The legendary Whispers have accrued 33 top-10 hits and 20 Billboard-charted albums over the span of five decades. KMUW's Carla Eckels talks with twin brother Walter Scott, one of the founding members of the R&B group, about their career and upcoming performance at the Kansas Star Event Center in Mulvane.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
CARLA ECKELS: You have said the 1979 groove, "And The Beat Goes On" changed everything for The Whispers. How so?
WALTER SCOTT: Well, in 1979, we had been singing probably about maybe nine or 10 years. We were [a] pretty old group, to be honest with you, and we finally got the hit we've been waiting on, "And The Beat Goes On" came along. And next thing you know, we had a double platinum album [in] 1979 and '80. ...Scottie puts it like this ... we finally could get our clothes out, the cleanest shoes — everything you know, and you get a hit that ... size, your whole life changes.
Well, you know, it's absolutely amazing that it was such a massive hit. What was that like, what was your motivation? Because did you meet in junior high school? I know was it in 1964 that you started?
Yes, '64, and we came from the Watts area here in Los Angeles, California. But you know all about Motown; so ... like most young groups, we wanted to be like the Temptations and the Four Tops. ...We were doing talent shows in and around Los Angeles. And my brother and I [were] singing as a duet. Nicholas [Caldwell] and Marcus [Hutson] and Gordy [Harmon] were singing as a trio, and we met at one of the talent shows. A big popular disc jockey here would hold the talent shows and we met. While we were actually backstage waiting to go on to do our prospective acts, we kind of started singing with each other, the five of us, and we liked what we heard. And so we said after the talent show, "Why don't we just put this together?" We can become, like every other group, a stand-up vocal group like the [Temptations], and that's how it all started.
What was the motivation to keep going early on and not get a nine-to-five job?
You know, we were very close to that. We really believed in ourselves and we tell young people this today, "If you really have a dream and believe in it, don't fall short, keep going." ...We kept going.
Leon Sylvers is such a phenomenal producer, how do you think he enhanced The Whispers sound?
Oh, he changed it forever. You know, we work with several producers and ... production back then was a guy who had his ideas of how he thought a song should be delivered. Well, The Whispers were five producers. Leon Sylvers was different. He knew from the drum beat to the bass, what he wanted. This guy was phenomenal. You know, he went and he started with the bass drum and ended up with the snare. And he came up with "And The Beat Goes On." Well, when we got with him, we knew that he knew what he wanted. So, we had no problem following him. And he changed the sound that was The Whispers, basically. He went on to do several things with Shalamar and became a prolific producer. That was no surprise to us because we saw it in the very beginning.
I've been looking at so many great videos of The Whispers, and you've got to be one of the first to create an R&B video. For example, "Keep On Lovin' Me," how did you come to create that video?
Well, back then marketing with record companies ... had limited budgets, and this was when videos were kind of just starting and SOLAR was a small label and they didn't really have a lot of money, but they wanted to do a video [for] "Keep On Lovin' Me." When I look back on the video today, you know, I can see what we were trying to do. ...But [the music video] was so much fun and we just did what they told us to do. We had a small production company and we went in and had a lot of fun with "Keep On Loving Me" and later on with "And The Beat Goes On" and "In The Mood."
In "Keep On Lovin’ Me,” you have the famous line “Hey, Scotty ... What's that mean?" How did that come about?
That's a unique story. Because when we came to the studio, Leon [Sylvers] informed us that he had a song called “Keep On Loving Me,” and there was a portion in there and ... he said, “It goes like this, 'Hey, Scotty ... What that mean?'" Scotty said “Leon, I'm not singing that! It sounds stupid.” ...Leon says "Scotty, trust me." ...We literally ended up going out of the studio [to have] a discussion of our own. Nick [Caldwell] said, “Scotty, this guy knows what he's doing. Trust me, let's go and do this song.” ...And it went on to be one of the biggest songs that we ever had, and we all joke about it now — how close we came not to doing it — but it ended up being one of the biggest songs that we ever had.
The Whispers have taken a major step to control their music catalog by re-recording some of their biggest hits so that you retain the rights to the recordings. And the new recording of "Keep On Lovin' Me" is spectacular. Did you change anything?
Yes, this is what we've wanted to do, and man, what a joy it is. The good Lord has blessed us to be as old as we are, we still can sing the way we sang when we were young. So we have an opportunity to go back and redo our catalog. ...Now we can own it and have discussions about how it's marketed and how it's distributed throughout the world. But man, the new versions [are] again ... an example of all The Whispers putting our heads together, having a vision of how we want the song to come out. And Magic Mendez, the young man who plays bass for us today in our band, is the producer and he's just excellent at executing what it is that he thinks ... we want and that's what you're hearing [on] "Keep On Lovin' Me."
I have to ask you about some of your wonderful love songs. Talk to us about "Lady" because that one so many people love.
Well, "Lady" is kind of the core of what The Whispers are about. It features Nicholas Caldwell, who's the only writer in the group. He wrote "Lady" and the other tune called "Say Yes." "Say Yes" was never released as a single from the album but it ended up being probably the most popular of the songs that we've done ballad-wise. ...We couldn't be more proud. We lost Nick in 2016.
I remember reading about that and he seemed like such a giant in terms of his choreography and his writing too.
Absolutely.
When I first heard that you had released a gospel album, I was so excited, because my show also features gospel music. So that album "Thankful," there's so many great songs on there.
Yes, truly it was a joy to do that. Well, to be honest with you, we've always wanted to do a gospel album. But when we were in the midst of our success at SOLAR, we kept saying we got to do a gospel album. Well, of course, record companies back then, and probably still to date, ...they want to do what makes money, you know. At the time, "And The Beat Goes On" was very big, "Rock Steady" came along about six years later. So, we never got the opportunity to do a gospel album. Of course, our parents, my mother in particular, that's what she wanted us to do more than anything. So years later, a small company in Chicago approached us about that, so we did a gospel album. We went down and worked with several people. Fred Hammond did a few cuts on it. But what a joy because we finally got to do it. My mother died in 1999. So, she missed it. She wasn't here, but man, what it was just [gratifying] knowing that we did something that she wanted us to do. And we love it. You know, it's a great album we think. It's called "Thankful." Yes, thankful to be able to do it.
Walter, I know that you all just celebrated 80 years of life. I love that you and your twin brother, Scotty, how do you keep going? You know, in terms of your voices, how do you keep them in tip-top shape?
You know, the only thing I can attribute it to is we were smart enough. We've never drank, never smoked, never did drugs. And we've always taken care of ourselves, you know? ...So here we are 80 years later, still being out ... we do shows; we tour quite a bit. And the good Lord has just blessed us. And what really makes us so great is because at 80 years old, we have 27 albums and we want to go back and record as many of those songs for the ownership purpose as possible. That's what we're in the process of doing right now. We're recording all of our songs. And we just think that we're the most blessed guys in the world, we're doing something that they're paying us for that. We always laugh, they don't know we would have done this [for] free! ...It's a blessing, that's the only thing I can say is it's a blessing to be able to do this.
