It’s been traveling by word of mouth for the past couple of days, but Daniel Riley confirmed today that tenor Chris Cooper is no longer singing with Gold City. Tomorrow would have marked the sixth-month mark since it was announced that he had been hired. An official press release, along with the announcement of a new tenor, will be made in the next few days.

This announcement is one that I admit I saw coming. Before I state my thoughts, let me say that they are in no way, shape, or form, a slam to Chris. He’s a great tenor singer. I started getting concerned for him near the end of this year’s NQC, though. Some nights, he was ON, and it almost sounded like Jay Parrack up there. However, on other nights, he sounded like he was struggling to sing the part. As I’ve heard people put it, it was “hit and miss.” I’ve noticed it on various online videos as well.

It’s no secret that Gold City’s tenor part is one of the most demanding in the business, and as good a tenor as Cooper is, he doesn’t have the range to do it. I’d love to see him with another top group, albeit one with a less stratospherical tenor part. A group like Legacy Five (whom Chris auditioned with a few years ago) comes to mind. The tenor that they feature on their songs isn’t incredibly high, but still requires quite a bit of power to sing. That’s the kind of group Cooper would do well in; he’s got a powerful tenor voice that isn’t designed to sing in the clouds every night.

I wish Chris well on wherever he lands next, hopefully with another good group. I’ll post thoughts on the new tenor as that info becomes available.