The Whispers are a familiar name to any fan of R&B and are in fact an institution in the vocal group genre. The group was formed in 1963 in the Watts section of Los Angeles by twins Walter and Wallace “Scotty” Scott. They were rounded out by Nicholas Caldwell, Marcus Hutson and Gordy Harmon. Heading to the Bay Area, the quintet started recording in earnest the following year.

As the ’70s dawned, The Whispers broke through to the next level. Their debut album, Planets of Life, arrived to ring in the ’70s and included their first big R&B hit, “Seems Like I Gotta Do Wrong.” It was also around this time that Gordy Harmon left the group. His replacement was Leaveil Degree, who had previously sung with The Friends of Distinction and who remains with the group to this day.

The Whispers continued to churn out R&B hits during the ’70s but once again, they moved to the next level as the new decade arrived. In 1980, they released a self-titled album on Solar Records that gained them massive crossover success on the pop charts. The Whispers included only eight songs, but every song was a winner. “And the Beat Goes On” was the big hit, a smooth dance tune cut from the same cloth as George Benson’s “Give Me the Night.” The album also featured the popular slow jam “Lady” as well as an up-tempo remake of The Temptations’ classic “My Girl.” But the best song on The Whispers to these ears was its opening track, “A Song for Donny.” It’s a beautiful dedication to Donny Hathaway, who had just died the year before, featuring lyrics by Carrie Lucas set to the melody of Hathaway’s own “This Christmas.”

The ’80s proved to be a good decade for The Whispers as they scored other hits like “It’s a Love Thing,” “In the Mood” and “Rock Steady.” They continued to record fairly steadily through the mid-90s – a full three decades after they first got together on the streets of Watts. Marcus Hutson left the group in 1992 due to illness and passed away in 2000. Interestingly, the other group members chose not to replace him and carried on as a quartet. Today, the group still includes Caldwell, Degree and the Scott twins. I’ve always thought it impressive that in an age where groups often tour with only one or two original members, The Whispers are still the real deal. I mean, I like Ray, Goodman & Brown as much as the next guy, but let’s be honest: Harry Ray died in 1992.

The Whispers’ latest project, Thankful, was released in late 2009. It’s significant not only as their first studio release in quite some time but also because it’s their first inspirational album. Thankful features 10 songs and was co-produced by Gospel great Fred Hammond and the group themselves. No doubt, the album will please both aficionados of inspirational music and longtime Whispers fans.

I recently caught up with Nicholas Caldwell, who checked in with me from L.A. Caldwell radiated a nice mixture of warmth and cool – real old-school class, as you would expect from a member of The Whispers. At the end of our conversation, he told me, “If The Whispers had one prayer for our fans, it would be that they get a personal relationship with God.”

Take me back to the beginning, back to the ’60s…

[We formed] 47 years ago, in 1963. We were all out of Watts, California. Our first recording was in 1963.

Were you all originally from the California area?

Not originally. The twins were from Ft. Worth, Texas. Leaveil was from Louisiana, I believe. And I was from the Northern end of California, I was the only California-born [member].

Tell me what was behind the decision to record Thankful. This is significant for a couple of reasons. Not only because it’s a Gospel CD but because it’s your first studio offering in quite awhile. Why did you guys decide to record a Gospel CD at this juncture?

I can honestly say [that] it was God’s decision. This is something that we’ve been wanting to do for a long time but the elements never allowed it to come together. The reason for doing it is simply because we are thankful. The title totally suggests why we did this CD. Our whole prayer is that people will listen to [this CD] and come away with the conclusion that we’re not trying to pretend that we’re evangelists or anything like that. We’re just very grateful for the blessings that God has bestowed upon us all of these years. Not just the music and not just [our] health but the very people that have supported us.

We started a Bible study, I guess about six or seven years ago… To put it in a very practical sense, [what we’ve learned] allows us to look at this world in a completely different light. I want people to see that light that I see through – and this Gospel CD gives them an opportunity to at least begin to discuss those things because there are a lot of things that we all take for granted. For example, the very air you breathe.

Often times, we take credit for things that belong to God. And I think that… when you put Him first in your life, it seems that your whole life falls in line. This is why the project Thankful was so very, very important to The Whispers. We’ve been together for 47 years and we’ve had a lot of ups and downs, a lot of joy and a lot of pain, and we’ve learned a lot of different things. But none of the things we’ve learned have meant as much to us as knowing who God is and who we are not.

Did all the members of the group follow the same religious path? Or did some of you come into it before others?

We kinda all were raised in the church. But being raised in the church don’t mean the church is in you. But what happened is, when we started Bible study, we all started together, which is another wonderful thing… If you had all the guys here, they may all come at the same conclusion differently. But it will be the same conclusion.

I honestly thought, Dave that I couldn’t possibly love my coworkers more than I did – till the Bible study started. And [then] I understood what love really meant. I would gladly lay down my very life [for the other group members] because I love them that much.

Can I ask you about a couple of songs on your self-titled album from 1980? That’s one that I grew up with.

If I can answer it, I will.

The first song was “And the Beat Goes On,” which was a huge hit and is still a favorite of many people. How did that song come together?

Leon Sylvers. He brought a bag of tapes in a little handbag [and] threw ’em on the floor. He was searching through the tapes, he says “This is the one right here!” And he puts it in the [machine] and he plays “And the Beat Goes On.” And of course we loved it. But the funny part was, he takes all these tapes and it’s just a bunch of tapes on the floor, and I don’t even know how he knows which one is [which]!

But Leon Sylvers is the man behind that song. A great producer.

I still see his name today.

Oh yeah. I saw him about, I guess, six months ago now. I enjoyed talking to him. It was a beautiful thing. We went down memory lane.

Tell me about “A Song for Donny,” which is beautiful and opens that album. What did Donny Hathaway mean to the group?

Of all the singers at that time – in particular, the twins loved him most. So an opportunity came where Carrie Lucas did the lyrics and the melody to that song. Carrie Lucas, who was actually [Solar Records head] Dick Griffey’s wife, she did the lyrics to that song and brought it to us.

It was such a wonderful thing because the twins – so did I, but them in particular – they just loved Donny Hathaway. And for good reason. He’s probably one of the most talented [people] that ever hit this planet in terms of vocal style.

I think that’s probably my favorite song on that album even though it wasn’t one of the big hits.

Alright! We do that all the time. We stopped doing it for awhile… We have 47 years of musical history. It’s hard to put that in an hour, hour and 15 minutes. You know, sometimes you have to take certain things out in order to add other things. It’s just impossible to do all the music in such a short period of time.

One other song from that album – and I think you wrote this one – was “Lady,” which was also a big hit. Tell me about the inspiration for that song.

Oh, it had to do with my lady, ironically, Her name was Angie. She was a wonderful inspiration for me and that was what it was all about.

Interesting story about that. There was a lady out in Chicago. She wrote an article stating that this was perhaps one of the most vulgar songs she had ever heard. So I called to talk with her, but she wouldn’t get on the phone. I [then wrote her] and asked had she ever really listened to the song to really see what its meaning was. She said, “No, I couldn’t listen all the way through it, but it talked about having babies.” Well, she did finally listen to it and she did call and she apologized because it’s truly a love song.

What does the future hold for The Whispers? Let’s just look at 2010. Will you guys be on the road at all?

Well, Dave, to be honest with you, we’ve been blessed. We’re constantly on the road each year, and this year won’t be unlike the rest of them, God willing.

We have a lot of things to do this year. We have a book that’s finished that we want to put out. We want to do some other genres of music [like] jazz. ’Cause that’s really where our background comes from, jazz. So we’d like to get into that. We certainly wanna do another inspirational CD [but] we’d like to do a secular CD. So there are a lot of things that we’re trying to do.

I thought it was kind of nice that you decided not to replace Marcus when he passed away. The fact that the same four of you, though, are still going is very unusual in music. What do your attribute your longevity to? Because so many groups don’t get along… so you guys are kind of remarkable in that sense.

Well, once again, we’re quite blessed. And what I mean by that is simply this: our best friend on the planet is one another. We start from that perspective. And you don’t get tired of a friend.

Unlike a lot of groups, where they’re put together, we chose to be with one another. Scotty and Walter could have done their own thing quite easily. As a matter of fact, early in our career, people were vying to pull them away from the group. That didn’t happen because we chose one another. There’s something that came before the music that binds us. Do you know what I mean?

The other thing that’s a large part of our longevity, Dave, is our fan base. Whether we have a [new] record or not, they come out in droves. Some of them we’ve begun to know by name [and] expect to see them in certain seats. That’s a blessing.

Words by Dave Steinfeld

Mention the name Dean Friedman to diehard music fans and you’re likely to get a one-word response: “Ariel.” That 1977 single, from his eponymous debut album, was a Top 30 hit and remains his most popular song by far, at least in America. But Friedman has actually had a long, somewhat unpredictable career since he arrived on the scene in the singer-songwriter heyday of the 1970s.

Hailing from New Jersey, Dean Friedman was playing music by the time he was in his teens and landed a deal with Cashman and West’s Lifesong Records label in 1975, when he was only 20. The Dean Friedman disc appeared two years later. “Ariel” was of course the hit, and an irresistible one at that, combining a bouncy melody with witty lyrics that name-checked places familiar to many people who grew up in New Jersey or thereabouts. But for all its virtues, “Ariel” wasn’t really indicative of Friedman’s debut. Most of the songs on the album were just as good, but a lot darker. If “Ariel” painted a picture of a blissful new romance, “Woman of Mine” did the opposite, describing the singer’s desire to shut out the world after the end of a relationship. And “Song for My Mother,” the album’s centerpiece, was a dark and moving depiction of a parent’s breakdown.

Friedman returned in 1978 with his sophomore set, “Well, Well” Said the Rocking Chair. If not the minor masterpiece that his debut was, it was still a worthwhile album and probably a more diverse one. Some songs, like “Don’t You Ever Dare” and “I’ve Had Enough” displayed an angrier tone than on the previous disc. Others, like “Lucky Stars” and “The Deli Song,” were lighter and found Friedman joined by other “characters” as he acted out romantic scenarios in song. Rocking Chair’s closing track, meanwhile, was a strange but effective ballad called “Let Down Your Hair,” written about the famous Son Of Sam murders that took place during 1976 and 1977 in New York City.

Rocking Chair didn’t do as well as Dean Friedman did here in America. But in the UK, it was a different story. “Lucky Stars,” which also featured Denise Marsa on vocals, became a major hit there, going all the way to number-three. The follow-up single, “Lydia,” was also a minor hit on that side of the pond. Unfortunately, since the disc and its singles were not hits in the States, Friedman parted ways with the folks at Lifesong Records not long afterwards.

Friedman didn’t release his third album until 1982 and even then it was done independently. That’s a shame because Rumpled Romeo was a top-notch effort, a concept album of sorts about first love. The single was “McDonald’s Girl,” a relentlessly catchy, frequently covered song that was banned by the BBC for mentioning the name of the fast food chain. Other standout songs on Rumpled Romeo include the beautiful ballads “Love is Real” and “Hey Larry.” Really, the entire album flows from start to finish and brims with a sense of romance and innocence.

Since then, Friedman has recorded very sporadically and his output has ranged from children’s songs to more adult fare (a tune called “Fuck Buddies,” anyone?). He has also written quite a bit of music for film and television, in particular Nickelodeon. Friedman also created a VR game called Eat-A-Bug which he licensed to the popular cable channel, and he has some other high-tech inventions to his credit as well. And he continues to tour from time to time, particularly in the UK where he is still a big draw.

I recently caught up with Dean Friedman and have included excerpts from our conversation below.

Tell me a little about your childhood -- where you grew up, how you first got into music, that sort of thing.

I grew up in Paramus, New Jersey -- deep in the bosom of suburbia. Highways and shopping malls. The 'waterfall in Paramus Park' [from “Ariel”] was actually an indoor waterfall in the atrium of the Paramus Park shopping mall. My mom was a singer and there was always some Broadway showtune on the piano or some kind of music filling the house.

Who are some of the songwriters or musicians that inspired you when you were starting out?

I grew up listening to everybody -- from Gershwin and Bernstein to The Beatles, The Stones, Dylan, Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor [and] Elton John, plus lots of jazz and country and anything on the radio, really. As a composer, I've been influenced by every idiom, but as a singer-songwriter, specifically, I was definitely influenced by [the] artists I just mentioned… people who told stories using vivid lyrical imagery.

"Lucky Stars" became a huge hit in the UK and you still have a big fan base over there. Do you enjoy being in the UK? Any ideas why that song was so much bigger on that side of the pond than it was here?

I've always enjoyed visiting the UK, in no small part because it's easier for me to make a living when I'm there and I have slightly more access to the media, which makes it easier to reach my audience. And it's the audience that makes all the difference. As to why I'm relatively more successful in the UK than here? Quite simply: business and politics. The label that handled my UK releases knew what they were doing; my U.S. label didn't.

How autobiographical are your songs? Do you generally subscribe to the "write what you know" school of songwriting?

Most of what I write is autobiographical, but I also make frequent use of my poetic license, which I make sure to keep in my back pocket at all times.

Tell me about some of your extracurricular pursuits, like the Eat-A-Bug VR game and the Musical Atrium series.

It all started with my playing around with some of the early synthesizers. I was just having fun twiddling knobs and making cool sounds. One day it dawned on me that they were actually computers disguised as keyboards. I wound up authoring the first consumer guide for Synthesizers, Sequencers and Drum Machines (AMSCO), then starting writing software reviews for audio, video and animation software. I designed a VR video game, using an Amiga computer and software that allowed video camera input. I named it Eat-a-Bug and licensed it to Nickelodeon TV. That led to more VR games for TV and subsequently theme parks and museums around the world.

While doing a VR installation for the Eureka! Children's Museum (Halifax, UK), I pitched a musical playground for kids with whimsical instruments named the Booble, the Honkblatt and the Laser Harp. It was a hit and I started getting commissions to reproduce them for museums and theme parks around the world. I never woke up one day and decided to manufacture musical playground equipment, but, well, that's what happened. You can see them in the COOL STUFF section of www.deanfriedman.com.

Any insight into the inspiration of the following songs, or any memories about them that you care to discuss?

* “Ariel”

Written while fooling around with a four-track TEAC. I thought it might be too simple a plot -- boy meets girl, goes on date, winds up making out. Til two teenage girls on my block heard the song and jokingly accused me of reading their diaries!

* “Let Down Your Hair”

Written about and following the summer of Son of Sam. Women all over the five boroughs were cutting or tying up their hair to look less like the long-haired brunettes he had been shooting all summer. [Hence] "You can let down your hair; the summer's over.”

* “McDonald's Girl”

Was officially banned by the BBC for mentioning a commercial trade name. CBS immediately dropped me. A few years later, covered by then-unknown Canadian band Barenaked Ladies, and became their first radio hit in Toronto. Went to #1 in Norway for The Blenders and over the last few years, dozens of people around the world have produced their own YouTube videos based on the song. Hilarious stuff. I always knew it was a pure pop hit, and it's nice to see it keeps proving itself one.

* “Song for My Mother”

To some degree, everyone's parents are 'crazy.' Some just a little more colorfully than others.

What do you have planned for 2010?

I'm working on a new album [which is] due out by the summer. And I've got a few other music projects I'm eager to get crackin' on. Then another UK tour. Oh, and did I mention I'm still in the middle of cleaning my office? That could take 'til 2011.

Words by Dave Steinfeld