Rock Steady

Album: Just Gets Better with Time (1987)
Charted: 38 7
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This is the Whispers' biggest hit, peaking at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100. It's about a guy who falls into a complicated relationship with a girl he thinks he loves. He is trying to figure out if she loves him in return, though it should be obvious that she does. >>>
    Suggestion credit:
    Mike - Santa Barbara, CA
  • This was written and produced by the team of L.A. Reid and Babyface. It was one of the first songs the pair worked on for another artist - they were members of the group The Deele at the time. In 1989, they formed LaFace Records and became music moguls as well as hit producers. TLC, OutKast and Pink were all signed to LaFace.

Comments: 2

  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn this day in 1987 {September 19th} a video of the Whispers' "Rock Steady" was aired on the nationally syndicated television program, 'Soul Train'...
    Fourteen weeks earlier "Rock Steady" peaked at #1 {for 1 week} on Billboard's Hot R&B Singles chart...
    As noted above, it reached #7 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart...
    Between 1969 and 1997 the Los Angeles group had forty records on the Hot R&B Singles chart, fifteen made the Top 10 with two* reaching #1, the above "Rock Steady" and "And The Beats Goes On" for 5 weeks in 1980...
    Original member Nicholas Caldwell passed away at the age of 71 on January 5th, 2016...
    May he and Don Cornelius {1936 - 2012} R.I.P.
    * They just missed having a third #1 record when their "It's A Love Thing" peaked at #2 for 3 weeks in 1981, the first week it was at #2, the #1 record for that week was "Don't Stop The Music" by Yarbrough and Peoples, for it's 2nd and 3rd week at #2, the #1 record for both those weeks was "Being With You" by Smokey Robinson...
  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyPer: http://www.oldiesmusic.com/news.htm {01-07-2016}
    Nicholas Caldwell, one of the founders of the R&B group, the Whispers, died Tuesday (January 5th, 2016) of congestive heart failure at his home in San Francisco at the age of 71...
    All told, the Los Angeles-based group charted twenty-one times from 1970 to 1990; their biggest hit was "Rock Steady”, it peaked at #7 {for 1 week} on August 23rd, 1987...
    The Whispers were inducted into the 'Vocal Group Hall of Fame' in 2011...
    May he R.I.P.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Songs in Famous Movie Scenes: '80s Edition

Songs in Famous Movie Scenes: '80s EditionMusic Quiz

You know the scenes - Tom Cruise in his own pants-off dance off, Molly Ringwald celebrating her birthday - but do you remember what song is playing?

History Of Rock

History Of RockSong Writing

An interview with Dr. John Covach, music professor at the University of Rochester whose free online courses have become wildly popular.

Don Brewer of Grand Funk

Don Brewer of Grand FunkSongwriter Interviews

The drummer and one of the primary songwriters in Grand Funk talks rock stardom and Todd Rundgren.

Tim Butler of The Psychedelic Furs

Tim Butler of The Psychedelic FursSongwriter Interviews

Tim and his brother Richard are the Furs' foundation; Tim explains how they write and tells the story of "Pretty In Pink."

Paul Williams

Paul WilliamsSongwriter Interviews

He's a singer and an actor, but as a songwriter Paul helped make Kermit a cultured frog, turned a bank commercial into a huge hit and made love both "exciting and new" and "soft as an easy chair."

Experience Nirvana with Sub Pop Founder Bruce Pavitt

Experience Nirvana with Sub Pop Founder Bruce PavittSong Writing

The man who ran Nirvana's first label gets beyond the sensationalism (drugs, Courtney) to discuss their musical and cultural triumphs in the years before Nevermind.