Aaron Cassaro, CEO of The All-American Boys Chorus

All-American Boys Chorus’ CEO continues giving the gift of song through the organization that gave so much to him.

The All-American Boys Chorus is a lot like a song. One of those songs that has a light, catchy melody, but the lyrics carry a sly message.

Below all the catchy harmonies, the objective of the chorus is as much about making leaders as it is about making singers. You figure that out pretty quickly talking to those who’ve been a part of it for a few years. And it’s a quality carried from chorus members right up to the boss.

“We do use music as a vessel, but we really want to build leadership skills, team work and discipline through music,” Aaron Cassaro says.

He started out as a member of the chorus, worked his way up, doing various jobs in the organization during and after college, and is now the CEO. “It’s really about leadership and teaching them how to be great people, leaders in their community and help people.”

It’s easy for Cassaro to talk about the big picture, because he’s lived the big picture.

“I was a rambunctious 10-year-old. My parents were having a hard time with me,” he says.

But one summer day, he went to the Orange County Fair with his family and happened to see the boys chorus perform.

“They were singing Beach Boys and Beatles. Music I liked,” he says.

And he was hooked. In his first year as a member, his attitude and grades improved.

“You can’t go on our tours if you’re not behaving,” he says. “The chorus is very goal oriented. A lot of things we do are focused around the boys. There’s a lot of incentive there to be better, and we hear it all the time: ‘It changed my life.’”

Timmy Maggs, 16, was the shy son of the music director of his church. He liked singing and he occasionally performed with the church’s choir on Easter or Christmas, but seven years ago heard about auditions for the group on a radio show he was listening to with his family. After carefully thinking it over, he auditioned and started the following day.

The All-American Boys Chorus’ holiday show
Photo courtesy of The All-American Boys Chorus

“They said go to a couple of rehearsals and then decide. I went to a couple and decided I liked [it]. I started wanting to go to chorus. Now I go to everything,” Maggs says. “I was pretty nervous and uncertain at first, but one of the cool things is its peer-to-peer mentorship.

“One of the older boys showed me around and told me how the day was going to look. It made me a little less uneasy. Then we played basketball and had some food. That was the beginning of how I fell in love with the chorus.”

Since then, he’s performed hundreds of times — on tour around the world, and at veterans events, hospitals and retirement homes.

“After a performance, we meet the audience,” Maggs says. “They teach you how to do that. Over time my shyness began to go away.”

And now Maggs is a mentor, making sure new kids connect and fit in, and answering questions they might have. And of course, keeping his share of the group in harmony.

“One of our main mottos is, ‘We are only as good as our discipline,’” he says. “With a lot of hard work, you get a lot of reward. Our audiences in the U.S. and Canada are in their 50s to 60s, but in Asia, the audience is mostly younger girls. In China, we’re rock stars.”

The non-profit organization is now located in Santa Ana after moving from Newport Beach. That has allowed more low-income kids to join and be provided with opportunities they might never have had. The opportunity to make the music, to work as a group, and eventually to lead.

“There’s something about peer-to-peer mentorship,” Cassaro says. “It makes them take ownership of their examples. They were mentored when they came in and it gives them a sense of community. We are all together.”

By Shawn Price