Steve & Karen Multer are Chicago songwriters with multiple published and licensed jazz, lounge, pop, country, and cabaret compositions. 2-time winners in the Billboard World Song Contest (Jazz - 2006, 2008) their group, TONIC Vintage Vocals, is a frequent guest artist for national Pops orchestras and continues to create new Songbook standards that carry on the tradition of the American pop jazz genre (www.tonicvocals.com).
Steve & Karen work with multiple libraries and publishers to option songs for the film & TV markets. Recent placements include Entourage (HBO, Ep. 56), Legally Blondes (MGM, 2008), CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (CBS, Ep. 804) and Osso Bucco (Riverwest Films, 2008). They've produced two neo-Swing albums with TONIC that enjoy current airplay in over 140 Jazz and A/C radio markets worldwide. In 2008 their songs have been featured in several Sony BMG multi-CD releases in Eastern Europe through AUR Music.
Please visit www.skmcreative.com for more information.
Latest News
Steve & Karen's new Country song GIVE IT UP was written for Karen's best friend Michelle who is 2 years into a battle against breast cancer. Download the song from the Songlist below or for .99 at www.GiveItUp.info and for every paid download we'll donate .30 to the National Breast Cancer Foundation!
Three new TV/Film placements added for SKM music:
Entourage (Sept. 14, 2008 Ep. 56 Unlike a Virgin)
Legally Blondes (MGM, 2008)
TBA Holiday multi-CD release (Sony BMG/AUR Music, 2008)
Album Reviews
ALBUM REVIEWS
?TONIC Vintage Vocals has serious swing, crystalline four-part harmony, and a stylish and jazzy way of going after their songs. The sound of the late thirties and forties vocal groups on smoothly-polished harmonies with an attitude that?s fresh and interesting.?
ALL ABOUT JAZZ
Dan McClenaghan
?Welcome TONIC Vintage Vocals with a ball of fire offering that?s pure rollercoaster thrills, a very cool audio ride with a harmonizing technique that is just so smooth. This is not your typical ?snake oil? production - TONIC will bring your blood to fever levels.?
JAZZ REVIEW
Karl Stober
?TONIC Vintage Vocals does rich Jazz vocals in the mode of The Manhattan Transfer but manages to distinguish themselves from their famous counterparts with a clarity that smacks of a love of music and professionalism. This is a vocal group that could make a serious breakout at any time.?
FULVIEW DRIVE-IN
Nicholas Scheffo
?TONIC Vintage Vocals have an interesting twist on the usual romanticism involved in producing old-styled harmonic jazz singing; they write new ones. The quartet of singers has worked a classic form of vocal swing. Original compositions run from a hopped-up version of swing in the vein of the modern swing era to a vastly more subdued form, often even in solo slinks. Their four-part harmonies are impeccable and shine clearly.?
AMG - All Music Group
Adam Greenberg
?TONIC Vintage Vocals brings classy harmonics, a lot of great tunes plus some hip vocalizations. This album is as hip as it gets with hints of the Manhattan Transfer but with a bit more muscle in the vocals and arrangements. If you like Swing then cop this disc; it will bring smiles and some toe tapping joy, and that is no jive. 5 Stars.?
EJAZZ NEWS
John Gilbert
?Chicago-based vocal quartet TONIC Vintage Vocals has been on the rise, presenting harmonies that are tight and crystal-clear. The group offers some of their own tunes with music and lyrics by group members Steve and Karen Multer that are clever without being cloying. Add TONIC to your collection, a vintage vocal group that makes the holidays a real pleasure with this CD.?
JAZZITUDE
Staff Review
?In swing you have to have the look, but TONIC Vintage Vocals delivers the goods as well. This vocal quartet does more than just cover swing/lounge material; their nine-piece backing band and a few guest musicians expertly play original swing orchestra arrangements, instead of imitating the usual Louis Jordan-style combo. Best of all the originals (written by members of the quartet) stand equally with the covers. With two male and two female vocalists, comparisons to Manhattan Transfer seem inevitable, but TONIC has only existed since 2003 and their harmonies are as good as they come. They may not bring back the style of swing on their own, but this group from Chicago should at least be far more successful than the Cubs.?
RAMBLES
Dave Howell
?TONIC Vintage Vocals, a likable swing-based vocal quartet, performs Christmas songs on their new CD with about half the material freshly written by members of the group, including such fine numbers as "At Christmas Time," "Darn That Sock," and the rollicking title cut. There are occasional spots for the horns and vocal solos, but it is the highly appealing sound of the vocal ensembles and the cheerful material that should make this a Yuletide favorite.?
AMG - All Music Group
Scott Yanow
Personal Reviews
PERSONAL REVIEWS
?I?ve long been a fan of Jazz vocal groups from the Hi~lo's to The Mel~Tones and The Real Group to Jazzed To The Max. Now along comes a group by the name of TONIC and they certainly are, doing all the things that Manhattan Transfer should still be doing. Check out their latest CD, "It Ain't over 'til The Fat Man Swings" - Christmas never sounded so good. Step aside Manhattan Transfer, TONIC Vintage Vocals has arrived.?
AARON FENSTERHEIM
My Kind of Jazz
"TONIC is indeed a tonic and music to my ears. They recall the halcyon days of pitch-perfect vocal groups, singing interesting harmonies and rhythms while producing a sound that?s fresh ? and refreshingly new ? today.?
CY COLEMAN
Sweet Charity, City of Angels, Will Rogers Follies
?TONIC?s music is, in a word, several words: marvelous, inventive, imaginative, and a joy to the ear and several other senses.?
LARRY GELBART
M*A*S*H, Tootsie, A Funny Thing Happened?
?How to define this great harmony group out of Chicago? TONIC n. something that invigorates, refreshes and energizes? As always, Webster was right!?
ALAN & MARILYN BERGMAN
Windmills of Your Mind, Yentl, The Way We Were
?TONIC?s singing and writing is superb. Their selections are wonderful too; a nice mix of chestnuts, Film Noir compositions, Swing tunes and some very fine originals.?
RICH DANIELS
City Lights Orchestra
?This is what our listeners expect to hear! How refreshing it is to provide this great sound to our loyal fans. Well done TONIC!?
ED SULLIVAN
The Blarney Party