Simply Three
Classical crossover string trip Simply Three consists of Latter-day Saints Nick Villalobos (bassist) and Zack Clark (cellist). The two met decades ago—in the ninth grade, in fact, while playing in the Arizona All-State Orchestra. The two both performed in the Phoenix Youth Symphony together and ended up at Arizona State University after serving full-time missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The third member is Glen McDaniel (violinist). Two other violinists were part of the group before McDaniel, a classically-trained violinist, entered the scene in 2014. McDaniel met Villalobos in 2012 through a mutual friend. Timing was once again perfect when a couple of years later, McDaniel was on the road with another performing artist when Clark and Villalobos approached McDaniel about collaborating with them, and the vibes of the trio felt solid from the start.
“We didn’t want to take the traditional route of a classical musician, which is either to be in an orchestra or get a professorship somewhere,” Villalobos explains. “And we thought, ‘We like all these different kinds of music—we always liked rock music, rap, heavy metal, R&B, all that stuff. Why don’t we try to do this on our classical instruments?’”[1]
In 2014, the popularity of classical crossover music exploded. They saw the potential for classical musicians like themselves. Artists like Lindsey Stirling and The Piano Guys were also releasing Billboard-charting albums and mega-viral music videos, and Simply Three’s rise in classical crossover fame began to take off too.
Simply Three’s YouTube channel has 1.45 million followers, and their Spotify streams have surpassed their YouTube video views with dozens of songs on the platform boasting millions of listens.
