Scott Hoying - Songwriters, Birthday and Life

Scott Hoying was born on 17th September, 1991 at Arlington, Texas. He grew up in his hometown and attended ‘Martin High School’. Scott’s best friend since childhood is Mitchell Grassi.

Scott and Mitchell went to the same school and were good friends with Kristin Maldonado. The trio decided to form their own band to participate in a local radio competition to meet the cast of the television show, ‘Glee’.

They covered Lady Gaga’s song ‘Telephone’ and submitted it to the radio office. Though they didn’t meet the cast of Glee as they lost the competition, they turned very popular in school.

They performed at school events together and at local shows too. Scott received constant support from his parents. He graduated from high school in 2010 and moved to California to pursue a degree in music at the ‘University of Southern California.

At the university he joined an A Cappella group called ‘SoCal VoCals’ as a baritone vocalist, which helped him gain confidence performing on stage as an adult.

In the middle of his graduation, he heard about the auditions for “The Sing-Off’. Wanting to recreate the magic of his childhood and live his dream, he convinced Mitch Grassi and Kristie Maldonado to join him.

In order to complete the group he contacted Avi Kaplan, a vocal bassist and a YouTube beatboxing sensation, ‘Kevin Olusola. Together they formed the A Cappella group. Scott dropped out of college to concentrate on the group and help lead it to victory on the show.

It was Scott who coined the name ‘Pentatonix’ for his group. He named it so based on the “pentatonic scale”- comprising of five notes per octave and replaced ‘c’ with an ‘x’ to make the band name more recent and appealing.

Scott and the rest of the group members met just a day before their audition for the reality show. They identified each other’s strengths and encouraged one another to give their best on the show, with each other’s support they cleared the auditions and soon made it to the live shows.

On the show, the group sang at spectacular vocal ranges and the difference in voice textures was soothing to the judges’ ears. Scott sang the most perfect harmonies in songs such as ‘Piece of My Heart’, ‘Born to the Wild’, ‘Let’s Get It On’ and ‘Without You’, winning the judges and audience on the show.

For the finale episode, Scott and his band first performed David Guetta’s ‘Without You’, followed by their second performance ‘Give Me Just One Night’ by 98 Degrees. He went on to win the third season of the show in 2011, with the group’s victory song ‘Eye of the Tiger’.

In 2012, Scott began working with Madison Gate Records under producer Ben Bram. In June, the group’s first EP titled ‘PTX Volume 1’ released. It climbed to the number 14 spot on U.S. Billboard 200 and reached number 5 on the digital charts.

In 2012, he went on a home tour to promote the recently launched extended play. He performed in concerts in thirty cities in America. His first tour was a success with all his concerts sold out.

Later in November, he also released a Christmas EP titled ‘PTXMas’. During the holiday season, most of his dates were booked to perform at events such as ‘Coca-Cola Red Carpet LIVE!’, ‘Holiday Christmas Parade’ and ‘94.7 The Wave Christmas Concert’.

Shortly after, a Christmas album was also released as a deluxe edition to the EP. The song ‘Little Drummer Boy’ made to the top of the Holiday Chart and placed at number twenty four on the U.S. Billboard Album Charts.

In 2013, Scott along with other PTX members visited the sets of ‘The Ellen De Generes Show’ in order to promote another EP named ‘PTX Vol II’. The following year, they joined hands with ‘RCA Records’ and released both ‘PTX-I & II’ as their first official album.

By August 2014, his third EP named ‘PTX Volume III’ released with excellent reviews, and ranked at number five on Billboard 200, with tracks such as ‘Problem’ and ‘La La Latch’ topping most music charts.

With his next album ‘That’s Christmas to Me’, Scott also turned a songwriter. He co-penned the title track and the album was released in late 2014. As soon as it hit radios, it peaked at the number four spot on Billboard 200.

In 2015, his third full length album was launched and was titled ‘Pentatonix’ after the group’s name. When promoting the album Scott excitedly stated that all of the songs in the album were original pieces with no cover songs.

‘A Pentatonix Christmas’ is his group’s fourth album. The album was released in 2016; it contained cover songs and two original songs ‘Good to Be Bad’ and ‘The Christmas Sing-Along’. The album peaked to the top of the ‘Holiday Album Charts’ and ranked second on Billboard 200.

In 2011, his A Cappella group was named the first band to top both - the ‘Holiday Album’ and ‘Holiday Song’ charts. The ‘PTXmas’ album, went down in history for being the highest charting holiday album since the year 1962.

His group’s album ‘That’s Christmas To Me’ was certified gold by RIAA On 10th December 2014, after 14 days it was certified Platinum. Two years after its release it still featured in the Holiday Albums and was certified Double Platinum in 2016.

Scott’s original album ‘Pentatonix’ debuted at first place on Billboard 200. It sold more than 98,000 units and was certified gold by RIAA in 2016.

He received his first award at the ‘YouTube Music Awards’ in the category of ‘Response of the Year’ in 2013. His channel’s overwhelming music video views crossed over a billion that year.

In 2014, he also won the ‘Streamy Awards’ in the category of ‘best cover Song’ for ‘Draft Punk’. He also won the ‘Artist of the Year’ at the ‘YouTube Music Awards’ in 2015.

Scott received two Grammy Awards, with his group members in 2015 and 2016 for ‘Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella’. He also won the Shorty Awards for ‘Best YouTube Musician’ in 2015.

He presently resides at Los Angeles, California. His idol and biggest influence is pop and R&B artist Beyoncé.

Scott and his best friend, Mitch Grassi share a YouTube channel called ‘SUPERFRUIT’ where they post ‘Vlogs’ every Tuesday.

He has suffered from scoliosis since childhood. Fortunately it hasn’t worsened during adulthood and seems to be under control.

He has contributed to various charity events and foundations. During ‘The Sing-Off’ show he visited ‘The Trevor Project’, an NGO preventing LGBTQ suicides. He also supported the ‘University of Rochester Yellow Jackets’ by performing at a concert to raise funds for the ‘Mass General Cancer Center’.

He appeared on ‘Star Search’ in 2004 but lost to Karina on the show by one point.