Pamela Hutchinson, a singer in the R&B trio The Emotions, died on Friday at 61. The group released a statement on their Facebook page, stating that the singer passed following “health challenges she’d been battling for several years.”
The 1970s Chicago-based sibling group started in gospel music as the Hutchinson Sunbeams. Touring alongside their dad Joe Hutchinson, they occasionally performed in concert with Mahalia Jackson.
They eventually transitioned their sound and became an R&B group, renamed as The Emotions. According to Billboard, the soulful singing group became known for their hit Best of My Love, which spent five weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Over the years, the group would lend their vocals on collaborations for Earth, Wind & Fire’s single Boogie Wonderland, Jennifer Holliday’s Grammy-nominated LP Feel My Soul, Nancy Wilson’s 1990 album A Lady with a Song, and Smokey Robinson’s 1999 Grammy-nominated album Intimate. The group would even make a cross-over appearance in the rap game, appearing on LL Cool J’s 1995 LP Mr. Smith.
In May 2020, Wanda Vaughn of The Emotions performed for TV One’s Unsung Live at Home Concert Series, alongside her daughters Wendi Vaughn and Wyann Vaughn. Click the below to watch their performance.
Our thoughts and prayers are with her family and friends.
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