- Ralph — Ralph Vierra Tavares (born December 10, 1941) DIED 2021
update December 2021
Tributes have poured in for the late star, who was just days away from his 80th birthday.
One of 10 brothers, Tavares was best known for being in the band Tavares with the younger four of his siblings, Pooch, Chubby, Butch and Tiny.
They were known for iconic songs including Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel and Never Had A Love Like This Before.
The band formed in 1959 while Tavares was in the army, first performing under the name Chubby and the Turnpikes.
For a brief time, future Aerosmith drummer Joey Kramer joined the Turnpikes, before leaving to join Steven Tyler’s band in 1970.
- Pooch — Arthur Paul Tavares (born November 12, 1943)
- Chubby — Antone Lee Tavares (born June 2, 1945)
- Butch — Feliciano Vierra Tavares, Jr. (born May 18, 1948)
- Tiny — Perry Lee Tavares (born October 24, 1949)
They performed in the 1960s as Chubby and the Turnpikes. In 1973 they became Tavares. Big hits in the U.S. but it was not until 1976 when they charted in the UK charts with Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel written by Freddie Perren who produced Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive.
The follow up hit was the classic floor filler on a Saturday Night called Dont Take Away The Music
In 1977 they had a minor hit with The Mighty Power Of Love and a top five hit with Whodunnit. The song mentioned many fictional detectives who were trying to solve this case of missing love. One detective mentioned was Kojak!
Two more hits followed in 1977, the first being a No. 16 hit called One Step Away. The next single was the big one and went on to appear in the film and the soundtrack of Saturday Night Fever, It was the classic More Than A Woman. They won a Grammy for that song in 1979.
