Tavares

The five siblings in Tavares first gained widespread notice through the smooth ballad “Check It Out,” even though they later became most recognized for upbeat successes such as the million-selling “Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel,” “More Than a Woman,” and “Whodunit.” Their polished harmonies and wholesome, approachable style earned them frequent spots on Johnny Carson’s and Mike Douglas’ programs as well as Dick Clark’s American Bandstand. In 1974 they also delivered the initial chart-topping R&B rendition of “She’s Gone,” a composition by the then-emerging team of Daryl Hall and John Oates, who themselves reached number seven on the pop listings two years afterward.

Arthur, Ralph Vierra, Perry Lee, Antone, and Feliciano Tavares—known respectively as “Pooch,” “Tiny,” “Chubby,” and “Butch”—formed the act in 1964 under the name Chubby & the Turnpikes in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Their grandparents passed down traditional Cape Verde folk songs, while their older brother John instructed them in doo-wop technique. By 1969 the ensemble had adopted the Tavares moniker and began performing throughout New England venues before signing with Capitol Records in 1973. Their first album, Check It Out, appeared in early 1974; its title-track slow jam had already climbed to number five R&B on the Billboard chart during the previous summer. The follow-up ballad “That’s the Sound That Lonely Makes” reached number ten R&B in early 1974. Later that summer the group issued Hard Core Poetry, produced by the songwriting and production pair Dennis Lambert & Brian Potter, known for the Four Tops’ “Ain’t No Woman Like the One I Got.” The set featured the soaring number-ten single “Too Late,” the number-one hit “She’s Gone,” and “Remember What I Told You to Forget,” which peaked at number four in 1975. Lambert & Potter also oversaw In the City, released in summer 1975, which included the driving chart-topper “It Only Takes a Minute,” a cover of “Free Ride” (originally a 1973 pop success for the Edgar Winter Group), and “The Love I Never Had.” Take That scored a U.K. hit with their 1993 version of “It Only Takes a Minute.”

The spring 1976 album Sky High marked Tavares’ initial project with producer Freddie Perren, who had previously worked with family vocal groups including the Jackson 5 on “I Want You Back,” “ABC,” and “The Love You Save” while part of Motown’s arrangers/songwriters/producers collective the Corporation, and who would later guide the Sylvers to success with “Boogie Fever.” Sky High contained the shimmering number-three R&B single “Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel, Pt. 1” from summer 1976. Their fifth album, Love Storm, arrived in spring 1977 and housed the inventive number-one R&B track “Whodunit.” The Bee Gees wrote “More Than a Woman” expressly for the group; it appeared on both the 11-million-unit-selling Saturday Night Fever soundtrack and Tavares’ own Future Bound LP, issued in spring 1978. A compilation titled The Best of Tavares came out in fall 1977. On the 1979 album Madame Butterfly the brothers collaborated with Philly soul arranger and producer Bobby Martin, whose résumé includes the Manhattans and LTD; the tender ballad “Never Had a Love Like This Before” reached number five R&B in early 1979. In 1994 the Canadian label Unidisc released The Best of Tavares Revisited, featuring the group’s own re-recordings of earlier hits. Eldest brother Ralph Vierra Tavares passed away on December 8, 2021, two days before his eightieth birthday, while Arthur Tavares, also known as Pooch Tavares, died on April 15, 2024, at age eighty.