A Voice in the Dark

by Jill Duff-Hoppes

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit last March, the Orlando-based VoicePlay a cappella group was forced to give up what had long been its bread-and-butter – performing live gigs all across the country. Although touring was suddenly off the table, the award-winning band was determined to stay connected to its fans.

Fortunately, the vocal music group had already established a strong presence on social media and other platforms, with frequent postings of high-quality music videos in a variety of genres.

“It’s been fun to figure out how to keep people’s attention during this time, how to keep the positivity going, and how to make our music kind of an escape,” says Layne Stein, VoicePlay’s vocal percussionist and one of its founders.

During this past year of COVID-19, shutdowns, and social distancing, VoicePlay has simply played to its internet strength with impressive success. At last count, the group had 1.4 million Facebook followers and 912,000 subscribers to its YouTube channel.

“We’re always looking for ways to grow our fan base and to be creative and try new things,” says Layne, who lives in Maitland.

In recent months, VoicePlay has dropped several music videos that are pure escapist fun, including a mash-up of movie themes, holiday tunes, and a medley of songs from The Little Mermaid. The group has also covered a few well-known songs that seemingly speak to the hardships many people experienced during 2020 – such as Gloria Gaynor’s disco-era anthem, “I Will Survive.”

To usher in 2021, VoicePlay released a harmonious take on “Carry On Wayward Son,” the classic rock song by Kansas. The poignant lyrics seemed especially fitting for the times: “Carry on my wayward son. There’ll be peace when you are done. Lay your weary head to rest. Don’t you cry no more.”

Along with the video, the group posted an optimistic message that read in part: “Here’s to looking forward. Here’s to singing a little louder and a little more. Here’s to putting the ol’ kibosh        on COVID.”

Longtime VoicePlay member Eli Jacobson says fan feedback on social media has been especially rewarding as of late. Some fans have commented that they’ve been watching the group’s family-friendly videos at home with their children or grandchildren. Other followers have posted that even though they’re personally going through hard times, they’ve been comforted by the music videos and the familiar songs the group often chooses to cover.

“For us to have had any part in helping them get through it is just an emotional boon for us,” says Eli, who lives in Orlando and is a tenor with the group. “We feel like we almost can’t stop.”

Besides Eli and Layne, the group’s current members are Jessie “J.None” Nunn III, who sings baritone, and Geoff Castellucci, a founding member and the band’s bass singer. Formerly known as 42Five, the group was formed in the late 1990s and changed its name to VoicePlay in 2012. A few members have come and gone over the years, but the group’s objective has remained the same: to make beautiful music using just their voices.

Gayle Stein, Layne’s mother, recalls the group rehearsing at her home in its early days of 42Five.

“They’re my guys. They used to come over and raid the pantry all the time,” laughs Gayle, a piano instructor who previously taught at The Roth Family JCC. “They have grown together and become brothers over the years. Although the guys argue sometimes, they love each other. They make VoicePlay work together as a creative entity, each bringing their own ideas to the table.”

The group’s 20-plus-year career includes performing on the   NBC TV show The Sing-Off and winning the 2019 A Cappella Music Awards Pop Group of the Year. VoicePlay’s most popular music video to date – a collaboration with guest singer Rachel Potter – is a medley of tunes from the animated movie Moana. Their Moana collaboration has racked up 35 million views  on YouTube. 

“Any time a video gets over a million views, we’re pretty happy about it,” Layne says.

Also hitting that 1-million-plus milestone is the group’s uplifting cover of “Just Sing” from the Trolls World Tour movie. To create the Zoom-meeting style video, the guys teamed up virtually with just about every performer they’ve worked with before. Among those making guest appearances was Scott Porter, a former member of 42Five who went on to star in movies and TV shows such as Friday Night Lights. All proceeds from the project were donated to MusiCares, a nonprofit organization founded to assist musicians in times of need.

“We wanted to do something that gives back because we were seeing all of our musician friends suffer during the pandemic,” Layne says. “It was so cool to be able to collaborate and connect with people we haven’t seen or talked to in so long. Everyone we asked was like, ‘Yes, count me in.’”

Although VoicePlay is eagerly awaiting the safe return of live gigs, the bandmates have been enjoying this extra time at home with their families. Two of them have young children – including Layne’s four-year-old daughter, Doris, who attends preschool at The Roth Family JCC.

“We still love performing live, and we still want to tour, but we’d like to shift that balance of making videos and touring,” Layne says. “We’re trying our darnedest to make a living making the videos, so then we can tour sporadically instead of needing the touring to survive.”

Eli says the group is committed to ratcheting up its video production this year and has a couple of special songs in the works.

“I think the industry’s going to hurt for a while,” he admits. “It takes a little bit of rethinking how you bring your music to the public. We are so fortunate to have YouTube and social media and Patreon for content creation and an audience there that we can engage. They just adore what we do, and we adore them.”