Emotions

Rooted in gospel traditions, the Chicago-based Emotions ranked among the era’s foremost female R&B ensembles during the 1970s. Lead singer Sheila Hutchinson and sisters Wanda and Jeanette were still in their teens when they first appeared on the soul charts in 1969 with the engaging single “So I Can Love You,” after performing gospel as children and gaining local secular attention before signing with the Memphis label Volt and collaborating with producers Isaac Hayes and David Porter. The 1975 demise of Stax prompted the group to partner with Maurice White of Earth, Wind & Fire, an alliance that produced the number-one pop and R&B hit “Best of My Love” in 1977.

Two years later Maurice White rejoined the Emotions for “Boogie Wonderland,” which climbed to number two on the R&B chart and number six on the pop chart. Three further albums appeared on White’s ARC imprint between 1979 and 1981, yet none matched the group’s earlier commercial heights. The sisters next moved to the Red label and released the 1984 album Sincerely, whose single “All Things Come in Time” was followed by three additional chart entries that generated limited interest. A subsequent Motown contract yielded only one album, If I Only Knew.

Sheila Hutchinson served as featured vocalist on Garry Glenn’s 1987 track “Feels Good to Feel Good.” In 1990, younger sister Pam—who had performed temporarily with the group in the late 1970s and became a permanent member after the turn of the millennium—and Jeanette Hutchinson supplied background vocals for Helen Baylor’s gospel recording “There’s No Greater Love,” while Wanda Hutchinson and Jeanette also sang on Earth, Wind & Fire’s Heritage. Pam Hutchinson died on September 18, 2020, at the age of 61.