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Alison Torrillo French

Alison grew up in the fabled New York habitat known as Lawn Guyland and has been trying to shake the accent ever since she left 10+ years ago to attend Cornell University (because everyone knows there are NO Long Islanders there!). After graduating in 1995, with her first taste of a cappella as a member of After Eight, the all-female a cappella subset of the Cornell University Chorus, Alison took her low alto voice to New York City where she pursued her newfound love by attending performance after performance of fabulously talented groups that she was not in. Upon moving to Washington, DC, in 1996, she decided to do something about it and co-founded the women's a cappella group Drastic Measures, which had a successful run through early 2003. After a brief stint with the American University Chorus while pursuing both a job and an MBA there, Alison now works as a manager with BearingPoint consulting and is thrilled to be singing once again with T&G, where she is proud of her distinction as the woman who can sometimes sing lower than the guys.

Fun Facts About Alison

Favorite guilty pleasure: Breyer's All-Natural Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream...the FULL FAT kind!! :-)

Favorite thing to do in DC: Why, singing with T&G, of course!! Also like the great restaurants, Arena Stage, karaoke and swing dancing at various venues. And watching the planes land at Gravelly Point...very cool.

Favorite place I've traveled: Tuscany and Italy's Amalfi Coast

Biggest pet peeve: I am a bit of a grammar freak...I go nuts when people use the word "it's" when it should be "its" or "there" when it should be "they're"...and don't even get me started on "accept" and "except"...!!

Musical influences: Low altos like Diana Krall, Karen Carpenter and the Indigo Girls (Amy Ray in particular) and time-tested musicians like Billy Joel and Sinatra. Also, the funky female-fronted NY-based band Sirsy (www.sirsy.com) because I totally admire them for going pro...and they kick major butt! :-)