Barbershop music countertenor, the baritone resembles the Heldentenor or lyric baritone in range and a tenor in tessitura, and the lead generally corresponds to the tenor of classical repertoire, with some singers possessing a tessitura more similar to that of a high baritone. Barbershop singing is performed both by men's and women's groups; the elements of the barbershop style and the names of the voice parts are the same for both. The defining characteristic of the barbershop style is the "ringing" chord, one in which certain overtones of the four voices reinforce each other, sometimes so strongly that the overtone is perceived
Barbershop quartet below the lead singer. Quartets can be male or female, but are generally not mixed male and female. A female barbershop quartet may be referred to as a Sweet Adelines quartet (taking the title from the barbershop classic "Sweet Adeline"), and the vocal parts have the same labels, since the roles perform similar functions in the quartet even though the vocal ranges are different. Most barbershop quartets are male. Barbershop singing originated in the late 1800s and early 1900s of America, a hybrid of both black and white expressive cultural forms at the time. The African-American influence is sometimes overlooked,