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.

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