The Tenors – Remigio Pereira, Victor Micallef, Fraser Walters, and Clifton Murray – knew that their appearance on the Oprah Winfrey show in 2010 was a huge opportunity to expose their music to a large audience. They had no idea what Oprah had in store for them. As they were singing their gorgeous cover of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah the audience erupted and Celine Dion entered behind them. The stunned expressions on their faces showed that they had no idea she would be joining them.

"You mentioning it still gives me chills to this day, it was one of those life changing moments. Just being on Oprah is a big enough honour and thrill. We were nervous it was such a big shot. Halfway through the song the audience started cheering and the lights got brighter. In my mind I thought they were prompting the audience to applaud and thought, wow this is going to look weird, it is just a guitar a solo," Walters told GayCalgary Magazine. "Little did I know that Celine was walking out behind us. I was one of the last to see her, and it was just an out of body experience. We all probably wanted to just stop singing and give her a big hug but it was the middle of the song! Somehow the instincts allowed us to get through the end of the song. Our manager was the only one who knew and was told if the guys find out we are going to scrap the whole segment. He had to really keep a tight lip on it. There was only that one shot, they wanted to capture the moment and they did. It was a career defining moment."

Those moments have defined the whirlwind of the last few years of the Tenors. They have traveled around the world and performed at many events including the Emmy Awards, and met many famous people.

"It happens almost daily now. It seems like every time there is a new event that pops up we are getting paired with an artist that we have watched. Just before Christmas we did a big NBC show called the American Giving Awards honoring Glenn Close and Randy Travis and Lifehouse were there. We did the Katy Couric show and did a spoof for Charlie Sheen. Singing for Obama and the world leaders at the G-20 Summit and for her majesty the Queen for the Diamond Jubilee. We had a private tea with her and about 30 dignitaries in a small intimate space singing Oh Canada and Hallelujah. They asked us to sing God Save The Queen which we didn’t know and had to throw together a quick arrangement and rehearsed it in the car. It has been incredible. At the same time we stay grounded because we have very supportive families and each other to knock us down a peg if we get a little too excited. There was a lot of hard work before these big gigs came along. Our first tour was 12 towns in 14 days in Saskatchewan and we didn’t go to Regina or Saskatoon, it was all small markets. We earned our stripes, we went from town to town in our rental cars and started with no much money and sold records out of the trunk of the car and then we got the record contract. It took years to get to this point and we are thrilled to be getting opportunities because we feel prepared for them and not daunted by them."

Fraser Walters spoke to GayCalgary Magazine in advance of a recent concert in Calgary. The show was phenomenal, with many moments that induced chills from the power of their voices. This, combined with their wit and charm, made for a great concert experience.

"We have all different backgrounds and styles of music growing up – rock bands, gospel music, opera, a lot of different backgrounds. We all play instruments on stage; we like to show that musicianship as well. It is about having a lot of fun on stage. We take the music seriously but we have a lot of fun with the audience. Every show is different, we like to talk about local happenings or something funny that happened over breakfast. Every audience knows they are getting a unique show to that evening. It makes it exciting."

There has been one noticeable change in the group, which dropped the name "The Canadian Tenors" in favor of just "The Tenors" with the release of their latest album Lead With Your Heart.

"It felt like a natural evolution, it wasn’t a knee-jerk decision, we considered it over time. People started referring to us as the Tenors three years ago. It continued that way until we realized getting released in Australia, the UK, the US, it became a way for the international audience to take ownership of us in the same way that Canada has. Everyone just knows us as The Tenors from Canada. You don’t want to regionalize yourself and not get released in different territories around the world, it wouldn’t be a smart business decision. So it was a no-brainer to release as The Tenors to get our music out to as many people around the world as we can. Everyone knows where we are from, it is like Michael Bublé or Celine Dion, everyone knows they are Canadian but they don’t have it in their name."

The album features original songs as well as covers. In concert there were additional covers – Elvis Presley’s Can’t Help Falling In Love and the Rankin’s Fare Thee Well Love were reworked in a way that both honored the originals and made them the group’s own.

"We had lists of hundreds of songs. We will keep those lists for the future because there are so many beautiful melodies and poems out there. So much goes into what would be a good fit for us, where our audience would like us to go, and us taking some chances and spreading the genre a little bit. We do feel we are re-defining this crossover genre and feel responsibility. Everything from Dust in the Wind to Journey, U2, even the Beatles. The Beatles would be an incredibly daunting task and you have to be ready with a beautiful arrangement. At some point we will take that step. We were happy to do Elton John and Bob Dylan, our audiences are loving the Tenorized version of songs they love. There are so many epic songs out there, it is a good dilemma to have to try and whittle down the list. We are thrilled we got the stamp of approval from David Foster who is the chairman of our record label. We had a tense 3 hour listening session with him and we had heard stories of him throwing out half to three quarters of albums before. He listened to our stuff and to our pleasure he said he loved the album and his favourite was Journées d’innocence which we had co-written. To get that stamp of approval from one of the best producers and songwriters out there was another career defining moment for us."

It is clear in speaking with Walters that they feel really lucky, and it is important to them to use their exposure for good. They support multiple charities.

"We visit Africa every other year and have raised over 2 million dollars for this town. We take care of almost 400 orphans there and trying to help solidify the next generation of leaders. We are doing important initiatives in North America. One is Feed With Your Heart to help some underprivileged folks in communities in Canada. We are involved with Horatio Alger, which provides education for underprivileged youth. It is important do a lot of work at home and abroad as our way of saying thanks and giving back in the best way we know how."

The connection with fans has built the Tenors. They are active on Twitter and Facebook and frequently meet with fans at autograph sessions and VIP events.

"We get Emails all the time how people experienced a life changing moment or what it has done in a time of tribulation and how it healed them. There was a lady in a wheelchair who got backstage in North Carolina and shared a story with us about how it was up to her if she was going to live or not. She had a terminal illness and wanted to give up, and someone gave her our CD and it made her rebound in a way she didn’t expect. She was not 100% in health but she wept as she told us this story and we were all so incredibly moved that the power of music can have that kind of effect on someone’s life. It really is incredibly powerful and we take it seriously. We have a big responsibility to keep going for reasons like that."