The words “fifth element” might conjure up images of the 1997 sci-fi movie starring Bruce Willis and Milla Jovovich.
However, Fifth Element is best known in western Wisconsin as the all-male a cappella group at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.
Will Johnston, a 2013 Shawano Community High School graduate and now a sophomore communications major at UWEC, is the group’s tenor.
“It opens up so much in the world of networking,” Johnston said. “There’s a guy that just got an internship with a Fortune 500 company because one of the higher-ups was a member of Fifth Element 10 years ago. Just being in this group moves you forward in life.”
Fifth Element was in Shawano on Friday and Clintonville on Tuesday to give music workshops for area schoolchildren.
“It’s super fun to come back and teach these kids,” Johnston said. “They have so many questions, and it’s just nice to answer those.”
Jonathon Kent, choir director for Shawano Community Middle School and Shawano Community High School, appreciates that Johnston is sharing his gifts with younger children.
“Members of Fifth Element use their singing/performing talents to introduce the students to the world of a cappella music,” Kent said. “It’s great that Will is singing with a group of like-minded men who want to ‘give back’ to the community, be it here or elsewhere.”
Fifth Element members taught local students about the history of a cappella music, how it started in the churches as music geared for Mass and other religious events, evolved into barbershop music and then into the modern era, when a cappella and beatbox combine. (Fifth Element added a sixth member to provide percussion for its songs.)
Kent hopes the workshop will show his students that they don’t have to be music majors to sing and perform at the college level and beyond.
“Singing can be a lifelong experience that is full of enjoyment, and you can find a level that makes you happy,” Kent said.
Fifth Element was started in 1998 for students who were unable to get into any of the other music groups at the college, according to Johnston, who has made it a point to know the history of the group. The tables have turned in 15 years, and Fifth Element is now one of the more popular campus groups, he said.
Johnston learned about the group at an event called a cappella Extravaganza during his freshman year.
“I heard them, and I fell in love instantly,” Johnston said. “It was crazy.”
“I’ve always thought that I’ve had a good voice,” Johnston said. “No one has ever really raved about it, but all the guys in the group when I auditioned asked, ‘Can you do that all day?’ because I sing the really, really high parts.”
After a year of shadowing and rehearsing with the group, Johnston finally got the chance to perform in August 2015, when Fifth Element traveled to Milwaukee to be on the “Morning Blend” to promote the group’s latest album. It was purely by chance that Johnston got to sing the solo, as the member who was supposed to sing the solo that day could not make it.
“I had a solo, I was going to be on TV, and I was going to be out in the open,” Johnston said. “I had sang the song with the guys in the background, but it was super fun to do it.”
Johnston showed his vocal range Friday when he sang a solo from Adele’s “Hello.” He also had solos in songs by Third Eye Blind and Barenaked Ladies that Fifth Element performed at concerts this week.
Johnston said he was surprised by the audience reaction to Fifth Element performances.
“They’re like, ‘Will, I want to get a picture just with you,’ and ‘You’re the best.’ That’s just super weird to hear,” Johnston said. “It’s such an experience that I never thought that I would have in college.”
The experience doesn’t have Johnston changing his career plans, but he wouldn’t have a problem continuing down a path with singing as a key part of his life.
“If I could not do anything else and just do that, I’d be happy,” he said.
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