Legend of the Week

#2 The Temptations

Before starting, we'd like to point out that the best dramatic version of this remarkable group's story we've seen is 'The Temptations: Sex Drugs and Rhythm & Blues'- click the the image below to get it for as little as £3.98 with amazon - what a deal!!

Great clip from the movie:

Onto the brief history of this week's legends!

The Temptations are a legendary Grammy award winning vocal group which has been in existence in various forms since 1960.

The Temptations were formed in Detroit in 1960, when members of two rival harmony groups, The Distants and The Primes. The line up has changed frequently over the years, but notable members have included David Ruffin, Otis Williams, Dennis Edwards and Melvin Franklin.

Vital inspirations in the birth of the group included the Cadillacs (remember ‘Speedo’?) , the Drifters and the Isley Brothers. At the outset, their peers included The Miracles, led of course by a legend in his own right, Smokey Robinson.

Berry Gordy auditioned the group (then going by the name The Elgins) in March 1961 for his Motown label, and agreed to sign them to his Miracle Records imprint, although there was one problem; a singing group named The Elgins already existed. Challenged by Gordy to come up with a new name, the group came up with the vastly superior ‘The Temptations’!

The group released two singles on Miracle, ‘Oh Mother Of Mine’ and ‘Check Yourself’ before the Miracle label was absorbed into the Motown label. Further releases followed to little fanfare, however industry insiders already regarded the group as extremely talented and versatile – they just needed a hit.

Elbridge Bryant left the group in 1963 because of an uncooperative attitude – he preferred his day job as a milkman to performing! He was replaced by David Ruffin, out of Meridian, Mississippi, younger brother of existing Motown solo performer Jimmy Ruffin after a stunning impromptu vocal jam which Ruffin delivered with the band at a local Detroit gig earlier that year.

With a charismatic new front man came the hit they group had been waiting for. Penned by Smokey Robinson and fellow Miracle Ronnie White, ‘My Girl’ was released on Christmas Eve, 1964, and became the group’s first number one pop hit by March the following year. It would go on to achieve monster status and to this day the song remains not just the signature track of the Temptations, but a signature track of Motown as a label and an era.

Since the vocally emotive Ruffin had taken the lead on the hit, the group continued the winning formula, handing him lead vocals on the next three singles. Oddly, Robinson’s next writing effort, ‘Get Ready’ (now found on almost every Motown compilation) failed to chart in the Top 20, so writing duties were passed to Norman Whitfield, who duly penned the classic ‘Ain’t Too Proud to Beg’. With Whitfield moving into production, he steered the group away from ballads towards a decidedly funkier sound, influenced by the already prolific James Brown.

Between 1964 and 1968, the group went from modestly successful vocalists to superstars. Unfortunately, Ruffin over estimated the coincidence that the band had taken off soon after his joining, and began a period of erratic and arrogant demands such as that the band be renamed ‘David Ruffin and the Temptations’. After a string of no-shows Gordy and the group agreed to fire Ruffin. His replacement was to be Dennis Edwards of The Contours. Ruffin and Edwards were actually friends and at first Ruffin took the news well, but he soon began showing up at live shows and, unbelievably, rushing the stage to grab the mike and belt out the legendary hits on which he lead the vocals! These incidents and others are dramatically recreated in the excellent film, ‘The Temptations: Sex, Drugs & Rhythm & Blues’, go to the Amazon box above to see how you can find this tremendous movie.

With the addition of Edwards’ scratchier vocal came a new direction for the Temptations in 1968, the evolution of their funkier direction: Psychedelic Soul. The biggest hit of this era was ‘I Can’t Get Next To You’.

Also during the late 60s, original member Paul Williams physical health began to deteriorate. His battle with sickle cell disease and depression led to chronic alcoholism, and after several shambolic performances he was put on leave from the group. Williams’ behaviour and the resulting atmosphere hit Eddie Kendricks particularly hard, and he became withdrawn from the Group dynamic. Kendricks was also a ballad man at heart, and was displeased with the new Psychedelic Soul material. After rekindling his friendship with the by now drug addicted David Ruffin, Eddie Kendricks elected to leave the band. But not before sharing lead vocals with his close friend Paul Williams on yet another all-time anthem, ‘Just My Imagination’ (Running Away With Me) (1971).

The early 1970s was notable for not only the appointment of 20 year old Damon Harris as first tenor, but for the 1972 release ‘Papa Was A Rolling Stone’, an epic and powerful track weighing in at over 11 minutes in its full version.

Post 1975 the group’s moment appeared to have been and gone, and the next few decades held a sprinkling of success and many more changes to the line up. In 1999, the group was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame. Otis Williams the only remaining member of the original line up, is still in the group and for many is as synonymous, if not more so, with the group as the bombastic Ruffin.

The most recent album release was 2007’s ‘Back to Front’, an album of Soul Covers.

The Temptations are one of the best loved groups to have ever entered the studio or graced the stage. Such hits as ‘My Girl’, ‘Just My Imagination’ to name just two are indelibly inked into the fabric of music history. A tale sometimes tragic, sometimes uplifting, but always compelling, theirs is a true American Dream. We can’t recommend highly enough the fantastic DVD ‘The Temptations: Sex, Drugs and Rhythm and Blues’. Find it in the Amazon carousel above this article!

Interesting Fact: The group has had, over the years, a staggering 23 members.

Interesting Fact: Pioneered the tight dance choreography and slick co-ordinated, suited style that the Four Tops, Marvin Gaye and Sam Cooke also adopted.

Next week: Roy Ayers