Not to be confused with the doo wop group Little Anthony & The Imperials. Between 1958 and 1963 they were sometimes simply called The Imperials. The multi-award-winning (including 4 Grammys) group, and Gospel Music Association's hall of fame inductees, began in 1964. Jake Hess of the Statesmen Quartet decided to hand-pick the best singers he could find to put together what he would call a "super group" that would be known as The Imperials: Hess (lead), Armond Morales (bass from the Weatherford Quartet), former Oak Ridge Boys baritone Gary McSpadden, the Speer Family's Sherrill Nielsen (tenor), and Henry Slaughter (the Weatherford Quartet) at piano. Until Hess was forced to retire because of health reasons, the group was usually called Jake Hess and The Imperials. Over the years, there have been many changes of members (and styles). They hit their peak of popularity in the late '70s and early '80s with Morales, Jim Murray (tenor), David Will (baritone), and Russ Taff. The current lineup includes: Jason Morales, Perry Jones, Ian Owens and Scott Allen. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.