Chicago Harmony Sweepstakes

Morgen Briana Hare is a professional musician with over 15 years in the Chicago market, and collaborations through LA, Atlanta, and New York. Morgen has over 25 years of combined training and experience. Whether working as a studio vocalist, recording for TV and radio commercials, or live shows, Morgen can fulfill any performance need. She is currently the bandleader and lead singer of Entourage, the internationally traveled, award-winning cover band, and the proud owner of ChiVibe Inc.(pronounced SHY-vibe), which offers marketing consulting, coaching, and more. To say this woman is driven is an understatement. You can find her on FB/IG @morgen.briana.hare and on her site MorgenBriana.com!

Mike Ferguson is a lifelong Fox Valley resident who has dedicated more than three decades to music education. He has taught chorus at Bloomington High School, Oswego High School, and Traughber Jr. High, and currently is Choral Director at Scullen Middle School in Naperville, Illinois, where he has taught since 2013. In September 2025, Mike was named the third Artistic Director of the Naperville Men’s Glee Club. He earned both his B.S. in Music Education and M.A. in Choral Music Education from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he sang with the Varsity Men’s Glee Club and directed The Other Guys, an a cappella Octet. Mike has also served as a church music director, published children’s music through Big Idea Productions, adjudicated for Varsity Vocals and ICCA competitions, and served as an ILMEA chairperson at both the high school and middle school levels.

A prolific and award-winning singer, composer, arranger, actor, teacher, music director and conductor, Mister Tim has performed around the world in bands, a cappella groups, orchestras, and music theater productions.   Mister Tim created novelty a cappella quartet and early viral video stars moosebutter, 2010 National Harmony Sweepstakes Champions Plumbers of Rome, Harmony Sweeptakes finalists indie-rock vocal band THROAT and beatbox quartet Mouth Beats, and the world’s first (and only?) a cappella heavy metal band Placental Armageddon. And he covered Metallica on kazoo (it’s worth a google). His 2013 Album “Smiley Laughy Happy Facey” won the Contemporary A Cappella Recording Award for “Best Humor Album.” He has released two other albums of all-original solo a cappella music. Today, Mister Tim performs his solo vocal live-looping show and a solo classic crooning show, is music director for Vocality Music, regularly releases music and music videos, and directs and performs with a variety of ensembles. He is an in-demand choral / vocal / a cappella clinician at schools and festivals.

Carrie Marcotte is the Director of the West Towns Barbershop Chorus, leading them to the Illinois District Championship in 2014, 2017, 2021, and 2024. Carrie has also sung and competed in a Sweet Adelines quartet, as well as mixed barbershop quartets, winning the District Mixed Quartet Championship in 2021 and 2022. A graduate of Western Michigan University, Carrie sang in the vocal jazz group, Gold Company, under the direction of the late Dr. Steve Zegree. In the Chicagoland area, Carrie sang for 10 years with Route 66, a female a cappella quartet. She is the full-time Director of Music at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Winfield, and after 7 seasons as co-organist for the Chicago Blackhawks alongside Frank Pellico, she stepped in as the lone organist when Frank retired last February. Let’s go Hawks!

After graduating from Indiana University in 2000 and a career working in information technology, Randy was called back to the world of music in 2006 when he posted a video to YouTube. The video, shot in 1998, was of his college a cappella group Straight No Chaser singing the “12 Days of Christmas.” It became the most viral video of 2007, which led the CEO of Atlantic Records to call Randy and reunite the group. Over fifteen years later, the group has performed thousands of concerts across 48 states and 20 countries, performed on television shows such as TODAY and Jimmy Fallon, sold over one million albums, and has over 100 million YouTube views. Randy and his family reside in his hometown of Naperville, Illinois.