''The Whispers'' is the ninth studio album by

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

R&B/

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

vocal group

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 ...

, released on October 20, 1979 by

SOLAR Records SOLAR (acronym for Sound of Los Angeles Records) was an American record label founded in 1977 by Dick Griffey, reconstituted out of Soul Train Records only two years after it was founded with '' Soul Train'' television show host and creator Don ...

. It was the first hit album for the veteran group, peaking at number one on the ''Billboard'' Top Soul LPs chart, as well as number six on the ''Billboard'' Top LPs chart. The album launched four singles, including their breakthrough single, the

Leon Sylvers III Leon Frank Sylvers III (born March 7, 1953, Memphis, Tennessee) is an American singer, songwriter, disc-jockey, record producer and multi-instrumentalist. He was a member of the family group The Sylvers and became one of the most successful pro ...

-produced

post-disco Post-disco (also called boogie, synth-funk, or electro-funk) is a term to describe an aftermath in popular music history circa 1979–1985, imprecisely beginning with an unprecedented backlash against disco music in the United States, leading to c ...

number, " And the Beat Goes On", which became their biggest hit single to date, reaching number one on the Hot Soul Singles chart, and crossing over to number 19 on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as landing in the top ten on various international charts. Other hit singles included "A Song for Donny", a tribute song to American musician

Donny Hathaway Donny Edward Hathaway (October 1, 1945 – January 13, 1979) was an American soul singer, keyboardist, songwriter, and arranger whom ''Rolling Stone'' described as a "soul legend". His most popular songs include " The Ghetto", "This Christmas ...

, who died in January 1979. The song reached number 21 on the Hot Soul Singles chart. The Nicholas Caldwell-composed "Lady" became another hit, peaking at number three on the Hot Soul Singles chart, while also crossing over to the Hot 100 and adult contemporary charts and the UK charts, in 1980. A cover of

The Temptations The Temptations are an American vocal group from Detroit, Michigan, who released a series of successful singles and albums with Motown Records during the 1960s and 1970s. The group's work with producer Norman Whitfield, beginning with the Top ...

' " My Girl", became a hit in the UK, reaching number twenty six, while a fifth single, "Out the Box", was promoted briefly. The album eventually went double-platinum becoming the

Watts Watts is plural for ''watt'', the unit of power. Watts may also refer to: People *Watts (surname), list of people with the surname Watts Fictional characters *Watts, main character in the film '' Some Kind of Wonderful'' *Watts family, six chara ...

-based group's biggest success and their breakthrough after more than 15 years together.

Track listing

#"A Song for Donny" - (

, special lyrics by

Carrie Lucas Carrie Lucas (born November 5, 1945) is an American R&B singer, born in Carmel, California. In 1976, she was signed to Soul Train Records. Lucas released six studio albums over seven years, with Soul Train and Solar Records. Lucas was married ...

) - 4:27 #" My Girl" - (

Smokey Robinson William "Smokey" Robinson Jr. (born February 19, 1940) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and former record executive director. He was the founder and front man of the Motown vocal group the Miracles, for which he was also chief ...

Ronald White Ronald is a masculine given name derived from the Old Norse ''Rögnvaldr'', Hanks; Hardcastle; Hodges (2006) p. 234; Hanks; Hodges (2003) § Ronald. or possibly from Old English '' Regenweald''. In some cases ''Ronald'' is an Anglicised form of ...

) - 5:53 #"Lady" - (Nicholas Caldwell) - 5:05 #"Can You Do the Boogie" - (Carrie Lucas, Norman Beavers) - 6:07 #" And The Beat Goes On" - (William B. Shelby, Stephen Shockley,

) - 7:30 ^ #"I Love You" - (Kossi Gardner) - 5:10 #"Out the Box" - (William B. Shelby,

) - 4:57 #"Welcome into My Dream" - (Grady Wilkins) - 4:40 ^ Certain remastered versions of the album replace the full seven-and-a-half minute version of "And the Beat Goes On" with the edited version (length of 4:56) and include the full version as one of several bonus tracks.

Personnel

*Bass – Craig "Mr. Bass" Raglin,

, Melvin Coleman *Drums – Kirk Perkins, Wardell Potts, William "Buba" Bryant *Guitar – Larry White, Stephen Shockley, Werner Schuchner (Bear) *Keyboards – Barry Sarna, Grady Wilkins, Kevin Spencer, Kossi Gardner, Norman Beavers, Ricky Smith, William Shelby *Percussion – Bobbye Hall, Fred "Timbales" Lewis, Karl E. Dickens *Vocals – Leaveil Degree, Marcus Hutson, Nicholas Caldwell, Wallace Scott, Walter Scott

Charts

Singles

References

External links