LOS ANGELES (CelebrityAccess) – Gordy Harmon, founding member of the R&B group The Whispers, has died. Harmon’s family confirmed the news in a statement to ABC News, saying Harmon died in his sleep on Thursday (January 5) at his home in Los Angeles. He was 79. A cause of death was not revealed, but his family believes that it was natural causes.
The Whispers came out of LA in 1964 and are known for their hits, “And the Beat Goes on,” “Rock Steady,” and others. Harmon was a member of the group with twins Walter and Wallace Scott, Marcus Hutson and Nicholas Caldwell.
He left the R&B group after suffering an injury to his larynx in 1973. The group’s biggest hit, “And the Beat Goes On,” which hit No. 1, was done after Harmon had left due to his injury. While Harmon was an active member, they released three LPs, Planets of Life (1969), Life and Breath and The Whispers’ Love Story (both 1972).
The quintet received the Soul Music Hall of Fame Award in 2012 and was inducted into the R&B Music Hall of Fame in 2014. They received the Governors Award from the San Francisco chapter of the Grammy Awards in 2005 – the highest honor that can be awarded by any Academy chapter.
Harmon is survived by his only remaining bandmates, Walter and Wallace Scott. Caldwell died of congestive heart failure in 2016 and Huston passed following a prostate cancer battle in 2000.
