Gordy Harmon of The Whispers dead at 79

Gordy Harmon, one of the founding members of jazz and soul band The Whispers, has died at the age of 79. The musician’s family shared the news on Friday (January 6).

The death of Gordy Harmon

Harmon died on December 5 at his home in Los Angeles and was of natural causes, according to his family. The Whispers formed in 1964. During his nine years with the group – which also included identical twin brothers Wallace and Walter Scott, as well as Marcus Hutson and Nicholas Caldwell – three albums (“Planets of Life” (1969), “Life and Breath” (1972) and “The Whispers’ Love Story” (1972). Harmon left The Whispers in 1973 after suffering a laryngeal injury.

The chart success of the Whispers

After Harmon’s departure, The Whispers released their first number-one single on the R&B chart, the 1979 hit “And The Beat Goes On”. The disco song also marked the band’s entry into the Billboard charts, peaking at number 19 on the Billboard Hot 100. Other successful tracks included “Rock Steady” and “Just Gets Better With Time”, the latter also being the title track of their sixteenth studio album in 1987.

Harmon is survived by his only remaining bandmates from The Whispers, Wallace and Walter Scott. Caldwell died of heart failure in 2016 at the age of 71, while Hutson passed away in 2000 after a battle with prostate cancer. The Whispers were inducted into the R&B Music Hall of Fame in 2014. Click here for last year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductions.

The latest record to feature Harmon can be heard here:

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