The Whispers is an American group from

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, who have scored hit records since the late 1960s. They are best known for their two number one R&B singles, " And the Beat Goes On" in 1980 and "

Rock Steady Rocksteady is a music genre that originated in Jamaica around 1966. A successor of ska and a precursor to reggae, rocksteady was the dominant style of music in Jamaica for nearly two years, performed by many of the artists who helped establish ...

" in 1987. The Whispers scored 15 top-ten R&B singles, and 8 top-ten R&B albums with two of them, ''

The Whispers The Whispers is an American group from Los Angeles, California, who have scored hit records since the late 1960s. They are best known for their two number one R&B singles, " And the Beat Goes On" in 1980 and "Rock Steady" in 1987. The Whispers ...

'' and '' Love Is Where You Find It'', reaching the 1 spot. They have earned two platinum and five gold albums by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

Career

The Whispers formed in 1963 in

Watts, California Watts, California, was a city of the sixth class that existed in Los Angeles County, California, between 1907 and 1926, when it was consolidated with the City of Los Angeles and became one of the neighborhoods in the southern part of that city. ...

. The original members included

identical twin Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of TwinLast Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two em ...

brothers Wallace "Scotty" and Walter Scott, along with Gordy Harmon, Marcus Hutson, and Nicholas Caldwell. After being invited to the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

in 1966 by Sly Stone, the group relocated to that area where they began developing a reputation as a show-stopping live act. Walter Scott was drafted to serve in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

during that period for eighteen months, returning to the group in 1969 after discharge. After Harmon injured his

larynx The larynx (), commonly called the voice box, is an organ in the top of the neck involved in breathing, producing sound and protecting the trachea against food aspiration. The opening of larynx into pharynx known as the laryngeal inlet is about ...

in a driving accident in 1973, he was replaced by former Friends of Distinction member Leaveil Degree. After a series of singles on Los Angeles label, Dore, the group signed to a small LA label, Soul Clock, run by producer Ron Carson, who was responsible for their breakthrough hit, "Seems Like I Got to Do Wrong" in 1970. Moving to the larger New York-based Janus label, they continued to be produced by Carson, before he sold all of his recordings to Janus with the group then recording mainly in Philadelphia in the mid-1970s. In 1978, the group signed to Dick Griffey's SOLAR Records. The group scored many hits on the R&B and ''Billboard'' Hot 100 charts throughout the late 1970s and 1980s, and they hit number one on the Hot Dance Club Play chart in 1979/80 with " And the Beat Goes On" / "Can You Do the Boogie" / "Out the Box". In the UK, "And the Beat Goes On" peaked at No. 2 and "It's a Love Thing" became their second top 10 in 1981 peaking at No. 9. In 1987, they enjoyed a brief tenure in the US top 10 when "

" became their first top 10 success on the Hot 100, reaching 7, while also capturing the 1 spot on the R&B chart. The Whispers later established their own production company, Satin Tie Productions, through which they released their independent 2006 album ''For Your Ears Only''. The group opened Game 2 of the

1989 World Series The 1989 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1989 season. The 86th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the American League (AL) champion Oakland Athletics and the Nat ...

at Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum with their rendition of the National Anthem. Marcus Hutson left the group in 1992 due to prostate cancer. According to the Whispers' website, when Hutson died of it on May 23, 2000, they vowed to never replace him, and started performing as a quartet. Jerry McNeil resigned from his position as the keyboardist in the latter part of 1993 in order to spend more time with his family. In 2014, the Whispers were inducted into the Official R&B Music Hall of Fame. The Philadelphia soul songwriter team Allan Felder, Norman Harris,

Bunny Sigler Walter "Bunny" Sigler (March 27, 1941 – October 6, 2017) was an American R&B singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer who did extensive work with the team of Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, and was instrumental in creating th ...

, and Ronnie Baker provided several of the Whispers' songs, including "A Mother for My Children" and "Bingo". Nicholas Caldwell died of congestive heart failure at his San Francisco home on January 5, 2016.

Awards and recognition

*March 18, 1980 – RIAA Gold Record for the single "And the Beat Goes On". *March 18, 1980 – The Whispers earned RIAA Gold & Platinum status for their album, "The Whispers". *March 12, 1981 – The Whispers earned a RIAA Gold Album for their recording of "

Imagination Imagination is the production or simulation of novel objects, sensations, and ideas in the mind without any immediate input of the senses. Stefan Szczelkun characterises it as the forming of experiences in one's mind, which can be re-creations ...

". *November 9, 1982 – The album " Love Is Where You Find It" became their third RIAA Gold Album. *July 20, 1987 – The Whispers received a RIAA Gold Album for their recording of, " Just Gets Better with Time". *February 9, 1988 – The Whispers received a RIAA Platinum Album for their recording of " Just Gets Better with Time". *May 24, 1991 – The Whispers received a RIAA Gold Album for their recording of " More of the Night". *2002 – The Whispers were honored with an

NAACP Image Award The NAACP Image Awards is an annual awards ceremony presented by the U.S.-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to honor outstanding performances in film, television, theatre, music, and literature. Similar to ...

. *2003 – The Whispers were inducted into the

Vocal Group Hall of Fame The Vocal Group Hall of Fame (VGHF) is an American-based hall of fame that honors vocal groups throughout the world in every genre of music. Headquartered in the Columbia Theatre in Sharon, Pennsylvania, it includes a theater and a museum. It was ...

. *2005 – Th
San Francisco Chapter of the Grammy Awards
presented the Whispers with the prestigious Governors Award, the highest honor bestowed by an Academy Chapter. *2007 – The Whispers were presented with an American Black Music Award in Las Vegas. *2008 – The Whispers were winners of the

Rhythm and Blues Foundation The Rhythm and Blues Foundation is an independent American nonprofit organization dedicated to the historical and cultural preservation of rhythm and blues music. The idea for the foundation came in 1987 during discussions about royalties with en ...

's prestigious Pioneer Award. *2012 – Soul Music Hall Of Fame Award. *2013 – Presented a Lifetime Achievement Award for their 50 years in the Music Industry on the Soul Train Cruise. *2014 – The Whispers were inducted into the Official R&B Music Hall of Fame.

Personnel

Current members

* Wallace "Scotty" Scott (born September 23, 1943,

Fort Worth Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

) (1963–present) * Walter Scott (born September 23, 1943, Fort Worth, Texas) (1963–present) * Leaveil Degree (born July 31, 1948,

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

) (1973–present)

Former members

* Marcus Hutson (born January 8, 1943, St Louis,

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

; died 23 May 2000) (1963–1992) * Gordy Harmon (1963–1973) * Nicholas Caldwell (born April 5, 1944,

Loma Linda Loma Linda (Spanish for "Beautiful Hill") is a city in San Bernardino County, California, United States, that was incorporated in 1970. The population was 24,791 at the 2020 census, up from 23,261 at the 2010 census. The central area of the c ...

, California; died January 5, 2016

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, California) (1963–2016)

Former musical directors

* Grady "G" Wilkins, Jr. – musician, writer, producer, vocalist, keyboardist and musical director of the Whispers. Born December 30, 1955 in

, California, and died December 19, 2013. * Fulton L. Tashombe – musician, vocalist, composer, arranger, producer, sound engineer, music educator, actor, keyboardist and musical director of '' Headlights''. Born January 7, 1950 in San Francisco, California, and died October 14, 2017.Tashombe: Celebrating the Life of Fulton L. Tashombe – YouTube Video – Facebook, R.I.P

Supporting musicians

* Emilio Conesa – guitar * John Valentino – saxophone * Dewayne Sweet – keyboards * Richard Aguon – drums * Magic Mendez – producer, bass, keyboards, background vocals * Harmony Blackwell – programming, background vocals, interpretive dance * Aya Iwata – keyboards

Discography

Notes

References

External links

* *
The Whispers 2009 Audio Interview at Soulinterviews.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whispers, The Vocal quintets American soul musical groups SOLAR Records artists Musical groups from the San Francisco Bay Area Musical groups from Los Angeles American funk musical groups American dance music groups American boogie musicians African-American musical groups Musical groups established in 1963 Sibling musical groups American rhythm and blues musical groups American disco groups