Marcus Hutson (The Whispers) - A Profile

On Thursday/Friday night (5 Jan) we lost one of the original members of The Whispers, Gordy Harmon, and today it would have been another original member's, Marcus Hutson, birthday.  Hutson left the group in 1992 owing to prostrate cancer and died in 2000 aged 56, he would have been 78 today.

Whilst Hutson was involved during the group's most successful commercial period in the early/mid 80s, Harmon had already left the group. So, to pay tribute to both, the playlist below is limited to the period from when the group was formed in Watts, CA, in 1963 through to 1974 which covers their Dore, Soul Clock and Janus years before joining Soul Train / Solar in 1976 with just under two hours of their finest early material.

None of their eleven Dore singles charted and only two of their six Soul Clock and eight of their twelve Janus singles charted. Their biggest hit during this period was "Seems Like I Gotta Do Wrong" in 1970 which reached #6 R&B and #50 Hot 100 with only two others breaking into the R&B Top 10.

When Harmon left due to a driving accident in 1973, he was replaced by Leaveil Degree who had been a member of Friends Of Distinction. When Hutson left in 1992 the group vowed never to replace him and continued as a quartet until the death of Nicholas Caldwell in 2016 and have been a trio since then consisting of Walter and Wallace Scott and Degree. This year they will celebrate their 60th anniversary and continue to perform and have begun re-recording some of their hits so that they retain ownership. Most recently they have re-recorded their two biggest hits "And The Beat Goes One" and "Rock Steady" which were both #1 R&B hits with the former reaching #17 (1980) and the latter #7 (1987) Hot 100.

For more Whispers material there was a post for The Scott twins' 79th birthday in Sep 2022 and also recently a reissued compilation of their Dore singles.

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R.I.P. - Gordy Harmon (The Whispers) (1943 - 5 Jan 2022)

Good grief .. yet another loss to the soul world. Founding member of The Whispers, Gordy Harmon, who was the only remaining original member, apart from the Scott twins, has died aged 79. It is reported that he died in his sleep at home in L.A. on Thursday night (5 Jan).

It is not long ago that we did a full feature on The Whispers to celebrate Wallace and Water Scott's 79th birthday in Sep 2022 so refer you there to reflect on his contribution to the music we love. I have to say that The Whisper are one of my all time favourite male groups. 

Also posted only a few weeks ago was a compilation of their early Dore material "The Dore Singles". He wrote / co-wrote many of their Dore and Soul Clock singles e.g. "As I Sit Here", "Take A Lesson From The Teacher", "Can't Fight What's Right", "The Time Will Come", "What Will I Do" and "Needle In a Haystack"

Harmon had to retire from the group in 1973 owing to an injury to his larynx suffered in a driving accident and was replaced by former Friends of Distinction member Leaveil Degree. The other two original members of the quintet are also now deceased, Marcus Hutson in 2000 aged 56 and Nicholas Caldwell in 2016 aged 71. The group remain a trio of the Scott twins along with Harmon's replacement Leaveil Degree as when Hutson retired from the group in 1992 with prostate cancer they vowed never to replace him and continued as a quartet until the death of Caldwell in 2016.

UPDATE: A joint tribute playlist of songs has been posted on the post for the posthumous birthday of Marcus Hutson.

Copyright © 2009-2023 SoulStrutter All Rights Reserved

The Whispers [2022] - The Doré Singles [MTI] (Full Album)

A new compilation today "The Doré Singles" from The Whispers with a selection of their Doré singles A and B sides. Despite the title, it is not their whole Doré catalogue as many of the B sides were instrumentals with the only vocal song which is not included is "Needle In A Haystack" which is one of their best.

However, whilst checking the listing the track "Shake It, Shake It" is not "Shake It, Shake It" as it should be a vocal and the track included is an instrumental. I think all the others are correct.

 

Track Listing:

01 - As I Sit Here [Doré #740] 1965-07 A side

02 - Shake It, Shake It [Doré #740] 1965-07 B side

02 - ?

03 - I Was Born When You Kissed Me [Doré #758] 1966-02 A side

04 - You Can't Fight What's Right [Doré #792] 1967-07 B side

05 - You Got a Man on Your Hands [Doré #792] 1967-07 A side

06 - It Only Hurts for a Little While [Doré #724] 1964-11 A side

07 - Dr. Love [Doré #751] 1965-11 A side

Written by group member Nicholas Caldwell and covered by Bobby Sheen on Capitol in 1966 which was huge in NS circles at The Twisted Wheel.

08 - The Dip [Doré #735] 1965-06 A side

09 - Never Again [Doré #729] 1965-01 A side

10 - Take a Lesson from the Teacher [Doré #768] 1966-02 A side

By my reckoning they released nine singles on the label between 1964-67, so there are eight tracks missing, all but one though are instrumentals: 

The Happy One [Doré #724] B side inst.

(previously. released as by Billy Joe & The Checkmates titled as "Bossville")

Slow Jerk [Doré #729] B side inst.

Weirdo [Doré #735] B side inst.

Lonely Avenue [Doré #751] B side inst.

Walkin' The Fat Man [Doré #758] B side inst.

Claire DeLooney [Doré #768] B side inst.

Needle In A Haystack [Doré #972] A side

Shake It, Shake It [Doré #740] 1965-07 B side

Waltz For Young Lovers [Doré #994] B side inst.

Click on image below for link to where you can buy from.

Details

Rating:	8.4
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	60s Soul
Format:	Album / Compilation
Media:	Digital
Label:	MTI
Cat No:	None
Date:	23/12/2022
Price:	£5.49

Copyright © 2009-2022 SoulStrutter All Rights Reserved

The Whispers [2022] - And the Beat Goes On (Whispers' Dance Version) [B and a Entertainment]

Two weeks ago on 9 Sep The Whispers released a Radio Edit of one of their biggest hits "And The Beat Goes On". Yesterday they released an extended Dance Version.

I understand, from a comment left of the radio edit, that they are re-recording some of their music so that they have the rights to it.

If you haven't already seen it, yesterday a playlist was posted in tribute to Walter and Wallace Scott's 79th birthday which highlighted some of The Whispers best 60s and 70s material

Click on image below for link to where you can buy from.

Click icons below for further information or to connect with the artist. 

Details

Rating:	8.4
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Modern Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	B and a Entertainment
Cat No:	None
Date:	23/09/2022
Key/BPM:	10A/115
Price:	£1

Copyright © 2009-2022 SoulStrutter All Rights Reserved

Wallace & Walter Scott (The Whispers) - A Profile

Twin brothers Wallace ('Scotty') and Walter Scott celebrate their 79th birthday today. They are founding members of The Whispers formed in Watts, CA, in 1964. The other three original members were Gordy Harmon, Marcus Hutson, and Nicholas Caldwell. In 1973 Harmon injured his larynx in a driving accident and was replaced by former Friends of Distinction member Leaveil Degree. Marcus Hutson left the group in 1992 due to his illness (prostate cancer) and after his death in 2000 the group vowed to never replace him and since then they performed as a quartet until Nicholas Caldwell died of heart failure in 2016 leaving the group as a trio of Walter, Scotty and Leaveil Degree. The group was inducted into the Official R&B Music Hall of Fame in 2014.

They released around nine singles on Dore between 1964-67 and then joined Ron Carson's Soul Clock where they released five singles and had their breakthrough hit "Seems Like I Gotta Do Wrong" (which has just been covered by The Notations). In 1970 they signed to New York's Janus label but continued to be produced by Carson up until 1975 with a few of their recordings getting into the lower reaches on the Hot 100. One of them did much better in the UK "A Mother For My Children" which got to #54 on the UK chart in 1973.

They joined Soul Train formed by Soul Train host Don Cornelius and Dick Griffey in 1975 which was closed down in 1977 and reformed as Solar (Sound Of Los Angeles Records) by Griffey alone. It was on Solar that they had their biggest hit to that date "And The Beat Goes On" which they have re-recorded just two weeks ago. Again, it did better in the UK reaching #2 whilst #19 stateside. It was followed by "Lady" (#28), a cover of The Temptations "My Girl" (a non- US single which reached #26 in UK), "It's A Love Thing" (#28 Hot 100 / #9 UK) and another UK hit with "I Can Make It Better" #44 which didn't register in the US.

An anonymous comment left on the post for their re-recording of "And The Beat Goes On" after I asked 'why now?" suggests that they are re-recording some of their songs so that they own the rights to them.

It went flat for them in the US until "Rock Steady" in 1987 although they had four minor hits in the UK but since then only one of their singles has charted. I am, of course, talking about the Hot 100 as almost 50 of their records have charted on R&B chart with 15 top 10 and two of those reaching #1. ("And The Beat Goes On" and "Rock Steady").

Sadly, for me at least, these two songs are not truly representative of their music as they are both dance tunes. Most of their 60s and early 70s sides are much more soulful. Their "Bingo" album, in particular, which had all the Philly big hitters involved in the shape of Baker, Young & Harris, Allen Felder, Bunny Sigler, Vince Montana et al, who all left PIR to join Salsoul in 1975.

The group has released around twenty three albums to date, the last in 2009 "Thankful" was a gospel album. The Scott brothers also released an album as a duo Walter & Scotty "My Brother's Keeper" in 1993

As there is simply far too much quality material, rather than spread it thin with their later material, the playlist focusses on their 60s and early 70s recordings i.e. Dore, Soul Clock & Janus recordings only from 1964-1975. Much of their Dore and Soul Clock songs were written by members Nicholas Caldwell and Gordy Harmon with Dee Irvin contributing a few of  them.

Copyright © 2009-2022 SoulStrutter All Rights Reserved

The Whispers [2022] - And the Beat Goes On (Whispers' Radio Version) [B and a Entertainment]

I'm not quite sure why now, but The Whispers have re-recorded "And The Beat Goes On" and released it on Friday (9 Sep). Coincidentally, Parkes Stewart's new single, and follow up to "Blackpearl", is a cover of the song which is set for released this Friday (16 Sep).

The song was first recorded in 1979 and is the first of two R&B #1 hits by The Whispers. The other is "Rock Steady" (1987) .

In a career spanning almost 60 years, they were formed in 1964, they have amassed around 50 R&B hit singles (15 were top 10) but, as is often sadly the case, only a dozen of them crossed over to the Billboard Hot 100 with, perhaps surprisingly "Rock Steady" being their biggest hit reaching #7 Hot 100.

The song featured here did much better in the UK reaching #2 on the UK pop chart in 1980 spending 12 weeks on the chart. They had another UK top 10 hit with "It's A Love Thing" reaching #9 the following year, and had a total of nine UK chart entries but only those two and one other (a cover of The Temptation's "My Girl" which made zero impact stateside as it wasn't released as a single there) were Top 40.

I've had a Whisper's post lined up for months just waiting for the right opportunity to post it. The mainstays of the group, who are still performing, are twins Walter and Wallace Scott and it is their 79th birthday on 23rd Sep, so perhaps that will be a good time. They have recorded some superb music especially in the 60s/70s before they 'made it big' and have to be one of my favourite male vocal groups.

Click on image below for link to where you can buy from.

Click icons below for further information or to connect with the artist. 

Details

Rating:	8.4
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Modern Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	Self Released
Cat No:	None
Date:	09/09/2022
Key/BPM:	10A/115
Price:	£1

Copyright © 2009-2022 SoulStrutter All Rights Reserved

Maurice Joshua, The Whispers [2022] - Praise His Holy Name (Steppers Remix) [Kingdom Records]

Following their recent hit with a cover of Al Johnson's "It's Been Too Long", The Whispers are back assisted by Maurice Joshua with "Praise His Holy Name (Steppers Remix)" on their own Kingdom Records label. The original version appeared on their 2009 gospel album "Thankful".

The Whispers are approaching 60 years in the business since they were founded in 1963 and are now a trio of original members Walter and Wallace Scott along with ex Friends Of Distinction member Leaveil Degree who replaced Gordy Harmon in 1973.

Click icons below for further information or to connect with the artist.

Details

Rating:	8
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Gospel Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	Kingdom Records
Cat No:	None
Date:	01/04/2022
Key/BPM:	2B/102
Value:	£1

The Whispers [2021] - It’s Been Too Long [Self Released]

The new single from the legendary Whispers is a song originally recorded by Al Johnson on his album "Him Or Me" which was released on CD and digitally in 2014.

"It’s Been Too Long" is only currently available from The Whispers official website but receives a wider release tomorrow (15 Oct 2021).

The Whispers were formed in 1963 in Watts, CA. The mainstays of the group are identical twins Wallace 'Scotty' and Walter Scott who are currently joined by Leaveil Degree who has been with them since 1973 and was formerly with The Friends Of Distinction (who were mentioned only a few days ago on the Derek Damien post as he is the son of Harry Elston another member of the group).

They had their most commercially successful spell in the early 80s with hits such as "And The Beat Goes On", "Lady" and "It's A Love Thing" but personally I love their earlier stuff especially from the mid 70s.

I believe that this was recorded during lockdown and their voices still sound great, Scotty & Walter are now 78, with Leavill being a 'spring chicken' at 73!

They were inducted into The Official R&B Hall of Fame in 2014. 

Details

Rating:	8.4
Genre/Style:	Classic Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	Self Released
Cat No:	None
Date:	15/10/2021
Key/BPM:	2B/81 / 9B/79
Value:	£1

NS580 The [Soul Clock SC 109]

580 The Whispers - Remember Me [Soul Clock SC 109]

b/w What Will I Do (official A side)

Format:  45

Label:     Soul Clock

CatNo:   SC 109

Year:      1969

Value:    £25 Demo

The evergreen Whispers on the Soul Clock label with one of their few sounds played on the scene.  This has the same backing track as another northern favourite by The Fuller Brothers - Time's A Wasting also on Soul Clock 105.

Soul Clock Discography @ soulfulkindamusic