A cappella group’s show a mosaic of many pop genres

By Jerry Fink

Friday, Feb. 20, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Mosaic is on a fast track to success.

The Las Vegas-based a cappella group moved rapidly from cruise ship headliners and corporate entertainers to the main opening act for comedian George Wallace at the Flamingo.

Two weeks ago, on the night of the Grammy’s, Mosaic performed for the TV Guide channel’s red carpet event.

“They hired us to learn 30 of the nominated songs,” says New York-born Sean Gerrity. “They gave us a week and a half. We learned snippets of each song and performed them with Joey Fatone.”

The TV Guide channel could be a springboard to stardom for Mosaic, which was also hired by the channel to write a theme song for its pre-Oscar promotions. The song, performed by Mosaic, will get national play through Oscar night Sunday.

Saturday, the night before the Oscars, the six-member ensemble will perform at the Hilton, the group’s first gig as Vegas headliners.

“We’ll open our full 90-minute Vegas-style show,” says Gerrity, 34.

Called “Evolution,” Gerrity describes the show as a “journey through pop music.”

“We go back 400 years to Gregorian chanting and to when the opera was like pop music of its day, and then move into jazz and big band and swing and barbershop,” Gerrity says. “We try to cover all the different genres of pop music. We’ll take the audience on a journey — 90 minutes of twists and turns.”

They’ll even throw in a few theme songs from popular TV series.

“Especially from the ’70s and ’80s, when everyone knew the songs to every show,” Gerrity says.

The group hopes its showcase performance will catch the attention of the right people.

“We’re hoping to land a showroom,” Gerrity says. “Since we came out here we realized we needed to have a national name before we could get our own room, especially in this economy. The casinos don’t want to take a chance on an unknown group. They want as little risk as possible.”

Mosaic was founded by Josh Huslig, who recruited Gerrity and four other vocalists performing in various shows at Disney World and Universal Studios in Orlando in 2002.

“He came up with the idea in 2001 and we started rehearsing in his living room in 2002, and we started getting out and performing in 2003,” Gerrity says.

Huslig and Gerrity are the only original members. The present group, which includes Heath Burgett, Troy Dolendo, John Gibson and Corwyn Hodge, has been together for three years.

Gerrity says Mosaic came to Wallace’s attention in early 2006 when one of his associates happened to catch the act on a cruise. “His maitre d’, Jack McKenny, was on the cruise,” Gerrity says. “He bought one of our CDs and brought it back to George and showed it to him.”

Wallace invited Mosaic to open for him for three weeks, but on the second night he hired the group for the rest of the year. They open for him about 35 weeks a year.

“We’ve been with him so long he calls us his kids,” Gerrity says.

If their success continues at its present pace, the kids may soon be leaving home.