The Georgia Prophets are as legendary to devotees of beach music as the Bluegrass Boys are to bluegrass fans or Bill Haley & the Comets are to rock fans.

In 1997, the Augusta-created band was inducted into the Cammy Awards (for beach music acts) Hall of Fame in Charlotte, N.C.

Original Prophets were Billy Scott of Raleigh, N.C.; Walter Stanley, Barbara Scott (Goudy) and the late Roy Smith and the late Tommy Witcher of Augusta; Janet Helm (Dearstone) of Thomson; Jimmy Campbell of Atlanta and Fred Williamson of Nashville.

Mr. Smith wrote many of the group's hits, including its top seller, I Got the Fever.What made the band especially memorable other than its unique sound was that it was one of the first multiracial musical groups in the South.

In 1965, Mr. Witcher started the Prophets which added black vocalists Billy and Barbara Scott a month later as lead vocalists. Mr. Scott of West Virginia had been a platoon sergeant at Fort Gordon. He and Augustan Ms. Goudy married in December of 1963 and began singing locally together before being recruited for the Prophets by Mr. Smith.

The band stayed as just the "Prophets" from 1965 until 1969, when it became the "Georgia Prophets." It remained that until 1971, when the Scotts and Miss Helm left to create the "Three Prophets," which lasted until 1974.