Roderick Dixon, one-third of the singing trio Cook, Dixon and Young, likes to think of his working relationship with his comrades to be as equal as their billed moniker.

"Each one of us is willing to let the other person present their story in the most effective way they can," Dixon said.

"No one has an ego. Everybody works together. Everybody has equal access to be as creative as they possibly can in the moment -- no one superimposes his will onstage."

Scheduled to perform Sunday at Gary's West Side Theatre Guild, Dixon and his cohorts, Victor Trent Cook and Thomas Young, have individual resumes that make them tenor superstars in their own right.

Reared in New York City's Bronx neighborhood, Dixon has studied music at prestigious universities in Italy and France and has performed throughout the globe. He's known stage mate Cook, who has performed on the Great White Way in productions such as "Starmites" and "Smokey Joe's Café," since he was a youngster.

Young, the senior member of the ensemble, has made a name for himself over the last three decades performing in operas, Broadway productions and touring productions around the world. He also made appearances on the small screen in shows ranging from "The Today Show" to "All My Children" to "The Rosie O'Donnell Show."

Together, the trio first turned heads as the first incarnation of Three Mo' Tenors. They released a successful disc and DVD with that name in 2001, but a few years later, issues with former management that are still troubling them and could not be discussed, forced the trio to revert to their surnames together on the marquees.

In 2005, the trio released their debut disc, "Cook, Dixon & Young: Volume 1" to great acclaim, with a concert DVD hitting the shelves that year as well. On disc, the trio cross genres from opera to show tunes to American standards.

While cross-pollinating musical styles is simple for the tenors, Dixon said the material, regardless of the genre, must have one unifying trait.

"It's got to have a great story," he said.

"What we use are materials that are timeless that people recognize and have some sort of visceral response, and we try to take those arias or songs and tell our version of the story from our particular vantage point."

And from a vocal standpoint, Dixon and his fellow singers aim to outdo all tenors who have come before them or since.

"We wanted to put (the vocals) where nobody could get to it musically, where nobody could duplicate it," he said. "We put the songs in very high key centers. We arranged it in such a way where we wanted to be as authentic with our intelligence as musicians as we possibly could.

"We don't fake anything. It's just three of us out there with three mics. What you hear is what you hear and what you see is what you see. There aren't 20 dancing girls or slides running. We don't do any of that. We just flat-out sing."

For Dixon, performing Sunday at West Side Theatre Guild gives him the opportunity to be near his home base. A decade and a half ago, he left the Big Apple for south suburban Oak Lawn. His wife, Alfreda Burke, is an acclaimed soprano who has performed throughout the country.

The two also have shared stages together on numerous occasions.

"Chicago has its two baseball teams, a football team, a basketball team and a hockey team, and New York has all of those," he said.

"It's a great sports town. It has its opera house, its symphonies and its theater. I was right at home when I moved here."

ifyougo

Cook, Dixon & Young

When: 4 p.m. Sunday

Where: West Side Theatre Guild, 900 Gerry St., Gary

Cost: $25

FYI: (219) 977-2198, ext. 11