level 6
Background and name
Pentatonix began with three friends that grew up together: Kirstin "Kirstie" Maldonado, Mitch Grassi, and Scott Hoying at Martin High School in Arlington, Texas.[3] Hearing of a local radio show hosting a competition to meet the cast of Glee, they arranged a trio version of "Telephone"and sent it in. Although they did not end up winning the competition,
it sparked attention around their school, where the group began
performing. After their version of "Telephone" gained attention on YouTube, they continued performing.[6]
Scott Hoying and Kirstie Maldonado graduated from Martin High School in 2010. Hoying went off to the University of Southern California to pursue a bachelor's degree in Popular Music, while Maldonado pursued a Musical Theatre major at The University of Oklahoma.[7]
Grassi, the youngest member of the trio, was still in his senior year
of high school. While at USC, Scott Hoying joined an a cappella group
called SoCal VoCals. He found out about The Sing-Off from another member of the group and was encouraged to audition for the show.[7] He persuaded Kirstie Maldonado and Mitch Grassi to join him, but the show required at least five members.[8]
Hoying met Avriel "Avi" Kaplan through a mutual friend and the trio
found Kevin Olusola on YouTube, as one of his videos where he was
beatboxing and playing his cello at the same time went viral. Kevin
graduated from Yale.[9][10]
The group effectively met the day before the auditions for the third season of The Sing-Off began.[11] Mitch Grassi skipped his high school graduation ceremony in order to arrive on time for the auditions.[7] They successfully auditioned for the show and eventually went on to win the title for 2011 (season 3).[12]
Pentatonix, as suggested by Kevin Olusola, is named after the pentatonic scale, a musical scale or mode with five notes per octave.[13] The group believed that the scale's five notes matched their membership. They replaced the last letter with an x to make it more appealing.[14] The quintet derives its influences from pop, dubstep, electro, reggae and hip-hop.[3]
