Brian Hemstock was born in Sparta, WI, in 1987 to Tom and Ellen Hemstock.  With his mother as a music teacher, he naturally became interested in music at an early age.  He studied piano for a few years at a young age, and started playing trumpet at age twelve.  Under the direction of Janette Hanson, Brian joined the Vocal Jazz Ensemble, his first time singing in a group, at Sparta High School as a sophomore, and continued with them until he graduated in 2005.  It was with this group that Brian met Dr. Stephen Zegree - he was working at a vocal jazz festival in Mankato, MN, which the ensemble attended.  After preparing a tune for the workshop, Brian worked with Dr. Zegree for a full hour as Zegree’s “guinea pig.”  He was sold on Western Michigan University, where Dr. Zegree directed his own vocal jazz ensemble, Gold Company. 

Brian was accepted as both a vocal and a trumpet major at Western Michigan University (WMU), but after a year of being pulled in too many directions, Brian made a decision to focus on only one instrument - his voice.  As his voice teacher, Prof. Diana Spradling helped him to explore his voice and its unique sound, while continuing to learn the insides and outs of the voice itself.  While at WMU, Brian was involved in many ensembles outside of Gold Company, including Collegiate Singers, a large choir of about one hundred, the University Lab Band, one of the big bands, and was also a member of the Gold Company Sextet, a smaller vocal group, and an all male sextet.  As a member of Gold Company, Brian has also traveled to many exotic places, including Toronto, San Francisco, and France, as well as many places around the Midwest.  He graduated in the Spring of 2009 with a BA in Jazz Studies.  Brian has also had the opportunity to work with some of the jazz greats in master classes: including Fred Hersch; Kurt Elling and Laurence Hobgood; Curtis Stigers; Bobby McFerrin, Chick Corea, and Jack Dejohnette; Take 6; Luiciana Souza; Lyle Mays; and Stefon Harris.

In September of 2009, Brian joined the Glenn Miller Orchestra as their male vocalist.  The band tours forty-eight weeks a year doing over two hundred and fifty shows.  The Glenn Miller Orchestra remains as the only band that is still touring full-time.  To find out when the group will be near you, visit www.glennmillerorchestra.com.  You can also find the history of this classic big band there as well.  Brian’s first solo album, Handful of Stars, was released in mid-September of 2010. Look for more on this young vocalist in the years to come.