When Spring came to war-weary Princeton in 1946, it found thirteen men who had decided that there was no real outlet for a variety of close harmony singing on campus. Under the leadership of Henry G. Parker III '48, these men combined to form the Princeton Tigertones. It is rumored one enchanted evening in 1946 the original group sang the Tigertones’ first song, the Princeton classic, “The Orange Moon,” in beautiful four-part harmony under a table in the tap room of Princeton's famous Nassau Inn.

First performing for the Nassau Inn and in various venues around campus, the Tones quickly outgrew Princeton's walls. The group traveled to women's colleges along the East Coast and performed for New York Area social clubs. With a tour to Bermuda shortly after the group's founding, the Tigertones began a long tradition of international touring. Even with such great initial success, the founders could have hardly dreamed that one day the Tones would be featured in numerous newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, Life Magazine, and Rolling Stone, on domestic and international television, in various radio programs and even in motion pictures.

In the summer of 1987, the Tones crossed the Atlantic for their first World Tour. Nine tours later, the World Tour has become a biennial event, lasting for five or six weeks in the summer. This past summer the tour included stops everywhere from Munich to Monaco. Within the past few years, the Tones have traveled to Israel, Greece, Japan, and Jamaica. They have sung for the Israeli President and the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, and they have entertained former President Bill Clinton on Martha’s Vineyard. They have entertained celebrities from Danny Devito to Brooke Shields. They have harmonized atop camels in Egypt, and they have crooned their way across the Atlantic aboard the QE2. The Tones also tour the US for three weeks each school year, and still find time for occasional weekend trips and local performances.

The Tigertones are also known for their performances on New York’s largest stages. On October 16, 1988, the Tigertones sang for an audience of more than 2,200 in New York's Carnegie Hall, raising over $40,000 for world hunger in a benefit concert hosted by Tony Randall. A 1995 concert benefiting the American Red Cross, held in Carnegie Hall with the Harvard Krokodiloes and Yale Whiffenpoofs began a series of concerts featuring the three singing group. A similar concert was held in 1998 to benefit Mothers Against Drunk Driving in memory of Tigertone music director Rick Modica ’99. Most recently, the group sang at Lincoln Center in November 2001 raising more than $10,000 for Broadway Cares: Equity Fights Aids.

With a constantly expanding repertoire ranging from traditional ballads and jazz to barbershop, Broadway, classic rock, and American pop, the Tigertones continue to entertain audiences of all ages and musical tastes. Whether performing for kindergartners in downtown Trenton, elderly audiences in Palm Beach or teenage schoolgirls in Switzerland, the Tones and their songs have universal appeal. Many of these songs have been captured on the Tigertones' twenty-seven recordings, the most recent of which, entitled "Old No. 27", was released in the fall of ‘02.

The Tigertones are Princeton’s signature all male a cappella group. After fifty-seven years and more than twenty-seven recordings, we continue to thrive and to keep alive a tradition of "Good Friends and Good Music", sharing with audiences of all ages the harmony, spontaneity, and brotherhood that have become our trademarks.