“We (wrote) several new songs for our musical, and we have recorded them. My daughters, (in addition to) Nikkole (urban artist), and Wallace Holland, have written several songs for us. My favorite songs (on the CD) are the up-tempo “Chi-Town Anthem,” and a ballad called “Life,”  says Hutchinson while adding that the same sultry vocals her sister Sheila delivered for the song “Don’t Ask My Neighbors,” are evident in the new tune “Life.”

For their musical, The Emotions hooked up with producer Larry Heingartner, who has worked on several Disney musical productions. “He is the head of the drama department at Los Angeles Harbor College, which is where we worked up the musical. All of us took classes there in ’96 and ’97,” says Hutchinson.

“It (Emotional Memory, the musical) starts off with my father, Joseph Hutchinson. We are singing at his funeral, and remembering the songs that he taught us when we sung gospel music. It is based out of Chicago, but my dad was (originally) from Indiana and my mom was from Greenville, Mississippi. My father was singing with a gospel group from Chicago, called The Wings Of Heaven, at the time that they met. When we were three, four and five (years old), we were always at the rehearsals. We would hear them singing, so we would sing. After that, my father started working with us. By the time, that we were five, six and seven we were singing at the Hutchinson Sundays. My father quit his group and started singing (gospel) with us.  Until we got our record deal with Stax Records in 1968, we were singing gospel with my dad,” says Hutchinson, recalling that they signed their deal with Stax when they were sixteen, seventeen and eighteen years old.  

I playfully tease Hutchinson and convey that I am happy that her sisters and she did not stick with some of their earlier monikers such as, Three Ribbons & A Beau, The Hutch Stereos, and The Sunbeams, among others. She recalls the time when they first adopted the name The Emotions, “We were singing “Ava Maria,” at Mahalia Jackson’s church in Chicago. She (Jackson) said if there was ever anything that she could do to help us get into music school or anything else; my parents just had to let her know. She said the affect that our music had on others was quite emotional.  My father named us The Emotions shortly after that.”

Hutchinson, whose speaking voice is as lyrical and pretty, as her singing is soulful, says musicals such as We Will Rock You, based on the music of Queen and the historical, Les Miserables, gave her the inspiration to present The Emotions music in a similar fashion. 

“We should be getting The Emotions out there in this way, and that is what we are hoping to do. We are excited about it. We are introducing my daughters, Wendi and Wyann as well. They are wonderful singers and (perform) with us,” says Hutchinson, who is proud of both of her daughters, who are teacher in the Los Angeles high school system.

During the fall of 2007, The Emotions toured under the banner Soul Jam Seventies, which also featured the Stylistics, The Manhattans, Blood Stone, Heat Wave, The Dramatics, Chi-lites and Blue Magic.

“We have been doing this (Soul Jam Seventies), for the last two years. We just got back from Atlanta and South Carolina this past weekend. The weekend before that we were in Dallas and Houston. Some of the venues are football stadiums; others are opera houses, like the beautiful one in Cleveland. We have been having a ball with it,” she says, while expressing pleasant surprise that the concerts are attracting fans that are both young and old, and in many cases, more concertgoers that are youthful are attending with their parents. 

Responding to my question as to the influence or impact that The Emotions have had on the music industry, Hutchinson says, “I would hope that we have had the same impact as the Motown era, because we have been soulful and have a groove. Our harmonies penetrate like woodwinds, like horns, at least that is what Maurice White (of Earth, Wind & Fire), used to say. He said, ‘You ladies are the actual horns,’ and what did he call us, the saxophones. He used to call each one of us an instrument (or different voice). That is why I think the marriage between The Emotions and Earth, Wind & Fire was the best thing that could have happened.”

Wanda Hutchinson who is a fan of singers such as Jill Scott and India Arie, laments that often in today’s studio productions, the over use of technology detracts from the humanness of the music.  She says that when The Emotions were recording back in the day, “We would be in there with the rhythm section, and singing at the same time that the rhythm section was putting their music down. Not only did you get the warmth and the integrity of the vocals and instruments together, but the technical stuff didn’t get in the way. That is the difference, with (today’s music), not that they haven’t come up with something that is cool, with this digital stuff, but they are (told) to song it one time, and then they just keep looping it. Where is the warmth in that? I think that we have lost something.”

Hutchinson talks about the approach to recording that brought success to The Emotions during their heyday, “(Producers) Johnny Pate, Skip Scarboro and Maurice White, found the best time to record the sultry songs was between 2 am and 4 am. Our voices were at a certain timbre that I didn’t know existed until they pointed it out. I learned so much from them. Johnny Pate was the one who said that we had to be in there singing while the rhythm section was putting their music down. Even on Emotional Memory, we used some of the things that we learned from Skip.”

In 2007, the album The Best of the Emotions was released on the Mastercuts Gold label.