(written by Donna Balkan)

Tonic!, a quartet made up of four women from across the Halifax region, has won first place in Atlantic Canada’s most prestigious competition for women barbershop singers.

Tonic! won the top prize in the quartet competition at the Harmony Inc. 2015 Area 1 Contest and Convention (AC&C) in St. John’s, NL on June 5. Founded in 2012, this is only the third time Tonic! has competed for top quartet honours.

"We are very proud and honored to have won the Area 1 Harmony Quartet championship and thankful for the support of our fellow ScotianAires,” said Windsor Junction resident Marion Fraser-Pritchard, who works as an RCMP officer when she’s not singing. “Now we are looking forward to preparing for the International contest in Verona, New York next November. This is a very exciting time for us and something all quartets hope for and dream of."

All four Tonic! members, who also include Cathy Hunter (Dartmouth), Mary Gareau (Fall River) and Adele Merritt (Halifax), are members of the ScotianAires, a 52-voice women’s barbershop chorus which took third place in the chorus contest at AC&C.

“The weekend was a wonderful experience for participants, both on and off the stage,” said ScotianAires director Sue Kember. “The competition in the chorus contest was extremely tough, and I would like to congratulate Sea Belles from Saint John, NB and Valley Voices from Kentville, NS who placed first and second. And of course, we’re all extremely proud of Tonic! They have come a long way in a very short period of time.”

Kember said she hopes the successes of both Tonic! and the ScotianAires help to raise the profile of women’s barbershop singing in the Halifax region.

We’re always looking to expand our membership, so if you’re a woman who loves to sing, we want to hear from you.” -