R&B singer of The Whispers
Nicholas Caldwell, singer and co-founder of the California R&B group the Whispers, has died. He was 71.
Willette Ballard, a representative for the group, said Caldwell died Tuesday of congestive heart failure at his San Francisco home.
Caldwell was an original member of the Whispers, a group formed in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1963 that included brothers Walter and Wallace Scott, Marcus Hutson and Gordy Harmon. Their first top-10 R&B hit was in 1970 with “Seems Like I Gotta Do Wrong.” Their first album to go platinum was “The Whispers” in 1980. It included the disco hit “And The Beat Goes On.”
Caldwell also penned some of their songs, including the fan favorite “Lady.” The group also had an R&B and pop hit, “Rock Steady,” with Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds.
Caldwell and fellow singer Leaveil Degree provided “some suave dance steps” during the band’s performance at Anaheim’s Celbrity Theater, a Times critic wrote in 1990. The critic called the band “B-students of soul who may not create soaring moments but who get the job of entertaining done in classy, confident fashion.”