Rich Cook founded Men Alive in September 2001 after being inspired by a performance of the Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles. Rich is an experienced director who comes to Men Alive and the gay choral family via the Christian/Gospel music world. His background includes serving as musical director/artistic director for several large Christian ministries, including Pat Robertson's Political Rallies, Trinity Broadcasting (TBN), and Melodyland in Anaheim, California. He also served on the Gospel Music Association's Board of Directors. Besides being a skilled director, Rich is also an accomplished ASCAP and BMI composer with numerous published songs and works.
Rich is the proud father of 3 daughters, Jodi, Jeni, Julianne and has 3 grandsons, Gabriel, Benjamin and Preston. He has long made Orange County his home, and resides with his partner, Chris Macaluso, in Aliso Viejo.
Bob
Gunn is a founding member of Men Alive, and has served as Assistant Director
since early 2002. A professional musician with over 25 years of experience,
Bob holds a Bachelors Degree in Piano Performance, Music Theory and Education
from Azusa Pacific University.
Bob has had a broad musical career, with experience as pianist, keyboardist,
singer, producer, conductor, arranger, orchestrator and even recording
artist. In his "early days", after graduating college, Bob spent many
years on the road performing with several Christian rock groups. Today,
he has settled in Southern California and made his home with his partner in Los Angeles.
Paul Findlay comes to Orange
County and Men Alive after many years in Portland, Oregon, where he
sang with the Portland Gay Men's Chorus (PGMC). He also served as PGMC's
Marketing Director for three years before moving to south Orange County
to be with his partner. Paul comes from the corporate world, bringing
with him a background in High Tech Marketing as well as an MBA from
UC Berkeley. In his professional life, he is a Marketing Manager with
the world's leading avionics entertainment company.
In addition to singing with Men Alive, Paul is an avid country-western
and square dancer, and is very involved with the gay square dance community
of Southern California. Currently he lives in Aliso Viejo with his life
partner, Doug Ward.
André Chassé originally joined Men Alive at the very first rehearsal, and sang for the first two performances before relocating to the east coast because of a job transfer. André rejoined the chorus in 2005 after returning to Orange County.
André was born and raised in the beautiful state of Maine and moved to California in 1986 to study music performance at UC Irvine. He has sung with the Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles, the Pacific Chorale and has directed and sung with many church choirs and ensembles over the years. André works in Human Resources for a large Title company based in Orange County and lives in Santa Ana.
As membership director, Andre finds recruiting for new members an easy sell. "Men Alive is a wonderful group of people committed to bringing joy and awareness to the entire community through inspiring, high quality musical performances. We genuinely care about each other and about the mission of the chorus. I'm so proud to be a part of Men Alive."
Robb Neale joined Men Alive in September 2005 and immediately discovered
that, as he says, "this is an amazing group of guys having a wonderful
time and producing incredible music." Prior to joining Men Alive,
he sang with the Honolulu Men's Chorus, also staging their concerts and
serving on the Board. While in Honolulu, he was the Director's Assistant
on several musicals at Diamond Head Theatre and Manoa Valley Theatre.
His only other theatrical experiences were his performances in two rather
forgettable college musicals at Vassar College, from which he graduated
in 1990 with degree in Geology, a major which has contributed absolutely
nothing to his subsequent career(s). Robb was born and raised in San Diego,
CA and has lived at various times in London, UK; Seattle, WA; Fukuoka,
Japan and Honolulu, HI. He currently resides in Corona, CA.
Outside of Men Alive, Robb works for UPS, although not as a driver, so
he doesn't get to wear the cute, brown shorts. In the little time he's not
either working or rehearsing, Robb enjoys entertaining, traveling, theatre-going,
speculating on home improvements that won't actually happen, and taking
care of his two cats, Stoli and Cosmo.
Dan Martin joined Men Alive in September 2006 and when asked "So what do you think?" he responded, "Why didn't I join sooner?!" This is a fantastic group of individuals and I am honored to be among them. Dan's only musical experience goes back to his high school days where he served as President of the choral group "A Touch of Class" performing both show tunes and jazz numbers. Dan also did some choreography for the group and they were honored to have been able to tour Mexico and Canada. Dan also performed in his high school musicals Oklahoma, Fiddler on the Roof, Brigadoon and The Wizard of Oz.
Dan moved to California from a farm in Oregon in 1993. Outside of Men Alive he owns a home in Orange and enjoys spending time with his two dogs Hideo and Gertie. He keeps himself busy working on his home, traveling, jet skiing and spending time with family and friends every chance he can. Dan works for Downey Savings and Loan where he is a Branch Manager and has been with the company for 11 years.
