Leaveil Degree (born July 31, 1948) – Bingo (1974)
This classic Philly soul disco jam was the title track to the first Whispers record Degree was featured on after replacing original member Gordy Harmon.
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Leaveil Degree replaced original Whispers member Gordy Harmon in 1973, and has been with the group ever since.
Formed in the Watts section of Los Angeles in 1963 by twin brothers Wallace “Scotty” and Walter Scott, the vocal group also included Gordy Harmon, Marcus Hutson, and Nicholas Caldwell.
Degree came onboard after Harmon suffered a serious larynx injury in a car accident in 1973. By that time, the Whispers had already released three albums. Their debut LP was the stellar Planets Of Life, which came out on the small L.A. label Soul Clock in 1969. They then signed to New York-based Janus Records, and released two more albums that were recorded at Columbia Studios in Hollywood, The Whispers’ Love Story and Life And Breath, both released in 1972.
For their next album, the first to feature Degree on tenor vocals, the group changed producers and coasts, and the result was the classic LP Bingo. It was co-produced by the legendary Philly production team of MFSB core members Ronnie Baker, Norman Harris, and Earl Young, and recorded at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia.
Released in 1974, the LP also had additional production by Bunny Sigler, Charles Simmons, and Bruce Hawes, with Baker, Harris, Young, and other key members of MFSB as its studio musicians.
The album’s title track was the classic jam “Bingo,” which was arranged by Harris and co-written by himself with veteran Philly songwriters Sigler and Allan Felder. Like the rest of the LP, it featured Harris and Bobby Eli on guitars, Baker and Young on bass and drums, Larry Washington on congas and bongos, Ron “Have Mercy” Kersey on keyboards, Sigler on piano, and Vince Montana Jr. on vibes.
In 1976, the Whispers signed to Soul Train Records, the brand new label co-founded by Don Cornelius and promoter and producer Dick Griffey, the group’s manager. Griffey later bought out Cornelius so he could better focus on his hit TV show, and then re-named the label SOLAR (Sound Of Los Angeles Records).
They released two albums on Soul Train, One For The Money (1976) and Open Up For Love (1977). One For The Money was still largely a Philly production, produced by Harris and recorded at Sigma Sound Studios. Like Bingo, it featured key MFSB studio musicians, and over half its songs were co-written by Allan Felder, including the upbeat message song “Put Me In The News.”
Starting with Open Up For Love, which was co-produced by the Whispers along with Cornelius and Griffey, the group transitioned to a true West Coast sound. Gene Page co-arranged the album, which featured Crusaders Wilton Felder on bass and Joe Sample on keyboards, James Gadson on drums, and Lee Ritenour and Melvin “Wah Wah Watson” Ragin on guitars.
Next came three more albums on SOLAR before their breakthrough, platinum-selling self-titled LP dropped in 1979. It went to #1 on the R&B album charts, powered by its massive lead single, “And The Beat Goes On,” co-written and produced by Leon Sylvers III, which hit #1 R&B and #19 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Sylvers co-produced the Whispers’ follow up album, Imagination (1980), which went gold and made it to #3 R&B. Highlights included the smooth disco-funk “Up on Soul Train,” written by Cornelius, and the superb jam “I Can Make It Better,” which hit #4 on dance charts and #40 R&B.
#soul #funk #disco #Whispers #LeaveilDegree