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 .