THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

514-Tavares-Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel.

1976-Number 4 single.

Best Bit-At 0.24. It may have a corny title, but a song of this quality can be forgiven for that.

Tavares are a family of brothers who were made up of Ralph, (1941-2021) Arthur, (1942-2024) Antone, Victor, Feliciano, and Perry, and at the time of writing they remain active as a duo of Perry, and Feliciano. Some of the brothers were born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, and some were born in Provdence, Rhode Island, United States, their parents were of Cape Verdean descent. The brothers began performing in the ‘R&B’ genre as a sextet in 1959, as ‘Chubby and the Turnpikes,’ and finally got a recording contract with ‘Capitol Records’ in 1967, it was in 1973, just prior to commercial success that they changed their name to ‘Tavares.’ Their brother Victor left the group in 1974, after the release of their debut studio Album ‘Check It Out,’ and it was during the mid to late 1970’s that they achieved their greatest success with a succession of ‘Disco’ orientated hit singles. Ralph left the group in 1984, and Perry followed in the mid 1990’s in order to pursue a solo career, but returned to the fold in 2009. Their father was Feliciano Vierra ‘Flash’ Tavares Sr. (1920-2008) who was a famous Cape Verdean, American musician, singer and guitarist, and had inspired his sons, passed away in 2008. In 2013, the brothers were honoured with ‘Lifetime Achievement Awards’ by ‘The National R&B Music Society Black Tie Gala,’ in Atlantic City, New Jersey. All six brothers attended and performed on stage together for the first time in 37 years.

The discography of ‘Tavares’ includes 12 studio Albums released between 1974-1983, and 35 singles released between 1973-1986, there are also seven official compilation Albums available. In America on the Billboard Hot 100, eight of their singles have reached the top 40, with ‘It Only Takes a Minute,’ peaking the highest at Number 10, while ‘Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel,’ made Number 15. They have also had great success on the ‘Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs’ chart, with 20 top entries, including three of those tracks reaching Number 1. In the UK, Tavares have had eight top 40 hits, with ‘Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel,’ and ‘Don’t Take Away the Music,’ both peaking the highest at Number 4 in 1976.

‘Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel’ was the first of two singles released from Tavares’ fourth studio Album ‘Sky High!’ from May 1976, the song was co-written by Freddie Perren, (1943-2004) and Keni St. Lewis, with the production being by Perren. In 1985 the Dutch music producer Ben Liebrand (see also best songs 781 and 739) remixed ‘Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel,’ and it reached Number 12 on the UK top 40, nine years after it had first been a hit.

Frederick James Perren was born on May 15th, 1943, in Englewood, New Jersey, United States, in 1993 he suffered a debilitating stroke, which affected his later years, and he died on December 16th, 2004, at the age of 61. Perren’s major breakthrough occurred in 1969 when the founder of ‘Motown’ records Berry Gordy invited him to be part of the collective the ‘Corporation,’ which was a collection of songwriters and record producers brought together by Berry Gordy to replace the recently departed ‘Holland Dozier Holland’ songwriting and production team at ‘Motown.’ The other three ‘Corporation’ members were Berry Gordy, Fonce Mizell, (1943-2011) and Deke Richards, (1944-2013) (see also best songs 411 and 365) the ‘Corporation’ disbanded in 1972. The ‘Corporation’ had great success writing and producing for the ‘Jackson 5,’ including that groups breakthrough hit ‘I Want You Back’ (see also best songs 137) (1970-Billboard Number 1 & UK Number 2.) Fred Perren had his greatest success during the ‘Disco’ era, producing the ‘Motown’ hit ‘Love Machine’ for ‘The Miracles,’ ( 1975-Billboard Number 5 & UK Number 3.) After leaving ‘Motown’ he went onto co-write and produce for the American R&B outfit ‘The Sylvers,’ including their 1975 Billboard Number 1 single ‘Boogie Fever.’ Perren was the producer of two of the tracks on the soundtrack to ‘Saturday Night Fever’ in 1977, the Tavares track ‘More Than a Woman,’ and the Yvonne Elliman track ‘If I Can’t Have You,’ the soundtrack Album is currently the 11th best selling Album worldwide of all time, with sales in excess of 40 million copies. His other work includes co-writing, and co-producing the Billboard & UK Number 1 single ‘I Will Survive,’ for Gloria Gaynor in 1979.

‘There’s a rainbow over my shoulder, when you came my cup runneth over. You gave me your heavenly love, and if one night you hear me crying from above, it’s ’cause heaven must be missing an angel,’ missin’ one angel child, ’cause you’re here with me right now.’