Oak Ridge Boys play holiday hits

By Elizabeth Butler
Photo Editor

The Oak Ridge Boys are going to be performing at GPAC Dec. 11 at 8 p.m.

Through the years, The Oak Ridge Boys have received almost every award the music industry has to offer. Some of those awards are Best Vocal Performance By a Group or Duo, Gospel, 1971-1979; Instrumental Group of the Year, 1986; Single of the Year, “Elvira,” 1982 and Best Country Group, 1975.

They were inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame October 2000.

The Oak Ridge Boys’ show will feature holiday hits as well as chart toppers that include “Elvira,” “Bobbie Sue,” “Dream On,” “Thank God For Kids” and “American Made,” among many others
The Oak Ridge Boys are made up of Duane Allen, Joe Bonsall, William Lee Golden and Richard Sterban.

The Oak Ridge Boys are one of the most distinctive and recognizable sounds in the music industry. The four-part harmonies and upbeat songs of The Oak Ridge Boys have spawned dozens of county hits and a No. 1 pop smash.

“When I go on stage, I get the same feeling I had the fist time I sang with The Oak Ridge Boys,” said lead singer Duane Allen. “This is the only job I’ve ever wanted to have.”

The Oak Ridge Boys represent a tradition that extends back to 1943. The original group, based in Knoxville, Tenn., began performing country and gospel music in nearby Oak Ridge where the atomic bomb was being developed.

They called themselves the Oak Ridge Quartet, and they began regular Grand Ole Opry appearances in the fall of 1945. In the mid-1950s, they were featured in Time Magazine as one of the top drawing gospel groups in the nation.

The Oak Ridge Boys’ high-energy stage show remains the heart and soul of what they do.
They refine the show several times a year, striving to keep it fresh well into the future.

Tickets for this performance are $28-30 for adults and $10 for children and UNCP students.