In 1992 at Boston University, three guys got together who liked to sing and prefered to do so without instruments. The only rule was "no show tunes." Twenty-five years later, BU's only all-male a cappella group, the Dear Abbeys, is celebrating its silver anniversary with a concert tonight at its longtime home, the Morse Auditorium.

The release of the Dear Abbeys' 10th album, Songs for Mary Todd, coincides with the concert. The album can be downloaded via iTunes and Spotify right now.

Toxic & Hold It Against Me - The BU Dear Abbeys and BU Vibes

"What's special about this show is that it's the Dear Abbeys' 25th anniversary this year, so it'll be our 25th anniversary concert," the group's president, Yanni Metaxas (CAS '17), said. "That means more fun, more entertainment, more tradition, and a lot more alumni."

The Abbey Anthem

The group has toured the United States and beyond, traveling to New Orleans, New Mexico, Alaska, and Colombia. In the past, it has been so lucky as to team up with musical heavyweights such as Steven Tyler, Ben Folds, NOTA, Ball in the House, and Pentatonix.

The Dear Abbeys also won the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA) in 2005. That's a pretty good run in 25 years, especially since their first concert was nearly canceled because of a blizzard. (Fans showed up anyway, filling Morse Auditorium.)

"We had a line all the way to Warren Towers," founding member Jamie Kirkpatrick (COM '93) recalled. "That really was the moment that we knew we had hit on something, that this was something the university wanted and students craved and would come out for."

Debut Performance in 1992

The group's original members chose the name Dear Abbeys in honor of Abby Borodach (CAS '86), then director of the Student Activities office, who helped them become an official club. She's better known today as Abby Elmore, wife of Kenneth Elmore (SED'87), BU's associate provost and dean of students. The name has nothing to do with the popular column, Dear Abby.

With a roster that is constantly changing, the Dear Abbeys are comprised of 13 vocalists who come from a wide variety of disciplines.

We have one member who studies vocal performance as a minor, but other than that we are just a bunch of guys who come from different backgrounds, different walks of life, different countries, different passions outside of music," Metaxas said. "But we all come together to bond over our love of music. We share that passion.

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