Nicholas Caldwell 1944-2016
He was one of the founding members of The “And The Beat Goes On” Whispers and died at only 71 years old after a long battle with cancer. A new Whispers LP was always something I looked forward to in the 80s and with albums like “Love Is Where You Find It” (1981, with gatefold cover!) or “Love For Love” (1983) are still cherished up to this day.
The last time, and actually the first time, I had the chance to see The Whispers live was in October 2013 at New York’s B.B. King’s Club where they came up with a flawless and highly entertaining performance.
Nicholas Caldwell was one of the founding members in the early 60s and together with the Scott twins, Marcus Hutson, and Leaveil Degree, started to record with the group from as early as 1964 for Dore Records. Their first charted LP was “The Whispers’ Love Story” in 1972 and the first charted single was “Seems Like I Gotta Do Wrong” in 1970. From the mid 70s onwards, the hits kept on coming with tunes like “One For The Money” (1976), “Make It With You” (1977), “And The Beat Goes On” (1980), which was one of the must-plays during my DJ years, “It’s A Love Thing” (1981), “Tonight” (1983), “Keep On Loving Me” (1983) and “Rock Steady” (1987), among many others. All of them standouts, classics, pristine production work by Leon Sylvers.
In 2009, The Whispers released their first Gospel album, “Thankful”. And now, after more than 50 years of 
performing and recording together, one important and crucial link is missing.
