Jeffrey Osborne, The Whispers, and Howard Hewett

Osborne was born in Providence, Rhode Island, US to a very large and musical family. He is the youngest of 12 children (a sibling to 6 sisters and 5 brothers). Several of his brothers and sisters also pursued careers as musicians, one of them being his older brother Billy who was his fellow bandmate in L.T.D and is now a L.A. based producer/songwriter. Jeffrey’s oldest brother Clay Osborne is a professional pianist and vocalist.

Though Jeffrey’s father died when he was only 13 years old he inherited his strong skill and passion for music from him. Clarence “Legs” Osbourne was a jazz trumpet player whose past collaborators include Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Lionel Hampton. Jeffrey’s father often sacrificed many important stints as a musician to be with his family and always encouraged his children's aspirations.

Jeffrey joined the group L.T.D. as the drummer and moved out to Los Angeles with them when he was in his early teens. While he was out in L.A. he also sat in as the drummer for the O’Jays when the band’s official drummer did not feel up to playing.

Jeffrey eventually filled in as the lead singer for L.T.D. and led the group to success with a string of hit R&B albums throughout the 70s and early 80s. Two of the band’s albums, 1977s “Something to Love” and 1979s “Devotion” were certified Gold and reached No.1 and No.5 on the US R&B charts consecutively. Their 1978 album “Togetherness” went Platinum and debuted at No.3 on the US R&B charts.

Osborne put out his self-titled debut album in 1982 and scored two top 40 hits on the pop charts with “On Wings of Love” and “I Really Don’t Need No Light”. His next release “Stay with Me Tonight” proved to be an even bigger success reaching Gold status and going on to claim Platinum certification. This album was well-received both in the US and the UK, with it’s single “Stay with Me Tonight” climbing to No. 18 on the UK charts.

In 1985 Osborne co-wrote the Whitney Houston single “All at Once”, which appeared on her monumental self-titled debut. That same year he contributed to the USA for Africa campaign, collaborating on the song “We Are the World”.

Throughout Osborne’s career he has recorded a total of 5 albums that went either Gold or Platinum. In 1990 he signed on with record label Artista and released the album “Only Human”. In 1997 Osborne released his Christmas album “Something Warm for Christmas” and two years later issued a greatest hits compilation entitled “Ultimate Collection”. During the 2000s Osborne entered into contracts with several independent labels and released albums such as 2000’s “That’s for Sure”, 2003’s “Music is Life”, 2005’s “From the Soul”, and 2013’s “A Time To Love”.

The Whispers came together in 1964, in California, and they were made up of twin brothers Wallace and Walter Scott. Wallace Scott was the voice of the band and was the lead singer on the vast majority of their hits. The Whispers were officially hit makers with the height of their fame being the 1970s and 1980s. Their first breakthrough into Top 40 was the song “Rock Steady”, which made it to number one on the Billboard Hot 100, making it to number 7.

They are a band that originally started their career on a major label, but decided to downsize to a smaller label based in Los Angeles called Soul Clock. They were lead by Ron Carson, who became responsible for their huge hit, “Seem Like I Got To Do Wrong” in 1970. Moving again to a larger label called Janus, they decided to stick to working with Carson; however, during the height of their career the band was signed to SOLAR Records who were led by Dick Griffey. Much later in their career they started their own label called Satin Tie Productions, and released an album called “For Your Ears Only”.

They have been responsible for some very memorable performances indeed such as their performance of the National Anthem at the 1989 World Series.

It was in 2014, that The Whispers were inducted into The R&B Music Hall of Fame. The “And the Beat Goes On” singers still perform to this day.