Check out our interview with the Sharpe Family Singers. They are TikTok’s modern day answer to The Partridge Family. Known as “the Broadway Family” to their loyal fans, they provide feel-good, wholesome content and are a ray of sunshine at a much needed time. With coronavirus shutdowns across the nation, they took to TikTok in February 2020 as a family bonding experience.
Comprised of Ron (dad), Barbra (Mom), and siblings Samantha, Logan, and twins Aidan and Connor, the Sharpe Family Singers are rising to stardom with their original, witty, and creative musical content on TikTok, a popular social media platform for viral short form video content. Since starting their channel the family has amassed more than 2.8 million followers and 46.5 million likes with more than 300 million views of their fun, family-friendly videos. Instagram has also been a popular avenue for the family, with more than 30 million views. The Sharpe Family Singers began their professional musical journey in 2014 touring globally, performing a combination of popular music and well-known theatrical numbers.
Follow Sharpe Family Singers @sharpefamilysingers
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Hi guys, please tell us a little about you?
We are a musical family and we have been performing our stage show in theaters across the USA and around the world for the past several years. Mom Barbra and dad Ron have four talented children Samantha & Logan who are the older children and identical twins Aidan & Connor are the younger boys going into 5th grade.
Describe yourself in 3 words?
Family, singing, fun
What’s your background?
Barbra and Ron met on stage in the Broadway show Les Miserables performing the lead roles of Cosette and Marius. We were married on stage 1000 times in the show before we really got married!
Barbra and Ron have performed in several Broadway musicals and have produced two Broadway musicals, “A Tale of Two Cities” the musical and “A Catered Affair.” We also produced “A Tale of Two Cities” the musical TV special for PBS which was filmed in London and Paris starring Michael York.
The “Sharpe Family Singers” is our family singing variety show that we formed several years ago. The show was created when Ron and Barbra were asked to help put together a musical variety show for our local children’s theater. The show was so well received that many of the professional theaters owners in the area began asking us to bring our show to their theater. We have been performing together as a family for the past seven years in hundreds of venues in 20 different states and many countries around the world.
When did you start in the business?
We started performing as a family onstage about 6 years ago and have been posting our videos on social media for about 7 months.
We now have over 4 million followers on social media which has created a brand new audience for our music. We are so fortunate how quickly our social media presence has grown.
What book should every entrepreneur read?
If you are asking about finding your way in the entertainment business there is a great book for parents and performers called “Raising a Star” by Nancy Carson. Nancy is a top talent agent in New York.
What is fun and rewarding about what you do? And what’s not?
Fun: The best part is we get to travel around the world and spend time together as a family! When performing in Florida or California we take many trips to Disney and Universal.
Not: Sometimes it’s hard to travel together with our whole group.
It’s not easy trying to fit 6 people in one van and sometimes one hotel room. Even if we can afford two rooms dad usually ends up on the pullout couch! We also have to travel with a lot of luggage, costumes, props, sheet music, and musical equipment so our van is always packed!
Tell us about Sharpe Family Singers?
The Sharpe Family Singers came together because of our love of music.
Our stage show is really more of a musical story than a concert, and you really get to know who we are as a family. We have created a lot of fun and humorous moments on stage that have transferred easily into our social media videos.
Vocally what makes our show unique is that everyone in our family was born a soloist, and we each have an opportunity to shine! Our show is pure family entertainment and we sing everyone’s favorite music.
It’s not often you find a family of six who all can sing! There is nothing more rewarding than a live audience and sharing our music!
How cool is to do this project as a family?
It really is the best! We trust each other, we laugh together, and we support each other unconditionally! Whatever good fortune may happen for any one of us, we will be cheering on their success!
What is the key to the Sharpe Family Singers success?
On social media, our followers can really tell we are all having a lot fun making our videos. We work hard to create fun content and we have also had some good luck! Each one in the family adds to our videos in different ways including Chewy our Chihuahua! Our key to success is really a combination of big voices and family fun humor.
How often do you upload new content?
We try to post at least 4 times a week! It is sometimes hard to get everyone together for every video, so we will post videos that doesn’t include everyone in them.
What do you think is the secret to have a successful social media presence and very loyal fans?
We try to answer everyone who takes the time to comment on our videos, especially within the first 24 hours of a videos release. We engage our followers by asking for advice as to which songs they want to hear next. For us it is important to pay attention to trending music and then create our own family twist with this music!
How challenging is to always doing the right thing, and creating new content with more competition in the market?
We like to think we do a diverse set of videos each week. Some videos we create are for current trends online, and some songs often are requested from our followers. We also like to create family competition videos and ask “who sang it best!” Our last type of videos are “songs with stories” where we create a little short music video. Most of our videos have humor added and that seems to keep people coming back to watch more!
What other projects are you guys currently working on?
We just released our first merchandise TheSharpeBox.com which features our new board game the whole family can play called “Sharpe Or Flat”. This game is part of our box along with 12 other items that are items that we as a family enjoy!
We have a Sharpe Family Holiday Christmas Album coming out in November with many classics and a few new original songs! We have several more big surprises that are in the works within the TV industry, and we hope that you all stayed tuned as you will be hearing about them shortly!
What is your own definition of happiness?
We have a lot of fun playing board games, sports in the yard, and playing our legendary family hide-and-go-seek game in our home.
Happiness for us is making people smile and taking people away from their worries while watching our videos or family shows!
What is next for the Sharpe Family Singers in 2020?
Once everything goes back to normal we will be on stage performing our show. The show has begun to evolve musically because of all of the new songs we have sung on social media!
If you could meet someone living or dead, who would it be and why?
The twins said Frank Sinatra because they love singing his songs in our shows and love his voice! Dad said he would like to have met Elvis Presley. Samantha would love to meet Celine Dion because she is her idol, Logan said he would like to meet Derrick Rose because he loves basketball, Barbra would love to meet Barry Manilow because he was the reason she wanted to become a performer and she also has heard that he is really kind.
What is your favorite healthy food?
Barbra and all of us really enjoy kale salad, and avocado.
Samantha loves natural peanut butter and apples
The twins love fruit. Logan and Ron like turkey burgers.
And your favorite cheat food?
Barbra says Pizza
Samantha, Ron love Chocolate
Logan’s nickname is Chips…
The twins like ice cream.
In five years from now, where do you see yourself and your career?
Hopefully we will be performing together as a family on stage, possibly on TV and we will have become successful recording artists!
What music do you like?
We like all types of music! We do enjoy amazing harmonies like the group the Pentatonix, we also like sweet classic sounds like the music of the Carpenters, our family is often drawn to music that has a beautiful melody and great high notes!
Do you support any charity?
We have had the pleasure to work with The Ryan Seacrest Foundation, created videos for LoveForTheElderly, supported the Physically Challenged Irish and American Youth Team, among many others. Last year the Sharpe Family Singers received the Shining Star Community Award from the American Cancer Society
What do you like to watch on TV?
We are all over the place with TV! Our older children love to watch Big Brother, the twins are watching the Netflix series Cobra Kai which is a continuation of the Karate kid movies. Barbra and Samantha are watching the Handmaid’s Tale, and Ron is always watching Expedition Unknown, Pawn Stars or American Pickers.
3 things you can’t leave home without?
Keys, Wallet, and the twins’ iPads.
Idea of a perfect Sunday?
A big breakfast with pancakes, eggs, and bacon! Play a game as a family and then having a family movie night with popcorn!
What do you think of Social Media?
Social media has to become the way we all communicate. We have to monitor young children because so much of the content may not be age appropriate. Social media is here to stay so we have to make sure our kids get out of the house and socially communicate with other kids face to face! Hopefully we all will learn to manage our kids’ video game and social media usage so we don’t create a generation of adults who are not productive.
Where can we follow you?
We are at SharpeFamilySingers on TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube
Quote: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times! Charles Dickens
Actor/Actress: Will Ferrell / Anna Kendrick
Drink: Water for everyone and …Ron likes Coke Zero
City: Is Disney World a city ;). Lake Buena Vista or the state of Hawaii
Movie: any of the Star Wars Movies
Sport Team: The NJ JETS & The Chicago Bulls
Song: Bohemian Rhapsody
