Lacy Kyle

Lacy who had been a member of Anvil Chorus for a little under twenty years, sadly died on 18 April 2021 and since then huge volumes of tributes have been received by the Club and its members from around the UK and beyond, all of which reflect on his amazing rich resonant Bass voice which was so good that any chorus would have been proud to have him amongst its members.

Quite apart from his Anvil Chorus Membership he had also joined in 2019 the Birmingham-based MaleVox Chorus, and sang Bass with Classmates Quartet. From my first conversation with him when he was making enquiries about potentially joining Anvil Chorus, it was plain that with such a voice he was to be welcomed and I arranged to meet him prior to his first rehearsal to introduce him to the Director and other Members. From that day on he was a regular attender at rehearsals, Sing-outs and Conventions when his duties as a Custody Suite Sergeant allowed and he would travel to preliminary contests and take part in tag sessions as well.

Lacy had considerable music talents including piano playing; guitar playing in addition to his singing. Whilst others would usually warm up for events by drinking fluids Lacy would often take a few moments for a roll-up in the fresh air but invariably sang with skills which everyone would envy.

During 2019 and 2020 before Covid-19 overtook events Lacy also helped with some coaching during rehearsals particularly in the understanding of the Circle of Fifths and chord structures for example. He also gave time to other members of the Bass section in the learning and singing of new songs, finally taking over the award of ‘Cookies’ for recordings from the section on new songs.

Outside of Barbershop Lacy had a keen interest in both motor cars and motor cycles – usually owning two of each at any time – which he enjoyed tinkering with. He took great pride in his Kawasaki Bike. In the most recent years he tended to alternate the use of his cars between an old Land Rover and a Porche sports car which bore the apposite number BA55 BUS !

Another significant contribution which Lacy made for the Club was the creation of a new part of our Club website to handle the Media pages with Music; teach tracks; videos; and coaching notes which is as good as any chorus could hope to be able to access and use.

After his retirement from the West Midlands Police Service in 2016 he decided to take on a new challenge and became a valued member of staff of the West Midlands Ambulance Service in 2017 as part of the Patient Transport Service, which illustrates the major contributions which Lacy made to public services throughout his life.

Lacy leaves his wife Jenny and son Sam to whom sincere and heartfelt sympathies are extended.