ARCHER MUSIC SERVICE - Key Persons
"I just wanted to say THANK YOU so much for doing such a fabulous job at our wedding reception this past Friday night! I was so pleased to see so many of my friends and family members come 'out of their shells' and enjoy themselves on the dance floor. You played everything I had hoped to hear during the course of the night, and I just think that everything was perfect! I was so relieved that there were no 'lulls' and that the entertainment was wonderful start to finish. We really appreciate your work. You are terrific! Thanks again!"
"John, I just wanted to reiterate what my husband said about the great job you did on Saturday. The reason there were so many people on the dance floor was because you compiled the perfect mix of dance songs to accommodate our guests of all ages. And you had songs cued up perfectly, and you had impeccable timing for songs that I requested like 'Tiger Rag'. Everyone I've talked to has sung your praises, and I can't thank you enough for how you kept the party going. Thanks again for everything." Kristin, Atlanta, GA
"THANK YOU John. You were great! I am still hearing from my friends and family what a wonderful time they all had. That is what I wanted and that is what I got, and that is owed in the most part to our DJ. You played a good mix of music and kept it all rolling. Bottom line: everyone wants something different and you gave us what we wanted because you listened."
Chris Crosby Trio/Chris Crosby Group
Looking for a Charleston wedding band or live party music for your special event? Chris Crosby Music entertains in the historic city of Charleston, SC and beautiful surrounding areas. Chris is the creator of a unique and versatile sound that will compliment any special event.
As lead vocals, guitar and/or keyboard, Chris can play solo or bring the other talented members of his group to fit your occasion. As a duo or trio, with drums and/or bass, Chris can offer a diversity of music styles, including acoustic, folk, jazz, rock, country, beach, and Motown. To extend the song options further, Chris adds a horn player or another guitar. Regardless of the band arrangement, Chris adapts the style, song list, and volume to make sure everyone has a great time!
Brides, grooms, their family and friends, event planners, photographers - Chris is fortunate to work with some fabulous folks who are kind enough to him and the wedding band great reviews.
Chris was born and raised in the lowcountry of South Carolina, and feels blessed to be able to use his talents and have a career here. Chris is a full-time professional musician, who works hard at his craft and is continually practicing and refining his skills.
Chris began his musical career while still a teenager. He played in many bands over the years, including rock, beach, country, original indie, variety wedding bands, and R&B groups. These experiences afforded him opportunities to refine his skills at singing and playing specific genres and to develop a lengthy and diverse song list. A typical gig can range from light jazz to driving rock & roll and everything in between. Chris works hard to tailor the song selections to fit the occasion.
Chris performs for big and small corporate events, wedding ceremonies, rehearsal dinners, wedding receptions, cocktail and holiday parties, society events, and birthday/anniversary parties. Chris and his band play in ballrooms, living rooms, reserved restaurants, lawns, docks, and boats. Whatever the location or reason for celebrating, Chris commits fully and truly enjoys entertaining in a fun and tasteful way.
With over 90 performances in the past year, guitarist Christopher Teves has quickly become one of the area¹s most sought after musicians. His venues have included concert halls, historic buildings, plantations, hotels, restaurants, private homes, and yes, even beaches! His wide variety of repertoire has ranged from Bach to the Beatles and is available in a solo, duo, or trio format. The trio is comprised of flute, cello and guitar while the duo features flute and guitar.
Christopher Teves has performed throughout the United States as a recitalist and as a soloist with orchestras. His career highlights include the Dame Myra Hess Series in Chicago, the Guitar Foundation of America International Festival in Charleston, the Society of Composers Inc. National Conference in Iowa City, the Piccolo Spoleto Festival, performances in New York, Washington D.C., Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Memphis, and appearances with orchestras in Ohio and Virginia. He has competed nationally and internationally and was the Winner of the WGUC Fine Arts Radio Auditions, Finalist at the Music Teachers National Association Competition, and Semifinalist in both the Guitar Foundation of America International Competition and the first Luigi Legnani International Competition (Italy). He is adjunct instructor of guitar at Charleston Southern University and he has served on the faculties of Capital University, Otterbein College, and the Eastman School of Music Community Education Division. He also teaches privately at Clelia¹s Guitar Studio in West Ashley.
His education includes studies at the University of South Carolina, the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and the Eastman School of Music. At the the Eastman School, he was the recipient of a fellowship and teaching assistantship to Nicholas Goluses who described him as "a musician of exceptional talent and dedication". Other primary teachers have been Clare Callahan, Christopher Berg, Marc Regnier, and James Ferla. Teves has also studied in master classes with some of the world's most noted performers, including Pepe Romero, Oscar Ghiglia, and David Russell and Eduardo Fernandez.
His CD entitled Guitar America, is a collection of favorite American songs. It is available locally and online. Teves has served on the Community Tour Artist Rosters of South Carolina and Virginia.
Christopher Ward began studying piano at age ten in Japan. After graduating High School in England, he was accepted to the music program at Indiana University where he studied for two years under Yuji Takahashi and Gunther Ludwig.
He continued his studies with Mr. Ludwig in Cologne, Germany for three years, and also took master classes with Paul Badura-Skoda.
Mr. Ward then enrolled in the music program at McGill University in Montreal where he received his BMus. Degree. He taught for many years as well as playing concerts. He also has played receptions for corporate and local groups as well as weddings.
Performing from the mountains of Colorado to the pubs of England to the beaches of Florida to a dive in Cincinnati, Dave Landeo's acoustic/electric rock act has provided the ultimate in live entertainment whether as a solo or with his band. Incorporating his ability to interact with the audience, as well as perform a wide variety of music (original and covers), Dave's chameleon approach is nothing but entertaining!
Born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, lived in the Smoky Mountain area of Knoxville, Dave now resides in the Lowcountry of Charleston, South Carolina. Since his first paying gigs as a drummer in a rock band during high school, he has performed professionally as a bassist, lead guitarist, drummer and lead vocalist with several bands over the years. He graduated from the University of Tennessee with a Bachelor of Arts Degree, where he was an officer in Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity and also served in the United States Marine Corps Reserve. He is married to Christy Landeo (who also is a performer) and has three children.
Landeo has been voted in reader's polls as:
David Archer knew from the time he was a small child that music was very important in his life. He began asking for musical toys at a young age and was constantly banging on the furniture, first with pencils and then drumsticks.
He began on the clarinet in the fourth grade. He played clarinet, bass clarinet, and contrabass clarinet throughout high school and college, where he played in the Clemson University Bands. He graduated from Clemson with a Bachelor of Arts degree.
David began playing in garage bands in the sixth grade, playing drums at that time. He gravitated toward the guitar during college. Shortly after college, he went to work for a local music retailer, Fox Music House. He began playing solo guitar/vocal gigs in the mid ‘70s at local clubs, restaurants, and resorts.
In the Fall of 1982, David set off for Europe. With his guitar on his back, he made his way to one of the Alps' ritziest ski resorts, St. Moritz, Switzerland. He quickly landed gigs at two local pubs, got a season's ski pass and settled in for the ski season. After the end of the ski season, he traveled for the rest of the year throughout Europe. He entertained in 12 countries and had lots of wonderful experiences along the way.
At the end of one full year, his ticket was about to expire, so he came back home to Charleston. He got his old job back at the music store. Around that time, the David Archer Band began playing in the Charleston area. Starting off as a duo, the group has grown to six pieces. Later, David began playing keyboards and has added that instrument to his repertoire.
David's many years on the local music scene as well as working for over 20 years in local music stores makes him uniquely qualified to assist people in planning the entertainment for their events. He has the advantage of having known and worked with most of the local musicians for many years.
Also, his client has the advantage of dealing with a musician, rather than merely a sales agent. David is able to advise on many aspects of the event, due to his personal attendance and involvement in thousands of successful events in Charleston.
For hobbies, David enjoys music, computers, food & wine, exercise, boating, and photography.
Though not originally a Low Country resident, Lexington, Kentucky-bred John Quincy adopted Charleston as his second hometown in 1981 when he moved there to continue his radio career as afternoon DJ and Production Director at WSSX-FM (95SX).
In 1985, John assumed the position of Program Director and PM Drive host at WXTC-FM (Lite Rock 96.9) in 1985, where he remained for nearly 10 years. John also was a morning DJ at WBUB-FM (Bubba 107.5), plus worked as weekend and fill-in host at WXLY-FM (Oldies 102.5) and afternoon host and Assistant Program director of WSUY (Soft Rock Sunny 96.9) Charleston. Today, John is part of the morning team at Charleston's legendary WTMA radio.
Along with nearly 30 years as a popular Charleston radio host, John has utilized his music programming and announcing skills as a mobile DJ for hundreds of successful Low Country wedding receptions, private parties, and corporate events.
John resides with his wife Darlene and their two cats in Summerville, just a few miles from Charleston.
Heather Rice is a dynamic jazz artist and singer/songwriter. Her passionate vocals have been compared to Celine Dion, Jane Monheit, and Patty Griffin. Recent releases include Rice's self titled Gospel album and "Fingers" a Jazz fusion compilation with the Franklin Music Group. She has opened for Joan Osborn, Lee DeWyze, and Sheryl Crow and is a regular at the esteemed Bosendorfer Lounge.
The variegated styles, Rice's passionate and versatile vocals, and her claim on songs with solid melodic lines all add color and beauty to her music. Heather Rice is accompanied by some of the finest musicians in the Southeast: Ben O'Riordan, Rion Smith, Marc Osborn, Tim Franklin, Ed Metz, Jeff Phillips, Tony Durrum, Brendan May, Sunshine Matthews, and Tom Cooper.
Loretta Haskell, an accomplished singer and voice teacher, is the owner and director of More Music Please, and offers private voice instruction for children, teenagers and adults.
In June of 1994, Ms. Haskell founded Music Together® of Charleston, Inc., which made her the first music educator in the Charleston area to offer music classes for infants and young children along with their parents as their primary model for music making. Ms. Haskell also operates a private studio for vocal studies and is a former adjunct professor of voice and music appreciation at Charleston Southern University.
Ms. Haskell presented a recital of 20th century American art song and musical theater works including songs by Ives, Copland, Rorem, Weill, Gershwin, Berlin, Porter, Rodgers and Hammerstein and Sondheim for the 2002 Piccolo Spoleto Festival. She was selected as an International Artist for the 1998 Israel Vocal Arts Institute in Tel Aviv, Israel and has appeared locally in recitals of Bellini, Rossini, Wolf and Rachmaninoff. Other local solo appearances include performances with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, the Charleston Chamber Music Society, the Charleston Southern University Second Sunday Series and during the Piccolo Spoleto Festival.
Beyond her graduate school education Ms. Haskell has studied intensively in New York City with Trish McCaffrey, Diana Soviero and Irene Gubrud. Vocal Coaches include Benton Hess, Pierre Vallet, Joan Dornemann, Joe Thalken, Arlene Shrut and Brian Zeger. Diction coaches include Robert Cowart and Nico Castel.
Additionally, she has performed and recorded with the Grammy Award-winning Chicago Symphony Chorus under the batons of Sir George Solti, James Levine, Claudio Abaddo and other internationally recognized conductors in Chicago, Washington's Kennedy Center and New York's Carnegie Hall. While living in Chicago she performed with Light Opera Works, was selected as a Bel Canto Foundation Semi-Finalist and was the recipient of an award from the Margaret Hillis Fellowship Fund While living in New York she performed recitals at the Mussavi Arts Center and CAMI Hall. Ms. Haskell is a member of the American Guild of Musical Artists, the National Association of Teachers of Singing and the Charleston Music Teachers Association. She is a board member of the South Carolina chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing and is active in performing and adjudicating locally and regionally. She has a bachelor and master of music in voice performance from Furman University and Northwestern University.
Lorna Roberts is available as a solo pianist, pianist/vocalist, guitar/vocalist, in a duo with a bass player, or in a small combo.
Lorna has a Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts (music major with additional courses in drama, playwriting and dance) and a Master's Degree in Education from the College of Charleston.
She has taught in the Charleston County SAIL program (for gifted and talented students) as well as in the regular classroom, including at Ashley River Creative School of the Arts.
She has performed in Russia and Denmark as well as the World's Fair in New Orleans. Lorna frequently appears these days either as a soloist/pianist or with various local bands, including the Ray Michaels Band, Crossfire, and the Cutting Edge Jazz Band.
She is coordinator of the local chapter of the Nashville Songwriters Association (the largest songwriting organization in the U.S. representing all genres of music) and is currently working on her second CD of original songs.
"We had quite an age spread for our 25th anniversary party from early 30's to late 80's. Several remarked about the music and how good it was. We didn't give John a whole lot of guidance about how things were going to go. (We didn't know ourselves.) I'm afraid we threw him several curve balls, but he was gracious and flexible throughout the evening. The music was perfectly selected and unobtrusive. We were pleased."
Paula was born and raised in Ohio and graduated from Mercy Hospital School of Nursing in Pittsburgh, PA. She has lived in the Charleston area for over fifteen years. Paula is a registered nurse with a specialty in operating room nursing. She currently only works a few days per month in nursing, spending most of her time working in the agency.
Paula is involved in all aspects of Archer Music Service. Her near photographic memory and attention to detail make her a huge asset.
She handles almost all of the accounting and administrative functions of the business.
David and Paula were married in 1990, after meeting at a wedding reception. David was the bandleader and Paula was a friend of the bride. Her task was to work with the bandleader on the timing of the event. The rest is, as they say, history.
Paula enjoys gardening, exercising, needlepoint, boating, and gourmet cooking in her "spare" time.
These are only some of the songs Chris performs. As leader of the premier Charleston wedding band and special event entertainment group, Chris is known for choosing songs to fit the occasion. Chris with his band can do it all from complimentary cocktail or dinner music to a packed dance floor throw-down for all ages!