Seawind (band)

Background

A notable part of the band's sound was the "Seawind Horns" (trumpeter Jerry Hey, sax and flute player Kim Hutchcroft, and sax, flute and keyboard player Larry Williams), who went on to provide backing instrumentals and arrangements for performers such as Earth, Wind & Fire, George Benson, Michael Jackson (Thriller, Off the Wall and Bad), Quincy Jones and Mika. Hey left Seawind as a touring member in 1979 but continued as a recording member of the band through 1980. Trumpeter Larry Hall, an original member of the band when they were called "OX", rejoined the group in 2005. Hey and Hall are longtime friends and both are top-call recording session musicians.

When the act signed with A&M, their self-titled album yielded a single called "Whatcha Doin", which became a modest hit on Billboard's Disco/Dance Chart in November 1980, peaking at number 28. It would be the group's only single release.

In 1981, Bob & Pauline Wilson released a Contemporary Christian music album, Somebody Loves You, which, although technically not a Seawind album, features the same trademark sound with the same musicians and vocalists. Seawind broke up in 1982, but reunited in 2005 for a Los Angeles concert performance and then began work on a new CD, which took them over three years to complete. Pauline Wilson is the first vocalist from Hawaii to win a Grammy award (singing a duet with George Benson on the album In Harmony – A Sesame Street Record, which won Grammy Award for Best Album for Children in 1979).

In 1995, a Seawind compilation CD Remember was released on Noteworthy Records. Remember includes five tracks recorded during sessions for their never-completed fifth album. Seawind's 2009 CD Reunion was released on the Village Music label, a subsidiary of Sony Music Japan.