The first photo of The Dear Abbeys taken in the Warren Towers laundry room at Boston University circa 1992.
A Brief History
The Dear Abbeys were founded in 1992 by Cooper Olson and Jamie Kirkpatrick. Cooper Olson was an advertising major at Boston University and Jamie Kirkpatrick had been involved in theater and choir in his early years while majoring in film at BU. Cooper came to Jamie with an idea for a group, and together they went to the BU Student Activities Office to officially instate the group. At the office, they were tasked with naming the group by the head of the office. Her name was Abby, and initially the group had thought of the name The Westminster Abbeys, so upon further deliberation, they decided the name should be a combination of the two. Hence, The Dear Abbeys. The initial members of the group were Cooper Olson, Jamie Kirkpatrick, Stevie Wong, and Brian Reichelt, now known as the “four founders.” The first auditions were held on February 6th through 7th of 1992 calling for “nine fun guys to arrange and sing the songs of Elvis Costello, Joni Mitchell, Terrence Trent D’arby, and many more.” This was the first official branding of The Dear Abbeys as an all-male a cappella group, but 1992 was the only year where a female was allowed in the Abbeys. Carrie Pine is the only female Abbey, and while she wouldn’t perform with the group, she would run rehearsals.
Early Marketing
In January 1992 the first flyer was created. The flyer was advertising for auditions to be held on February 5,6, and 7 of 1992 and calling for men to be part of BU’s only all male a cappella group (a title which The Dear Abbeys still hold). This flyer was also the introduction of the group slogan “no showtunes.” This flyer was also the first appearance of Abraham Lincoln in a promotional material. Ever since, Abe Lincoln has been used in one way or another in almost all of the show posters and flyer over the years. When questioned on why Abe Lincoln was chosen to be in the flyers, The Dear Abbeys had no comment. The first Winter show flyer featured a depiction of a street sign with streets “The”, “Dear”, and “Abbeys” as a nod to Abbey Road. This flyer was printed on t-shirts for advertisements for the show, and was the first of many creative designs and ideas that The Dear Abbeys have become known for.
Claim to Fame
In 2005 The Dear Abbeys came in first place in the ICCA’s. This competition was and is the largest a cappella competition in the country and the win skyrocketed the popularity of The Abbeys. In 2008, the book “Pitch Perfect” written by Mickey Rapkin was published. This book mentioned The Dear Abbeys by name and discussed the 2005 ICCA’s in depth. In the book, it is implied that The Abbeys “stole” the title from Divisi (a women’s a cappella group at the University of Oregon), while The Dear Abbeys themselves adamantly deny this commentary. Nonetheless, in 2012 the movie “Pitch Perfect” (an adaptation of the book) was released, and the main antagonist of the film was an a cappella group known as the Treblemakers. This group was based strongly off of The Dear Abbeys, and has been their claim to fame ever since “Pitch Perfect” grossed 115.4 million dollars in the box office.
Winter Shows
Every year just before winter break at Boston University The Dear Abbeys host their annual winter show. The first winter show was hosted at Morse Auditorium (the biggest on-campus auditorium at the time) on December 12th 1992 at 8 PM. This show featured the Tufts Beelzebubs, The Yale University Baker’s Dozen, The Wellesley College Widows, and Boston University’s Terpsichore. The night before the show, Boston received 27 inches of snow. Ross Dickman, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Boston said “This is a very strong Nor'easter, one of the strongest New England has ever seen . . . on a scale of one to 10, this is 11.” All of the groups that had signed up to perform except for Terpsichore cancelled. Still, Cooper Olson reached out to all the local radio stations telling them to broadcast that the show would still be happening. Despite the inclement weather, Morse Auditorium was completely sold out. Ever since, The Dear Abbeys have hosted their annual winter show in Morse Auditorium up until 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Spring Shows
The Dear Abbeys Spring Show is historically held in the end of April right before the study break that precedes final exams at Boston University. In the early years of the Abbeys there were multiple shows in the spring, but by 1994 the spring show became a yearly extravagant event. A show at the end of the year meant that the Abbeys could showcase more songs and more complex arrangements that they had cultivated throughout the year. While the spring show was not regularly held in Morse over the years, it came with other traditions. In 1995 Brian Reichelt brought to the Abbeys a 4 foot wooden sword to be kept by the group. Every year, graduating Abbeys would carve their name in the sword to cement their legacy. At every spring show from that year onward, the “sword bearer” as they were called would pass the sword down to an Abbey who was “worthy”. That was, until 2020 when the sword was lost in shipping as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, at an alumni gathering in the BU pub in celebration of the group’s 30th anniversary, a new sword was purchased and presented to the group. All attending alumni carved their names into the new sword in an effort to restart the tradition.
Men Being Manly
In 2009 The Dear Abbeys hosted a show titled “Men Being Manly”. This show featured the Tufts Beelzebubs (another all-male a cappella group) and was titled as it was in an effort to be funny in that it juxtaposed being “manly” with a cappella. The first flyer featured a man wrestling a bear, and the designs have only increased in absurdity over the years. The meaning of the title has also evolved over the years. The show quickly became an outlet for redefining what it meant to be “manly” and other male stereotypes. Soon after, the show became a philanthropy concert where being “manly” was redefined as giving back to the less fortunate and women as well. In recent years, Men Being Manly has been retitled “MBM: The Dear Abbeys Philanthropy Show.”
Attire
The Dear Abbeys are now known around the BU campus for their matching black suit jackets, black jeans, white shirts, and red ties. However, The Abbeys weren’t always so sharply dressed. It wasn’t until 2012 that they had their own uniform. In 2012, Steven Oranges placed a bulk order for custom ties through Vineyard Vines. The ties were red with white and black stripes and images of Abe Lincoln’s head stitched throughout. The Abbeys first debuted them at the 2012 Spring Show on April 28th celebrating the 20th anniversary of the group. The ties were an immediate hit, and thus the uniform Abbeys call “AbbeyWear” was born.