Alumni Profiles

Still Teaching the World to Sing The musical duo Rick '63 and Ron Shaw '63 hit the campus running and have never stopped By Andrew Leibs '87G

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Lisa Nugent/UNH Photographic Services NEW HAMPSHIRE NATURALLY: Rick '63, left, and Ron '63 Shaw

Few New Hampshire artists are anchored as snugly in time and place as the Shaw Brothers, Rick '63 and Ron Shaw '63.

Their father had them harmonizing cowboy songs as kids, prescient—if inadvertent—preparation for the folk boom that greeted the identical twins when they entered UNH in 1959. "We did what came naturally," says Rick Shaw. "We teamed up with some classmates, and were off and running." "We were immediately BMOC," says Ron, laughing. "People liked what we did and came out in droves wherever we did it. How could you not like that?"

First, they needed a name. Initially, they were the Windjammers. Then, the Tradewinds—a quintet that, in 1962, won the first National Inter-Collegiate Music Competition. The victory spawned a Tradewinds album, and a third name: the Brandywine Singers. "We wanted a name that would evoke a certain feel," recalls Rick.

Their music was already doing that. Over the years, the brothers performed with legends such as Johnny Cash, Judy Collins, Dionne Warwick and John Denver. They appeared on "American Bandstand," the "Tonight Show," and in a TV spot for Ballantine beer.

In 1971, producer Art Ham added the Shaws to the Hillside Singers, a group assembled to turn the Coke jingle "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing" into a Billboard hit. It reached No.13 in the country that December, and remains the brothers' most iconic collaboration.

But to find the brothers' most lasting legacy, look to the 700-plus colleges, beginning with UNH, where they've shared their mix of traditional and contemporary music. "I remember my brother bringing the Tradewinds album back from UNH," says Richard Smith '76. "I wore it out, especially the song 'Brandy.'" Smith played those tracks on a folk radio show he launched on campus, and later—on founding Cuzin Richard Entertainment in 1976—booked many Shaw Brothers shows. "They filled Prescott Park better than anyone," says Smith.

The Shaws, in fact, put the Portsmouth waterfront park on the map, playing 22 straight summers, crowds sometimes topping 10,000. What established the Shaws in Portsmouth, however, was the Market Square Pub, where the brothers played for nearly a decade. What struck Sam Jarvis, who ran the pub with his brother Harry, was their sincerity. It still does. "They have such respect for their music, what they believe in, and for others."

Fans see this reflected in the brothers' interest in history, including "The Day the Tall Ships Came," written for Operation Sail, and "New Hampshire Naturally." "I tend to be more of a historian," says Rick. "Ron writes the love songs."

The Shaws' shared love of history prompted Jarvis to take them inside the Portsmouth Athenaeum. Within hours of touring one of America's last membership libraries—dedicated to preserving Portsmouth history—the brothers had planned a benefit. The concert will raise funds for the Athenaeum and the Common Table, a charity associated with Portsmouth's St. John's Church, where the show will take place this October. "If benefitting a cause pulls people in," says Rick, "we're open to it."

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