Entertainer, songwriter and record producer extraordinaire Neil Firstenleit (known and loved as Mr. Singer) grew up in a multicultural family, in Wooster, Ohio. He has since lived and made music in Berlin, Caracas, San Francisco, Athens (Ohio) and now Chicago.
In 2000 Neil received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Columbia College Chicago where he studied music and sound recording. Mr. Singer’s playful and original tunes have been featured on ABC News, WLUW’s Kids Play radio show and the Chicago Tribune. A bright star on the Chicago family music scene, as a one-man-band, in a duo with Kerry Appleberry and the leader of the Sharp Cookies, Mr. Singer performs regularly at the city’s most popular venues, including Millennium Park's Pritzker Pavilion, the Old Town School of Folk Music, the Lincoln Park Zoo, Taste of Chicago, Navy Pier and many more
Mr. Singer has assembled a tight, inventive musical combo in the the Sharp Cookies who are greater than the sum of their crumbs. In addition to Singer and his esposa fabulosa Kerry Appleberry, the Sharp Cookies studio quintet is composed of seasoned music professionals: Marius Mustard, Lenny Zieben, and Doctor of Jazz Steve Schnall (who has performed with such luminaries as: Aretha Franklin, The Temptations, Reverend Horton Heat etc...) Singer’s vibrant singing & strumming and happy harping, Kerry Appleberry’s enchanting vocals & engaging stage presence and Marius Mustard’s natural showmanship and propulsive drumming fuse together to form a refreshingly-original sound and one electrifying live show!
Mr. Singer & the Sharp Cookies make super-rockin’, life-lovin' music. Be prepared for memorable sing-a-longs, thumping rhythms and high-energy call and response. Their hands on hootenannies get everyone singing, dancing and jamming like full-fledged musicians. The Sharp Cookies’ repertoire includes outstanding originals bridging genres from swing to rock to samba.
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