On Saturday, May 14, Ballard High School graduate and world-famous musician, Bob Flick will return to Ballard High School for the Brothers Four 50th anniversary concert.

This will be the fourth time that The Brothers Four will perform at Ballard High School to raise funds for the school’s music department.

"We're excited to see them back," said Richard Lee from Ballard High School Foundation. “They had a great following back in the day and we’re hoping to sell out.”

Lee said that previous concerts attracted as many as 1500 people to the concert.

"They may have left physically but they never left mentally," Lee said.

Flick, BHS class of 1956, formed The Brothers Four with three of his fraternity brothers while attending the University of Washington and today he’s the only remaining founding member in the band.

The band has performed thousands of concerts all over the world, including performances for four U.S. presidents, and have been called global pioneers in the musical movement of folk revival. Their hit recording of "The Green Leaves of Summer" from the motion picture "The Alamo" was nominated for an Academy Award.

"It feels incredible to have been able to contribute in that way," said Flick, the band’s bass player and singer/songwriter. “I love it. I couldn’t imagine doing any other job.”

Flick contributes a lot of the band’s success to luck and being in the right place at the right time. “I’m glad I’m not starting out in this industry today,” he said.

The Brothers Four got their break in 1959, when the four young men drove Flick's parents' station wagon to San Francisco during Spring Break to try to play at the “Hungry i”, a North Beach club that was instrumental in the careers of The Kingston Trio, Glenn Yarborough, and Bill Cosby. They simply knocked on the door, persuaded the manager and got to work at the club for that week. They met Mort Lewis, who was Dave Brubeck’s manager at the time and returned to Seattle to make an audition tape.

“We never went back to school after that,” Flick said.

Lewis became their manager and got them a record deal that same year.

Caught in a time period between poppy rock 'n' roll and the British Invasion, The Brothers Four brought a fresh sound of acoustic folk music.

"We were in the right place at the right time," Flick said, also crediting the band's hard work as they played the college circuit heavily for their first year.

The Brothers Four were among the first bands of the folk revival and Flick said folk was popular because it was "simple in its concepts".

“Folk was easy to learn. It’s telling a story with direct emotions and simple melodies," he said. “Folk is the music of the people.”

With the Vietnam war folk also became the music that carried messages.

The Brother Four song “Where have all the flowers gone” was such a song and at President Lyndon Johnson’s request, The Brothers Four toured Vietnam twice, in 1964 and 1965, bringing music and hope to the soldiers.

Flick said the band still receives Thank You letters from men who were fighting in Vietnam at the time and saw them perform.

But perhaps their biggest success has been in Japan.

“We got to go there first,” Flick said. "And folk became our brand. They started calling it Bro Four music."

The Brothers Four continue to tour Japan annually.

While other band members left the group and moved onto other projects, Flick continued the band.

"Folk music has been his life-long pursuit of happiness," Lee said. "He has been a pivotal person in keeping the band together."

Flick said at concerts they run into the dilemma of fitting 50 years of music into a two-hour period.

"People want to hear the familiar songs," Flick said. "For many it's the first time hearing them live."

Flick said that while traveling and being on the road gets tiring, they never tire of performing "Green leaves of summer" and the other classics.

The band keeps performing and producing quality music because they love it, rehearse all the time, and "none of us has hit rock bottom or become drugged out", Flick said.

"We''ll continue to make music and perform as long as we keep getting invited to sing," he said.

The Ballard audience can expect some of the classics as well as some new songs at the upcoming concert, and joining the band on stage will be the Ballard High Vocal Jazz Ensemble.

With still a few weeks to go before the concert, Flick said " people should rehearse in the car so they can sing along. But keep the windows down".

You can download their music on iTunes, Amazon, or CD Baby.

The concert takes place on Saturday, May 14 at 7:00 p.m. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and tickets are limited.
They're available for $50 at ShowTix4You.
If you purchase a ticket for $100, you'll have the opportunity to meet The Brothers Four in an after-concert reception in the Ballard High Commons.
Proceeds from the concert will benefit the Music Department of Ballard High School.