Four-Ever Young

The Oldest Quartet?

How A centenarian and three nonagenarians Got Together to Harmonize

Barbershop Harmony may be timeless…

But now, thanks to four gentlemen from the Westchester, NY and the Central Connecticut chapters, it is ageless.

This past March 2026, Westchester chapter members Tom LaMotte (92), Anastasio “Stash” Rossi (95) and Lyn Kaufman (99) teamed up with Ray Williams (105) of the Central Connecticut chapter and formed Four-Ever Young, likely to be the oldest quartet in the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS) – and possibly the world!

The idea was the brainchild of chapter members Steve Delehanty, and John Knight. Delehanty explained that on Valentines Day, one of the chapter quartets performed for Williams, who immediately volunteered to replace the baritone. Delehanty saw a video of the quartet singing Heart of My Heart and thought to himself, “I know Stash, Lyn and Tom. What if we put a quartet together and have the world’s oldest quartet!”. Delehanty reached out to John Knight for help. According to Delehanty, Knight’s father sang in a quartet with Williams years ago and the two remain quite close.

Knight then contacted Rossi about the idea. “They were talking about this 105-year-old guy who still sings”, said Rossi. Delehanty reached out to LaMotte and Kaufman and the idea started to gel. “We all seemed to like it,” said Rossi.

Background

Rossi is a retired music teacher who taught at West Lake High School for many years. While helping a colleague at another local high school direct that school’s musical, the colleague invited him to their next chapter meeting. His friend said, “Why don’t you come down and join us?” Not only did Rossi get involved with the chorus, he later became one of the directors and arranged a number of songs in their repertoire.

Tom LaMotte is the tenor of the quartet, and probably the best known. He sang for many years with the Racquet Squad, a very popular comedy quartet in the 1960s and 1970’s. “We sang for 21 years all over the US and Canada”, he said. “Our last show in the early 1980’s, we headlined the Honolulu HI chapter show.” He also appeared six times on the David Letterman show with three other chapter members, often singing the ever-popular “Top Ten” list.

Lyn Kaufman didn’t start singing barbershop harmony until he was older. “I started singing in my mid-50’s”, he said. A retired electronics supervisor, Kaufman would come to rehearsals with a stereo cassette recorder to help learn the repertoire. “I would use one channel to record an overall mix of a song and then use the other channel to record the bass part.” At 99 years old, Kaufman is a very active member of the chorus, attending rehearsals weekly and standing on the risers the entire rehearsal. “Lyn is amazing. He’s the youngest 99-year-old I’ve ever seen,” said LaMotte.

Williams is the oldest member of the quartet at 105 years old. Originally from Buffalo, he was transferred to Boston for work and joined the Framingham Chapter. He later relocated to Trumbull, CT and directed the Bridgeport Chapter chorus. Besides singing, Williams is passionate about bowling, having kept a 180-average right up to a few years ago!

Their First Show!

As family, friends and chapter members gathered around, the quartet was introduced by Delehanty during a break in rehearsal. They made their way “on stage” – some using walkers and canes to steady themselves. “This is the first time I was the youngest in a quartet,” quipped LaMotte to hilarious laughter. Rossi blew pitch and the quartet launched into “Heart of My Heart”.

Right from the start it was obvious that these four were “old pros”. Although they never sang together before that evening, they rang chords like they had been singing together for years! They even added some choreography!. As they belted out their last chord, the audience – some 80 people strong – erupted into applause. Many took pictures and videos.

The crowd cried “More! More!” It was time for an “encore”. But before they began their encore, Williams – who was known as the “joke-teller” for his quartet years before, launched into a joke about a married man, his Italian mistress and five plates of spaghetti. The crowd roared. “He was the front man for his quartet and could extend a performance 45 minutes with all his jokes!” laughed Knight. Rossi commented “Ray is the ‘young whippersnapper’ in this group mentally, spiritually and psychologically”.

For their encore, the quartet chose “My Wild Irish Rose”, and to show off their abilities and talents, Rossi and Williams switched parts with Williams singing Lead and “Stash” singing Bari. The crowd once again erupted into a standing ovation as the four seniors beamed with happiness. After the quartet sang, the chorus sang an impromptu “Happy Birthday” to Williams, who was celebrating his 105^th birthday the next day. 

Encore

“They were brilliant,” remarked Musical Director Keith Harris. “You will never see that again in your life!”. Williams chimed in “I certainly had fun”, saying that he especially liked having the opportunity to sing lead for My Wild Irish Rose. LaMotte said, “I loved it”, and Rossi, who served as pitch-man said “We may want to take a shot at the Guiness World Record for the oldest quartet on the planet!” Kaufman was already looking to the future. “We don’t know when we’re planning our next rehearsal, it depends on how many requests we get for shows.”

Then he added “We plan to honor them all”.

Four-Ever Young: (l-r) Tom LeMotte (92), “Stash” Rossi (95), Lyn Kaufman (99) and Ray Williams (105)