran McPhail and Phil Callery sing tenor, while Gerry Cullen provides the bass, and the contrast between those parts is a key feature of the ensemble’s sound.

Recordings and repertoire

The Voice Squad is noted for its arrangements of traditional material. Its recorded work includes Many's the Foolish Youth, originally released in 1987 and reissued in 1995 with improved sound quality. The set includes songs such as “The Banks of the Bann” and “The Parting Glass”, along with Christmas songs including “The Holly She Bears a Berry”, “Kilmore Carol” and “Shepherds Arise”.

Collaborations and studio work

In addition to its own performances, the group is in demand as studio session singers. Its voices appear on recordings by The Chieftains, Rita Connolly, Christy Hennessy, Elvis Costello, Jimmy McCarthy, Sinéad O'Connor, Liam O'Flynn, John Renbourn and Dolores Keane.

Performances

The Voice Squad tours across the UK, Europe and America. Live appearances are described as rare in later years, but the group performs at notable events including the gala opening of the Helix at DCU in Dublin in 2002, where it performs a Shaun Davey arrangement of “The Parting Glass” in front of Mary McAleese. In 2003 it appears at the opening ceremony of the Special Olympic World Games in Dublin with Rita Connolly and Ronan Tynan, performing Shaun Davey’s “May We Never Have To Say Goodbye”, the event’s theme song.

Reception

The group is widely described as distinctive within Irish unaccompanied singing, with comments emphasising the way the three voices merge into a single blend while still retaining individual tone. Fran McPhail is singled out for a notably distinctive tenor voice within the ensemble.