Russ Taff and the Imperials

Russ solo

Imperials after Paul Smith replaced Russ Taff

Imperials with Russ Taff..a time of leisure suits and Gaither Trio type vocals..lol

My mom made me listen to this before I was allowed to buy Petra stuff......and I had to sing We Will Stand a million times as a teenager in church.

Soooo....you are probably not a fan..right?

I really love the Imperials. I mean every version of them from the southern gospel of the beginning through the inspirational years (when Russ Taff was part of the group) all the way up to the pop-leaning sounds in the late 80s. Russ sounded so good in this group!

I have and enjoy the Back to the Roots CD, which actually wasn't the original Imperials but an offshoot that included the son one of the original members. Sadly there was a legal skirmish between "The Classic Imperials" and "The Imperials" concerning the name; I'm still not sure what the final outcome was! When a band's name becomes more important that its message you know that it's time to call it quits.

It probably wasn't the name that was so important, but the money/royalties that went along with it. Still, it's wrong.