Tavares

Ralph Tavares, of the famed singing group Tavares, was quite content avoiding center stage, preferring his more natural fit in the middle of the quintet’s tight and polished vocal harmonies. That elder voice, a mature mixture of familial tenderness fused with a logistical leadership that was irreplaceable in the band’s early years, took its last breath this past Dec. 8, ending a prolific life of entertaining fans across the globe, intersecting with a 30-year career in local public service as a court officer in New Bedford and Fall River.