Gordy Harmon, Co-Founder of R&B Hitmakers the Whispers, Dies At 79

Early promotional material for the Whispers featuring Gordy Harmon. 

The Whispers, and fans of the acclaimed California-bred R&B group, are in mourning following the death of one of its founding members.

Singer Gordy Harmon, who co-founded the quintet in Watts, California, with twin brothers Wallace and Walter Scott, Marcus Hutson, and Nicholas Caldwell in 1964, has died at the age of 79.

No cause was given for Harmon’s death, but his family confirmed the news to ABC 7. The media outlet reported that the musician died peacefully in his sleep at his Los Angeles home on Thursday (Jan. 5). 

The surviving Whispers shared their condolences on social media. 

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“We are saddened by the passing of one of the founders and former member of the Whispers,” the group captioned a collage of photos during Gordy's time with it on its official Instagram page. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and his memory and his contributions will never be forgotten. Much love.”

Before leaving the band in 1973, after his larynx was damaged in a driving accident, Harmon helped lay the groundwork for the group's future success. 

He sang on early hits like 1969's "The Time Will Come," which peaked at No. 17 on the Billboard R&B chart, and “Seems Like I Gotta Do Wrong” which became the group's first top 10 R&B entry in 1970.

Harmon was replaced by, Leaveil Degree, formerly of Friends of Distinction, and the Whispers went on to enjoy even greater success.

During the eighties and early nineties, the group scored multiple hits on the R&B and Billboard Hot 100 charts, putting out five gold and two platinum-certified albums. 

In 1987, their signature hit "Rock Steady" peaked at No. 7 on the Hot 100, while taking the top spot on the R&B chart. 

The Whispers were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2003, the Soul Music Hall of Fame in 2012 and the R&B Music Hall of Fame in 2014.

De La Soul's Music is Officially Headed to Streaming Platforms

De La Soul (Photo Courtesy Instagram: @wearedelasoul)

De La Soul has finally gone digital.

On Wednesday, the Grammy Award-winning rap group announced its iconic catalog will be released on streaming services for the first time ever on March 3 — the 34th anniversary of its debut album "3 Feet High and Rising."

"We can’t believe this day is finally here, and we are excited to be able to share our music with fans, old and new. Golnar, Rell, Faith and the Reservoir team have been great partners in this entire process. We’re grateful that our relationship with them all has enabled this to happen,” De La Soul said of the long-anticipated release in a statement.

The rest of the group's first six albums, "De La Soul Is Dead," "Buhloone Mindstate," "Stakes Is High," "Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump" and "AOI: Bionix," will also be made available.

De La Soul's label AOI will distribute the music in partnership with Reservoir Media and its subsidiary Chrysalis Records.

The move ends months of speculation on whether or not the move would really happen. Previously, infighting between the trio and their label Tommy Boy had kept De La Soul's work from being digitally distributed. 

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As we reported earlier Reservoir acquired Tommy Boy — founded by Tom Silverman in New York in 1981 and instrumental in launching the careers of Afrika Bambaataa, Queen Latifah, Digital Underground and Naughty By Nature amongst others — in June for a deal valued at $100 million dollars.

The purchase proved fortunate for De La Soul which was at an impasse in negotiations with Tommy Boy over streaming rights in 2019 after the label acquired the rights to its back catalog from Warner Records.

In August the group revealed during an Instagram live session that its whole catalog would be made available for streaming as a result of the deal.

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"We have finally come down to a deal between ourselves and Reservoir Media to release our music in 2021," group member Dave "Trugoy" Jolicoeur said. "Our catalog will be released this year, we are working diligently with the good folks at Reservoir, and we sat down with them and got it done pretty quickly actually."

Made up of Jolicoeur, Kelvin "Posdnuos" Mercer and Vincent "Maseo" Mason, De La Soul were pioneers of alternative rap and prominent members of the so-called Native Tongues collective, along with A Tribe Called Quest, The Jungle Brothers and others known for the positive Afrocentric lyrics, eclectic samples and jazz-influenced beats. A 2006 collaboration with the Gorillaz on the single “Feel Good Inc.” earned it a Grammy.

Aretha Franklin Tops List of '200 Greatest Singers of All Time,' Whitney Houston Comes in Second

Aretha Franklin performs during "The Gospel Tradition: In Performance at the White House" in the East Room of the White House, April 14, 2015. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

The Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, earned the moniker with undeniable talent, a rare Falcon soprano voice with a nearly four-octave range and a chart-topping music career spanning more than six decades.

Whether it was the gospel music she grew up singing at her father Rev. C.L. Franklin's church, under the tutelage of one of the greats of the genre, Mahalia Jackson, or the secular music she transitioned to later in her career — when she took to the stage, there was no doubt fans were witnessing musical royalty.

By the time she died at the age of 76 in 2018, Franklin — the first female artist inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame — had amassed 20 Grammy Awards and proven her influence beyond music by being granted the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, in 2007.

Does that make her the greatest pop singer to ever live? Music industry bible Rolling Stone seems to think so.

The publication updated its "200 Greatest Singers of All Time" list to start the new year. First published in 2008, this year's iteration placed Franklin atop a top 10 heavily influenced by R&B and populated exclusively by artists of Black descent.

"A force of nature. A work of genius. A gift from the heavens. Aretha Franklin’s voice is all that and more, which is why she remains the unchallenged Queen, years after her final bow. Her singing is the most magnificent sound to emerge from America — more universal than Coltrane’s horn, bolder than Hendrix’s guitar," the magazine wrote in praise of the superstar.

Compiled by staff and key contributors to the magazine, Rolling Stone asked its readers to keep in mind that it was a list of the greatest singers, not the greatest voices, as they perused the list. As for the criteria it used to rank the artists, the magazine kept it simple.

"In all cases, what mattered most to us was originality, influence, the depth of an artist’s catalog, and the breadth of their musical legacy," it said.

Whitney Houston (No. 2), Sam Cooke (3), Billie Holiday (4), Mariah Carey (5), Ray Charles (6), Stevie Wonder (7), Beyoncé (8), Otis Redding (9) and Al Green (10) rounded out the top 10.

Click here to view the complete list.