Antone “Chubby” Tavares, the lead singer of Tavares — a 1970s R&B band of five brothers — died on Nov. 29, his family announced. He was 81.
Tavares passed away at his home in “peace and comfort,” according to his son, Antone Tavares Jr.
The group is best known for their songs “Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel” in 1976 and “Never Had a Love Like This Before.” They also won a Grammy Award for their contribution to the soundtrack of “Saturday Night Fever” — “More than a Woman.”
The Tavares brothers — Antone, Ralph Edward Vierra, Victor Earl, Feliciano “Butch” Vierra, Perry Lee “Tiny” and Arthur Paul “Pooch” — formed a group in 1973 and scored a hit with “Check it Out.” Victor, who sang on the song, left the group after their first album, but Chubby and his remaining four brothers began a five-year run that fit in well with R&B and the dawn of the disco age.
The group hit No. 1 in the R&B genre with “She’s Gone,” originally sung by Hall and Oates that later went to No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 when the duo’s song was rereleased.
Tavares would have eight singles in Billboard’s top 40 and 12 singles in the R&B top 10 chart, including a trio of No. 1 hits.
The group’s best year was 1975, when their album “In The City” yielded three hits: “It Only Takes A Minute, which topped the R&B charts and was No. 10 in Billboard’s Hot 100; “The Love I Never Had” (No. 11 R&B) and an R&B cover of the Edgar Winter Group’s hit “Free Ride” that went to No. 8.
The Tavares brothers had roots in Cape Verdean-American music while they were growing up in Providence, Rhode Island; and New Bedford, Massachusetts. They would be inducted into the Cape Verdean Heritage Hall Of Fame in 2006, the same year as their father, Feliciano “Flash” Vierra Tavares.
The group was inducted into the Rhode Island Music Hall of Fame in 2014.
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