The Whispers

The American R&B band The Whispers first came together in Watts, California in 1963. The five vocalists were led by twin brothers Wallace and Walter Scott, and the quintet was rounded out by Nicholas Caldwell, Gordy Harmon, and Marcus Hutson. Encouraged by Sly Stone after some early singles, they relocated to San Francisco in the mid-1960s and scored their first chart success with 1969’s “The Time Will Come”, a number 17 R&B hit. Further top 40 R&B hits followed including 1970’s Seems Like I Gotta Do Wrong” and 1971’s Your Love Is So Doggone Good”. Leaveil Degree replaced Harmon in 1973 after Harmon was left unable to sing after a car accident, and the group soldiered on with more top 40 R&B hits like 1975’s “In Love Forever” and 1976’s “One for the Money (Part 1)”, and 1977’s Make I With You”. Nearly 20 years of hard work came to fruition with their self-titled 1979 album, an album that did far better than any of their previous LPs by topping the R&B album chart and reaching number 6 on the Billboard 200. It also contained their biggest hit single, the disco-inflected “And the Beat Goes On”, a number 1 hit on the R&B and Dance chart, as well as a number 19 pop hit. They continued their hot streak with 1980’s Imagination and 1982’s Love Is Where You Find It, both top 5 R&B albums, with the former giving them a number 2 R&B single with “It’s a Love Thing”. They returned to the top of the R&B singles chart one last time in 1987 with Rock Steady” from the album Just Gets Better With Time. They would continue to enjoy charting singles into the 1990s and would perform live into the 2010s, even after the defection of Hutson in 1992 and the passing of Caldwell in 2016. On June 26, 2025, founding member Walter Scott passed away at the age of 81. The Whispers are now a duo consisting of Wallace Scott and Leaveil Degree. Their recording legacy included 15 top 10 R&B singles and 8 top 10 R&B albums.

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