Jon Pilat (JP)

Jon heard a King's Singers album when he was 16 years old and decided he wanted to sing a cappella music. He's stuck with that decision ever since. In college, Jon sang and learned how to beatbox and arrange music with the Stanford Harmonics. Since then, Jon has kept singing with Hookslide (bass & beatbox, usually at the same time) since 2000, with Beyond Zebra (baritone & beatbox, usually at different times) since 2017, and sometimes with the Fog City Singers, who let him sing 2nd tenor, but have no use for his beatboxing.

Jon has arranged over 200 songs for a cappella, and has won numerous awards for his arrangements. Nominated for the 2000 Contemporary A Cappella Award (CARA) for "Best Mixed Arranger", he lost to John Legend. It's the only time he's been compared to John Legend. He's won best arrangement awards at the Harmony Sweepstakes Bay Area Regionals for "Tightrope", "The Chain", and "Don't You Forget About Me" and a Best Pop/Rock Cover Song CARA for his arrangement of "Dream On", by Aerosmith.

Beyond Beyond Zebra, Jon works at Apple, bakes bread, and lives in Palo Alto with his wife (who he met singing!), sister-in-law, and 2 children. They tolerate the a cappella.