Maddie Phillips ’08 returned to Elon University last weekend not for an alumni event or a speaking engagement, but to celebrate 15 years of Elon’s first all-women a cappella group, Sweet Signatures.
“I’m like the old high school quarterback who can’t let go of my high school years,” she said.
Phillips, who now lives in Charlotte, initially planned for the event to be a small gathering of some Sweet Signatures alumnae, but it amounted in a performance at the group’s final concert of the year.
“I talked to the current girls and sent them a long emotional email saying I can’t let go and asked if we could at least call the alumnae and see if they could come back,” she said.
Once they got confirmation from multiple alumnae, it became more realistic for them to perform a song together. When women from out of state started making plans to return, 20 of them decided to rent a house in Burlington for the weekend.
The group spans across many classes. Phillips rode from Charlotte with Anna Woodlief ’11. Woodlief joined Sweet Signatures during the spring of her freshman year, Phillips’ final semester at Elon.
She was president of Sweet Signatures both her junior and senior years and competed at two competitions with the group, including the International Championship of Collegiate A cappella (ICCA). She was also involved in recording the group’s fourth album, “Love Affair,” and sang at a wedding in Florida for one of the members’ former chorus teacher.
After graduating, though, Woodlief’s singing career petered out.
“I sing karaoke sometimes,” she said. “A cappella was a very specific kind of group to be a part of and then once you get out of college it’s not as easily accessible, so it’s definitely a void in my life.”
Phillips still attempts to sing regularly, though.
“I sing at a lot of weddings because all of my friends are married and I lead the worship band at my church in Charlotte,” she said. “I sing at random gatherings and bars and things.”
Other Sweet Signatures alumnae have stayed true to their a cappella roots: Keegan Gross ‘13 sings with Empire A cappella, another women-only group Lauren France sings with New York City-based a cappella group VXN and Lindsey Howardton Hastings is involved with the ICCA regional finals, which has kept her connected with the collegiate a cappella community.
Sweet Signatures alumnae returned from states as far west as California and Oregon, and as far north as New York. For the alumnae, the reunion celebrates the history of all-female a cappella at Elon and the singing sisterhood that continues to grow from it. Phillips reminisces on a college experience that was marked not by hours in the library, but by time spent in rehearsals with Sweet Signatures.
“We lived together and we went through lots of hard life things together and happy things together,” she said. “They were my family. They were my sorority. I was singing with my best friends.”