One Voice Children's Choir

Early history: 2002 Winter Olympics

Brigham Young University student Masa Fukuda heard about a contest for nearby composers to write music for sale as soundtracks during the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. He and Jeannine Lasky wrote the song "It Just Takes Love" on an impulse, not expecting to win because he felt that others like Kurt Bestor and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir were far better than he. In 2001, Fukuda and Gael Shults enlisted the aid of 1,621 students from 69 elementary schools in the Alpine School District, Nebo School District, and Provo School District, to make a commemorative CD, "Light Up the Land. He sent the song to the organizers, and his song was selected among other songs for the Olympic CD and received two Pearl Awards. Some of the students who volunteered to sing for the CD were "children of light" for the Olympics' Open Ceremony and Closing Ceremony Fukuda offered to train and supervise the students during Olympic events. Their group was the 2002 Winter Olympic Children's Choir.

After the Olympics were over, the student performers had formed strong friendships, and about 25 of them told Fukuda they hoped to keep performing with each other. By September 2003, the group grew to 130 members. In a 2015 interview with the Deseret News, Fukuda said, "We had performed a lot together, so we decided to do it." Fukuda and Shults served as the choir's co-directors. Originally called the 2002 Winter Olympic Children's Choir, by 2003, the group was called Studio A Children's Choir. In 2005, the choir was renamed One Voice Children's Choir. It became a nonprofit organization and has an advisory board. According to The Salt Lake Tribune's David Burger, Fukuda's aim is "to create a nurturing, tolerant environment with high standards and a commitment to singing uplifting songs".

John Lennon International Music Award

Around 2003, Masa Fukuda's nonagenarian grandmother visited an Osaka, Japan, store and noticed a poster that had John Lennon's photo. His grandmother brought it to her son, wondering whether Fukuda would want to participate in the music contest. Fukuda created a CD with several songs and sent it to the contest organizers who chose his Christmas song, "Innocence of Youth", as a finalist. They invited Fukuda, singer Jay Williams, and 12 members of the Studio A Children's Choir (a precursor to One Voice) to sing the song in Japan. Given a nine-day notice, they hurriedly raised money and obtained passports for the trip. The group won the grand prize, the John Lennon International Music Award, which was presented by Lennon's wife, Yoko Ono.

In 2005, One Voice performed at a Christmas concert hosted by Lex de Azevedo. The same year, members flew to Japan to perform at the Hiroshima Flower Festival, where they performed songs in five languages: English, Japanese, Tongan, and Spanish.

"Let It Go" and America's Got Talent

In 2014, the choir received national attention after releasing their performance of the Disney song "Let It Go". Their cover starred Lexi Walker, who at the time was 11 years old, and Alex Boyé. Filmed at Ice Castles in Midway, Utah, the video received 1 million views in one day and 18 million in 10 days. The video was played on YouTube over 60 million times by July 2015 and received YouTube Spotlight's "Best Pop Cover" in 2014 award. Time's Joseph C. Lin called One Voice's rendition the best cover of Let It Go.

One Voice was asked to audition for the ninth season of America's Got Talent in 2014. 100 members of the choir, including Lexi Walker, auditioned on June 22, 2014, singing Ellie Goulding's "Burn". Judges Howard Stern and Heidi Klum praised their performance, voting yes, while judges Mel B and Howie Mandel were less impressed. Mandel voted no, and Stern convinced Mel B to vote yes. They performed on live television for the show's quarterfinals on August 19, 2014, at Radio City Music Hall in New York City and were eliminated.

Members and performances

Composed of children ages 4–17, One Voice has practices once a week throughout the year. One Voice has roughly 55 to 70 performances yearly. The choir has made several Christmas and Easter CDs and is posting more of its recordings to YouTube. The 140-member One Voice has biannual auditions, in January and August. In January 2015, they had a waiting list of 250 children. Sometimes, there are merely six to 10 open spots in a year. After a child has been accepted into the choir, he or she pays a $30 monthly fee and is permitted to stay in the choir until they turn 18.

In 2008, it was the host choir for In Harmony, an international children's music festival that occurs yearly. One Voice has performed at Abravanel Hall during Kurt Bestor's annual show "A Kurt Bestor Christmas". They have performed at the Salt Palace during RootsTech. They have collaborated with David Archuleta, Jenny Oaks Baker, Sam Cardon, Peter Breinholt, Barry Manilow, Janice Kapp Perry, Steven Kapp Perry, The Piano Guys, John Schmidt, Ryan Shupe, and Vocal Point. In February 2012, the first members of the choir who had participated in the Olympics performed at the 2002 Winter Games Tenth Anniversary Legacy Event.

Music style and genres

Masa Fukuda directs the choir and does all the arrangement, writing for every song roughly six to nine segments. Fukuda told the Deseret News in 2015 that he was raised in Japan where choirs were primarily about "technique and preciseness". Noting that although "those are really important things", he wants the children to find choir enjoyable. They typically have three different parts. Once in a while, they have seven or eight, including four sopranos, two altos, a tenor, and less frequently a high soprano.

The choir performs an eclectic selection of genres including pop music, gospel music, classical music, Broadway musical songs, and patriotic songs. They have performed songs from Rihanna, Disney, and Ellie Goulding. In a 2003 interview with The Salt Lake Tribune, Fukuda said, "We go anywhere from baroque and classical to R&B and hip-hop. We're media-oriented."