The Whispers is an American

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic ide ...

from

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, 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 band (music), 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 (The Whispers song), And the Beat G ...

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

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 ...

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 Sylvester Stewart (born March 15, 1943), better known by his stage name Sly Stone, is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer who is most famous for his role as frontman for Sly and the Family Stone, playing a critical role in the ...

, 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 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 Vietnam a ...

during that period for eighteen months, returning to the group in 1969 after discharge. After Harmon injured his larynx in a driving accident in 1973, he was replaced by former

Friends of Distinction The Friends of Distinction were an American vocal group founded by Harry Elston and Floyd Butler, best known for their late 1960s hits, "Grazing in the Grass", "Love or Let Me Be Lonely", and "Going in Circles". Career The 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 Richard Gilbert Griffey (November 16, 1938 – September 24, 2010) was an American record producer and music promoter who founded SOLAR Records, a RAS acronym for "Sound of Los Angeles Records". The label played a major role in developing a ...

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 C ...

. 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 Number One most commonly refers to: * 1 (number) Number One, No. 1, or #1 may also refer to: Music Albums * ''Number 1'' (Big Bang album), and the title song * ''No. 1'' (BoA album), and the title song * ''No.1'' (EP), by CLC * ''n.1 ...

on the

Hot Dance Club Play Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as th ...

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 ...

Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Oakland Coliseum, currently branded as RingCentral Coliseum, is a stadium in Oakland, California. It is part of the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Complex, with the adjacent Oakland Arena, near Interstate 880. The Coliseum is the home ba ...

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 Allan Wayne Felder (May 26, 1943 – November 7, 1999) was an American songwriter. He had many successes with songs created during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s – frequently collaborating with Norman Harris, Bunny Sigler Walter "Bunny" Si ...

, Norman Harris, Bunny Sigler, 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". *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. *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,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

) (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

) (1973–present)

Former members

* Marcus Hutson (born January 8, 1943,

St Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

; died 23 May 2000) (1963–1992) * Gordy Harmon (1963–1973) * Nicholas Caldwell (born April 5, 1944, Loma Linda, California; died January 5, 2016

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " 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 fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, 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 A headlamp is a lamp attached to the front of a vehicle to illuminate the road ahead. Headlamps are also often called headlights, but in the most precise usage, ''headlamp'' is the term for the device itself and ''headlight'' is the term for ...

''. 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