The Temptations
The Temptations (also abbreviated as
"The Tempts" or
"The Temps") are an
American Motown singing group whose repertoire has included
doo-wop,
soul,
psychedelia,
funk,
disco,
R&B, and
adult contemporary.
Formed in
Detroit, Michigan in 1960 as
The Elgins, The Temptations have always featured five
African-American male vocalists/dancers. The group, known for its recognizable choreography, distinct harmonies, and suits, has been said to be as influential to soul as
The Beatles are to
rock [Graff, Gary (Aug 28, 1988). The Temptations: Otis tells the group's tale. Detroit Free Press.] .Having sold an estimated 22 million albums by 1982
[(2005). "The Temptations". Memorabletv.com. Retrieved from http://www.memorabletv.com/memorablemusic/temptations.htm on November 5, 2005], The Temptations are one of the most successful groups in black music history
[(2003). "The Temptations". ClassicMotown.com. Retrieved from http://classic.motown.com/artist.aspx?ob=ros&src=lb&aid=52 on November 5, 2005.] and were the definitive male vocal group of the 1960s
[(2005) Ankeny, Jason. "The Temptations". Allmusic.com. Retrieved from [1] on November 5, 2005.] . In addition, they have the second-longest tenure on Motown (behind
Stevie Wonder), as they were with the label for a total of 40 years: 16 years from 1961 to 1977, and 24 more from 1980 to 2004 (from 1977 to 1980, they were signed to
Atlantic Records).
As of 2006, The Temptations continue to perform and record for
Universal Records with only one original member, founder
Otis Williams, in its lineup.
Like its sister group
The Supremes, The Temptations' lineup has changed frequently over the years. The original group included members of two local Detroit vocal groups: second
tenor/
baritone Otis Williams, first tenor
Elbridge "Al" Bryant and
bass Melvin Franklin from
The Distants; and first tenor/
falsetto Eddie Kendricks and second tenor/baritone
Paul Williams (no relation to Otis) from
The Primes. Among the most notable future Temptations were lead singers
David Ruffin and
Dennis Edwards (both of whom became successful Motown solo artists after leaving the group),
Richard Street (another former Distant),
Damon Harris,
Ron Tyson,
Ali-Ollie Woodson,
Theo Peoples, and
G.C. Cameron.
Over the course of their career, The Temptations have released four number-one pop hit singles and 14 number-one R&B hit singles. Their material has earned them three
Grammy Awards, while two more awards were conferred upon the
songwriters and
producers who crafted their seminal 1972 hit "
Papa Was a Rollin' Stone".
The Primes and The Distants
The Primes
Birmingham, Alabama teenagers
Eddie Kendricks,
Paul Williams, Kel Osbourne, and Wiley Waller, who all shared a love of singing, formed a
doo-wop group called The Caviliers in 1955. Reduced to a trio after Waller left the group in 1957, Kendricks, Williams, and Osbourne left Birmingham in order to break into the music business. After first moving to
Cleveland, Ohio, they settled in
Detroit.
The Primes, as the
doo-wop trio was now called, were well-known around Detroit for their meticulous performances. Group manager Milton Jenkins even created a sister group for The Primes called
The Primettes, recruiting
junior high schoolers
Florence Ballard,
Mary Wilson,
Diane Ross, and
Betty McGlown for the spin-off act.
The Distants
Otis Williams had moved from
Texarkana, Texas, to Detroit as a young boy. By 1958, he was the leader of
Otis Williams & the Siberians, a doo-wop group that included Williams, his friend
Elbridge "Al" Bryant, James "Pee-Wee" Crawford, Vernard Plain, and Arthur Walton. This quintet recorded
Influences and colleagues
The Primes and The Distants were but two of dozens of local male vocal acts, the most famous of which was
The Miracles, led by
Smokey Robinson. The Miracles were known for their excellent stage show, and their pop success was something for which both groups strived. Other important inspirations included
The Cadillacs,
Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers,
The Drifters, and the
Isley Brothers.
The various members of The Primes and The Distants who would later become part of The Temptations met a number of their later
Motown bandmates, labelmates, and producers during the early part of their careers. Melvin Franklin had been a member of the recording group The Voice Masters, which also included among its ranks
Lamont Dozier and
David Ruffin. The musicians at the recording session for the Distants' "Come On" included
James Jamerson on
bass;
The Andantes on background vocals; and, on
tambourine,
Norman Whitfield.
Forming The Temptations
Although "Come On" sold decently in the Detroit area, the Distants never saw much of their share from the record sales, and the second single was not as successful. After receiving an offer from
Berry Gordy of
Motown Records, the group got out of its contract with Matthews and left Northern. At the same time, it lost Mooch Harrell, Richard Street, and the rights to use its name. Street would front a new group of Distants for the local Thelma label during the early 1960s.
The Distants were acquainted with The Primes, as both groups made the same rounds to local record hops, talent shows, and concerts. The two groups were friendly rivals. Kel Osbourne left the Primes and moved to
California, and Eddie Kendricks and Paul Williams returned to Alabama. While in Detroit visiting relatives, Eddie Kendricks called Otis Williams, who, needing two more members for an audition for Gordy, offered Kendricks a place in the Distants. Kendricks agreed, with one condition — that he could bring Paul Williams with him. Otis Williams agreed, and Kendricks and Paul Williams moved back to Detroit to join the group.
The new lineup of Otis Williams, Franklin, Bryant, Kendricks, and Paul Williams took on the name
The Elgins and auditioned for Motown in March 1961. Gordy agreed to sign the group to his Miracle Records imprint, but discovered just before signing that there was already a singing group called The Elgins. The quintet quickly began tossing about ideas for a new name on the steps of Motown's
Hitsville U.S.A. headquarters with Miracle Records employee Billy Mitchell, and Otis Williams' suggestion of
The Temptations became the group's new moniker. The
Elgins moniker would re-surface at Motown in 1965, when Gordy renamed a quartet called
The Downbeats as
The Elgins.
The Temptations released two singles on Miracle, "Oh Mother of Mine" and "Check Yourself", before it was closed and merged with the Gordy label (to avoid confusion with
The Miracles singing group). All seven of The Temptations' singles released between 1961 and 1963 failed to make it onto the US pop singles charts; the 1962 single "Dream Come True" made it to number 22 on the R&B chart. Paul Williams and Eddie Kendricks split most of the leads during this period, with Al Bryant, Otis Williams, and Melvin Franklin occasionally singing lead.
Many
songwriter and
producer teams had been trying to craft a hit for The Temptations, including Berry Gordy,
Mickey Stevenson, Clarence Paul, and
Norman Whitfield. Gordy had in fact written the song "
Do You Love Me" for The Temptations in 1961, but when he was unable to get a hold of the group, he recorded the song with
The Contours instead. Miracles lead singer
Smokey Robinson produced his first Temptations single, the Paul Williams-led "I Want a Love I Can See", in 1963, and proved to have the best rapport with the group.
Bryant, who preferred his day job as a
milkman to performing, soon became restless and uncooperative. After a performance at the 1963 Motown company
Christmas party, Bryant was fired from the group. His replacement was
Whynot, Mississippi native
David Ruffin, younger brother of Motown artist
Jimmy Ruffin.
|
The "Classic 5" lineup of The Temptations, circa 1965. Left to right: Melvin Franklin, Eddie Kendricks, Otis Williams, Paul Williams, and David Ruffin. |
The "Classic 5" Era
In January 1964, Robinson co-wrote and produced "
The Way You Do the Things You Do" with Kendricks on lead; the single became The Temptations' first Top 20 hit that April. While traveling as part of Motown's
Motortown Revue later that year, Robinson and fellow Miracle Ronald White wrote a song for the emotive Ruffin to sing lead on, which The Temptations recorded in the fall of 1964. That song, "
My Girl," became The Temptations' first number-one pop hit in March 1965, and is their signature song to this day.
David Ruffin's emergence as lead singer gave way to the Temptations' most successful period, today referred to as the "Classic 5" era, during which Ruffin, Eddie Kendricks, Melvin Franklin, Otis Williams, and Paul Williams recorded many of the group's most familiar hits. After the success of "My Girl", Ruffin sung lead on the next three Temptations singles, "It's Growing", "
Since I Lost My Baby" and "
My Baby", all of which made it to the Top 20 in 1965. The
b-side to "My Baby", "
Don't Look Back", featured a lead from Paul Williams, and was a
sleeper hit on the R&B charts.
In
1966,
Norman Whitfield became The Temptations' new main producer, after his "
Ain't Too Proud to Beg" performed better than Smokey Robinson's "
Get Ready" on the US pop charts. Whitfield began pushing the group away from Smokey Robinson's
ballad-based production towards a harder-edged and
brass-heavy soul sound reminiscent of the work of
James Brown.
Nearly all of the pre-1968 Whitfield-produced Temptations singles featured David Ruffin on lead vocals, including the R&B number-one/pop Top 10 hits "
Beauty is Only Skin Deep" and "
(I Know) I'm Losing You". Other singles from this period included "You're My Everything", on which Eddie Kendricks and David Ruffin share lead vocals, and "All I Need", produced by Whitfield's protégé
Frank Wilson.
Whitfield's writing partners during this period included
Roger Penzabene, Temptations road show manager Cornelius Grant, and
Edward Holland, Jr.. After Eddie Holland left Motown with the rest of the
Holland-Dozier-Holland songwriting/production team in
1967,
Barrett Strong, the singer on Motown's first hit, "
Money (That's What I Want)", began working with Whitfield and Penzabene on Temptations material. Penzabene committed
suicide on
New Year's Day 1967 because of relationship problems he chronicled in those two Temptations songs; after his death, Barrett Strong served as Whitfield's exclusive lyricist from "Please Return Your Love to Me" in July 1968 on through the end of 1972. Two of Whitfield, Strong, and Penzabene's collaborations, "
I Wish It Would Rain" and "I Could Never Love Another (After Loving You)", became hits in 1968.
 |
This 1968 photograph was taken during the Temptations' first photo shoot with then-new Temptations lead singer Dennis Edwards (third from left in back row). |
Exit David Ruffin
Between 1964 and 1968, The Temptations went from unknown hopefuls to international stars. The group appeared frequently on television shows such as
American Bandstand and
The Ed Sullivan Show, and catered to middle America with a pop standards album (
The Temptations in a Mellow Mood, 1967) and performances at the
Copacabana in
New York City and other such supper clubs. Outside of music, the Temptations were made honorary members of
Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc.
David Ruffin felt that he was almost single-handedly responsible for the group's success. He demanded special treatment, riding to and from gigs in a private
mink-lined
limousine with his then-girlfriend, singer
Tammi Terrell (well-known for her duets with
Marvin Gaye), instead of in the group limousine the other four Temptations used. Ruffin missed a number of rehearsals, concerts, and group meetings; and began regularly using
cocaine. In addition, Ruffin wanted top billing. After seeing how Motown had made
Diana Ross the focus of
The Supremes by renaming the group "Diana Ross & the Supremes", Ruffin demanded that
his group be renamed, as well — to "David Ruffin & the Temptations."
There was general agreement among the rest of The Temptations that Ruffin needed to be replaced. When Ruffin missed a June 1968 engagement at a
Cleveland, Ohio supper club to instead attend a show performed by his new girlfriend (
Dean Martin's daughter Gail), it was decided that he had crossed the line. The other four Temptations drew up legal documentation firing Ruffin from the group, and
Dennis Edwards, formerly of
The Contours, was brought in as the new lead singer. Edwards and Ruffin were good friends, and Ruffin at first went along with the changing of the guard. Shortly afterward, however, Ruffin began turning up at The Temptations' shows, jumping onstage during performances of the songs he once sang lead on and stealing the spotlight. The audiences were delighted, but The Temptations and Motown were frustrated and embarrassed. Extra security guards were hired to prevent Ruffin from attending The Temptations' performances. Ruffin sued Motown in 1969, seeking a release from the label, and Motown settled by offering Ruffin a solo recording deal.
Beginning in 1968, Berry Gordy commissioned a number of collaborations for The Temptations with their old colleagues Diana Ross & the Supremes, including a joint tour, two studio albums (
Diana Ross & the Supremes Join the Temptations, which featured the number-two hit single "
I'm Gonna Make You Love Me", and
Together), and two
NBC television specials,
TCB (aired
December 9,
1968) and
G.I.T. on Broadway (aired
November 12 1969). The tracks for
Diana Ross & the Supremes Join the Temptations included Dennis Edwards' first studio recordings with the Temptations.
Psychedelic soul
Dennis Edwards' addition to the Temptations coincided with producer Norman Whitfield's adoption of a new sound for the group. In the fall of 1968, Whitfield began producing
psychedelic-based material for The Temptations, derived primarily from the sound of
funk band
Sly & the Family Stone. This new style, which debuted with the Top 10 hit single "
Cloud Nine" in October 1968, was a marked departure from the David Ruffin-era ballads. The instrumentation was
funkier, the beat was hard-driving, and all five Temptations traded lead vocals
à la the Family Stone. "Cloud Nine", the centerpiece of the group's landmark
Cloud Nine LP, was a Top 10 hit and won Motown its first
Grammy Award, for
Best R&B Vocal Group Performance of 1969.
The blending of the Motown sound and psychedelic rock sound resulted in a new subgenre of music called "
psychedelic soul", also evident in the work of Diana Ross & the Supremes ("
Reflections", "
Love Child"), Marvin Gaye ("
I Heard It Through The Grapevine"), and the music of
The Fifth Dimension and
War. More Temptations psychedelic soul singles would follow in 1969 and 1970, among them "
Run Away Child, Running Wild" (a number-one R&B hit), "
I Can't Get Next to You" (a number-one pop hit), "
Psychedelic Shack" , "
Ball of Confusion (That's What the World is Today)", and "Ungena Za Ulimwengu (Unite the World)".
Exit Eddie Kendricks and Paul Williams
Paul Williams had
sickle-cell disease and frequently was in poor health. By the late-1960s, he had developed
alcoholism, which, when combined with complications from sickle-cell, made it hard for him to continue with the group.
Oxygen tanks were kept in the wings of performance venue stages for Williams, and the other four Temptations made valiant efforts to raid his alcohol stashes and drain his
cognac bottles. By 1969, former Distant Richard Street, now lead singer of Motown act
The Monitors, was touring with the group as a backup replacement for Williams. For most shows, Street would sing Williams' parts (save for his solo numbers) from offstage behind a curtain, while Williams danced and
lip-synched onstage. At other shows, and during most of the second half of 1970, Street took Williams' place onstage.
As Paul Williams' health failed, Eddie Kendricks became detached from the group. He regularly picked fights with Otis Wlliams and Melvin Franklin over the group's leadership. In addition, Kendricks was uncomfortable with the psychedelic soul material the group was now performing, preferring the material from the earlier days. Kendricks began an association with David Ruffin, who persuaded him to quit The Temptations and go solo. After another confrontation between himself, Williams, and Franklin during a November 1970 Copacabana engagement, Kendricks walked out in-between shows and did not return. Both Kendricks and Williams agreed at this time that Kendricks would be leaving the group.
Before Kendricks officially left the Temptations, he and Paul Williams recorded the lead vocals for "
Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)", a lush, wistful ballad that became Kendricks' Temptations swan-song. Released as a single in January 1971, "Just My Imagination" began steadily climbing the US pop singles chart. By the time "Just My Imagination" hit number-one in March, Kendricks had negotiated his release from the group and signed a solo deal with Motown's Tamla imprint.
In April 1971, Paul Williams quit The Temptations, after a
doctor declared that he was unable to continue performing. Richard Street officially took his place, while Williams remained on The Temptations' payroll as an advisor and choreographer. After Williams had recovered enough to perform again, Motown made plans for a Paul Williams solo career, but he committed
suicide on
August 17,
1973.
Kendricks' original replacement was to have been Ricky Owens from
The Vibrations. However, Owens gave poorly received performances during the few shows he performed with the group, and he was dropped after only a few weeks. During most of the spring of 1971, the Temptations remained a quartet, and recorded the single "It's Summer" without a fifth member. By May, they had found a permanent replacement first tenor in twenty-year-old
Damon Harris.
The Temptations in the early 1970s
Otis Williams, Dennis Edwards, Melvin Franklin, Richard Street, and Damon Harris continued recording and performing, and Norman Whitfield continued producing hits for them. Among these were Top 40 hits such as "
Superstar (Remember How You Got Where You Are)" (1971), a message from The Temptations to the estranged David Ruffin and Eddie Kendricks, and "Take A Look Around" (1972).
Nineteen seventy-two saw the release of Norman Whitfield's
magnum opus, "
Papa Was a Rollin' Stone". Originally a three-minute record written and produced for
The Undisputed Truth, Whitfield took the sombre tune and created a sprawling, dramatic twelve-minute version for The Temptations. An edited seven-minute version was released as a single in September 1972, hitting number-one on the pop charts and number-five on the R&B charts. In 1973, "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" won The Temptations their second Grammy for
Best R&B Performance by a Group. Whitfield and arranger/conductor Paul Riser won the award for
Best R&B Instrumental Performance with the instrumental version of "Papa" on the single's b-side, and Whitfield and Barrett Strong won the songwriters' Grammy for
Best R&B Song.
After "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone", Whitfield stopped working with Barrett Strong, and began writing The Temptations' material on his own. The success of "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" led Whitfield to create more elongated, operatic pieces, including the Top 40 hit "Masterpiece" (1973) and several of the tracks on the resulting
Masterpiece album. Tensions developed between Whitfield and The Temptations, who found Whitfield arrogant and difficult to work with. The group cited his habitual tardiness, his emphasis of the instrumental tracks over the vocals on many of his productions, and the declining singles and albums sales as other sources of conflict. Otis Williams complained about Whitfield's actions and the Temptations' stagnant sales to Berry Gordy, who intervened and reassigned them to
Jeffrey Bowen, co-producer of the 1967
In a Mellow Mood album.
The final Norman Whitfield-produced Temptations album,
1990, was released in late 1973, and included the Top 30 single "Let Your Hair Down". Whitfield left Motown shortly afterwards, and in 1975 established
Whitfield Records, taking with him The Undisputed Truth,
Willie Hutch, and
Rose Royce, who performed the instrumental track for "Let Your Hair Down".
Dry spell
Bowen's first LP with The Temptations was 1975's
A Song For You, which included a cover of the titular
Leon Russell tune (popularized with soul audiences by
Donny Hathaway), along with the pop Top 40/R&B number-one hits "Happy People" (featuring
The Commodores as the instrumentalists) and "Shakey Ground" (featuring instrumentation by
P-Funk's
Eddie Hazel and his band), and "Glasshouse", the group's final Top 40 Pop hit. Damon Harris was fired from the group during the recording of
A Song for You, as his behavior and work ethic were deemed unprofessional; his replacement was
Washington, D.C. native Glenn Leonard.
A number of producers, including Bowen,
Brian Holland, James Carmichael, and even The Temptations themselves tried producing hits for the next three LP's,
House Party,
Wings of Love, and
The Temptations Do the Temptations, but each single performed worse than the last.
In 1977, The Temptations left Motown for
Atlantic Records, citing Motown's inattention as the reason for their declining sales and popularity. Shortly after leaving Motown, Dennis Edwards left the group to begin a Motown solo career, which did not materialze at this time. The Atlantic Temptations releases, with Louis Price as the main lead vocalist in Edwards' place, did no better than their Motown releases. Berry Gordy fought to re-sign The Temptations to Motown, finally succeeding in 1980.
 |
The cover to the 1982 Temptations Reunion album. From left to right: David Ruffin, Otis Williams, Melvin Franklin, Eddie Kendricks, Dennis Edwards, Richard Street, and Glenn Leonard. |
Return to Motown and Reunion
Upon the return to Motown, Price departed from the group, and Dennis Edwards returned to the lineup. Berry Gordy co-wrote and produced The Temptations' first single under the new contract, "Power", which missed the Top 40 but hit number 11 on the R&B charts. Two years of underperforming singles and albums followed until Motown began planning a Temptations reunion tour in 1982.
Eddie Kendricks and David Ruffin, whose solo careers had by now run dry, agreed to rejoin the group for the
Reunion album and tour. Melvin Franklin's nephew, Motown
funk star
Rick James, had previously used The Temptations as backup vocalists on his 1981 hit "
Super Freak", and wrote, produced, and guested on the
Reunion album's lead single, "Standing on the Top".
"Standing on the Top", which featured Ruffin, Kendricks, and Dennis Edwards on lead, went to number-six on the R&B charts. The
Reunion tour with all seven Temptations (Ruffin, Kendricks, Edwards, Otis Williams, Melvin Franklin, Richard Street, and Glenn Leonard) was financially successful, but ended up a stressful venture: Kendricks' voice had weakened after decades of
chain smoking, and Ruffin, still addicted to
cocaine, missed a number of the performances. At the conclusion of the
Reunion tour, Ruffin and Kendricks were fired, and they began touring and performing together as a duo. Glenn Leonard also left at this time, and was replaced by
Ron Tyson.
From the 1980s to the 1990s
By this time, The Temptations' releases were no longer performing well on the pop charts, though they sometimes made the R&B Top 20. "Love on My Mind Tonight" made it to number 17, and "Sail Away", produced by a returning Norman Whitfield, peaked at number 13. In 1984, Edwards left the group for a second chance at a solo career, and was replaced with
Ali-Ollie Woodson, who had been a potential candidate to replace Edwards back in 1977. Woodson's first lead on a Temptations single was 1984's "Treat Her Like A Lady". "Treat Her Like a Lady", co-written by himself and Otis Williams, and co-produced by Al McKay and Ralph Johnson, formerly of
Earth, Wind and Fire. The single became a notable success on R&B radio, reaching number-two on the R&B charts, but did not cross over to pop audiences. Woodson remained with The Temptations until 1987, when he was replaced by a returning (for the second time) Dennis Edwards.
The following year, Otis Williams published his autobiography,
Temptations, co-written with Patricia Romanowski. It chronicled the careers of The Temptations from the Primes/Distants days to the present, focusing on the lives of Williams and his best friend Melvin Franklin. An updated version was published in 2002.
Dennis Edwards left The Temptations for the third and final time in late 1989, with Ali-Ollie Woodson re-joining the lineup. The same year, The Temptations were inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, honoring Edwards, Franklin, Otis Williams, David Ruffin, Eddie Kendrick, and, posthumously, Paul Williams. After reuniting at the induction ceremony, Edwards, Ruffin, and Kendrick made plans to tour and record as "Ruffin/Kendrick/Edwards, Former Leads of The Temptations". The tour was carried out, much to the chagrin of Otis Williams and Motown, but production on the album was cut short when Ruffin, age 50, died on
June 1,
1991 after overdosing on cocaine. Kendrick was diagnosed with
lung cancer but continued to perform; he died on
October 5,
1992 at the age of 52 in his native Birmingham.
Richard Street left The Temptations in 1992 after a twenty-year association with the group, with
Theo Peoples taking his place. Two years later, Melvin Franklin was forced to leave the group because of failing health; he died on
February 23,
1995 at the age of 52 after suffering a
brain seizure.
Ray Davis from
Parliament/
Funkadelic assumed the bass role for the 1995 pop standards album
For Lovers Only. He left after
throat cancer diagnosis that year, replaced by Harry McGilberry, a former member of The Futures.
In 1998, The Temptations released
Phoenix Rising, their first million-selling album in over twenty years. The album was anchored by the single "Stay", a number-one hit on the adult contemporary charts that featured a
sample from The Temptations' "My Girl". By this time, Ali-Ollie Woodson and Theo Peoples had departed the group, replaced with
Barrington "Bo" Henderson and Terry Weeks, respectively.
The Temptations mini-series
Main entry: The Temptations (miniseries).
1998 also saw the debut of
The Temptations, a four-hour
television miniseries based on Otis Williams'
Temptations autobiography. It was broadcast in two parts on
NBC on
November 1 and
November 2,
1998. The miniseries was a ratings success and won an
Emmy award for Best Direction; it was subsequently rerun on the
VH-1 cable television network and released to
VHS and
DVD.
Otis Williams' ex-wife Josephine, Melvin Franklin's mother Rose Franklin, and, on David Ruffin's behalf, the Ruffin family, filed
suit against Williams, Motown, De Passe Entertainment,
Hallmark Entertainment, and NBC for a number of charges, including defamations of character. The judges ruled in favor of the defendants, and the ruling was upheld when the plaintiffs
appealed in 2001.
From the 1990s to the present day
The Temptations were inducted into the
Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1999. In 2001, their 2000 album
Ear-Resistible won the group its third Grammy, this one for
Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance. Three classic Temptations songs, "My Girl", "Ain't Too Proud to Beg", and "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone", are among
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.
The current Temptations lineup of Otis Williams, Ron Tyson, Terry Weeks, new lead singer
G.C. Cameron from
The Spinners, and new bass Joe Herndon continue to record and perform on tour. Their final Motown album,
Legacy, was released in 2004. In late 2004, The Temptations asked to be released from their Motown contract, and moved to another
Universal Motown Records Group label, New Door Records. Their latest album,
Reflections, was released on
January 31,
2006, and contains covers of several popular Motown songs, including Diana Ross & the Supremes' "
Reflections", The Miracles' "
Ooo Baby Baby", Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell's "
Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing", and
The Jackson 5's "
I'll Be There".
[November 28, 2005. "Temptations Record 15 Classics for Reflections". Universal Records press release, retrieved from http://classic.motown.com/news.aspx?bid=20 on December 3, 2005.]Several ex-Temptations continue to perform outside of the group. Dennis Edwards tours frequently with his own act; at first billing himself as
Dennis Edwards & The Temptations, Edwards drew the legal wrath of Otis Williams and Motown, and the group is today known as
Dennis Edwards & the Temptations Review. Ali-Ollie Woodson fronts an act called
Ali-Ollie Woodson & the Emperors of Soul--
Emperors of Soul being the name of the 1994 Temptations
boxed set. Richard Street and Damon Harris sometimes perform together as well; with Harris also performing with his own group,
The Temptations Tribute. Glenn Leonard also leads a group,
The Temptations Experience, from which Joe Herndon left to join the Temptations. His spot was filled by former bass Ray Davis, and, following Davis' diagnosis with throat cancer (of which he died on
July 5,
2005 at age 65), Harry McGilberry.McGilberry was fired from the Temptations in 2003 due of drug problems; he died on
April 3,
2006 at age 56.
Temptations songs depended upon the individual members' interaction as a group; unlike many other R&B groups, each member of the Temptations was a lead singer of some capacity. Although the group always had an appointed main lead singer who dominated most the lead vocals (from Paul Williams to David Ruffin, Dennis Edwards, and later singers such as Louis Price, Ali-Ollie Woodson, Barrington Henderson, and G.C. Cameron), that singer was never given more of a promotional push than the other members. Co-lead songs, with two or more of the singers sharing the lead vocals, are common in the Temptations catalog, particularly among the psychedelic-era recordings of the late 1960s/early 1970s.
The "Motown Sound"
The group would alter their style several times over the years following their first Motown hit, adapting to the popular styles of the day while retaining their signiture visual and vocal styles. The earliest Temptations recordings reflect the influence of producers Berry Gordy and Smokey Robinson, featuring a blend of black rhythm and blues and white pop music that came to be later identified as the "
Motown Sound". Backed by Motown's stalwart studio band,
The Funk Brothers, pre-1966 Temptations recordings were built around songs (usually ballads like "My Girl") with simple, direct lyrics supported by an R&B rhythm section with orchestral strings and horns added for pop appeal. During this period, each recording ususally featured only one lead singer, usually David Ruffin or Eddie Kendricks, although Paul Williams, Melvin Franklin, and Otis Williams each had solo numbers of their own at various times.
Like most Motown groups,
melisma and other complicated vocalization techniques were eschewed by the Temptations for a more direct, yet obviously
gospel-rooted vocal approach, to make the songs more palpable for white audiences. Creative control remained primarily in Smokey Robinson's hands, although the Temptations, most frequently Eddie Kendricks, periodically co-wrote some of their material. Kendricks also handled the vocal arrangements for all of the Temptations' material.
In 1966, Norman Whitfield chaged the group's dynamic, moving them away from the previous one lead singer model and adding elements derived from the rougher soul of artists like James Brown,
Wilson Pickett, and the performers at
Stax Records. Whitfield and his lyricists crafted Temptations songs with shifts of dynamics, syncopated horn stabs, and more intricate harmony arrangements which spotlighted each singer's unique vocal range. Onstage, this change was reflected in the group's use of a custom-made four-headed microphone, which allowed each member freedom to perform without having to all crowd around one or two microphones. Under Whitfield's control, the Temptations retained their white pop appeal, but also gained popularity amongst black audiences as well.
Psychedelic and cinematic soul
When David Ruffin was replaced by Dennis Edwards, and Sly & the Family Stone became popular, Whitfield again restructured the Temptations' sound, this time driving the group almost completely into a "psychedelic soul" sound. Recordings from this period (such as "Cloud Nine" and "Psychedelic Shack", featured echoed vocal tracks, distorted
guitar lines with prominet use of the wah-wah pedal, hard-hitting drums, and various
stereo effects and
sound effects. The majority of these songs feature at least two lead singers; often, all five Temptations sang lead, trading bars
a la The Family Stone. Dennis Edwards, whose vocal style had a rougher, more Southern-soul based sound than David Ruffin's, was featured prominently on most of these recordings.
The lyrics for these songs, inspired heavily by
Sly Stone's concurrent works, centered primarily around social issues such as
integration, the
Vietnam War, and self-consciousness. Ballads in the group's traditional style were still being recorded as b-sides and album fillers (the exception being "Just My Imagination"). Many of the psychedelic soul recordings were presented in extended-length mixes longer than the typical three-minute Motown song. Tracks such as the album version of "Run Away Child, Running Wild" from
Cloud Nine, "Take a Stroll Thru Your Mind" from
Psychedelic Shack, and "
Smiling Faces Sometimes" from
Sky's the Limit, all run at least eight minutes in length. Much of the running time for each song consists of instrumental passages without vocals, at Whitfield's insistence.
"Psychedelic soul" soon gave way to "cinematic soul": long recordings with detailed orchestration and extended instrumental introductions and bridging passages, oten focusing on lyrics about the
ghettos and inner cities of black America. These songs were heavily influenced by the work of singer/songwriters
Isaac Hayes and
Curtis Mayfield. Unlike Hayes and Mayfield, the Temptations had no creative control over their recordings, and were not fond of the tweleve and thirteen-minute long songs that Norman Whitfield was now producing for them. Whitfield's contributions were the focal point of Temptations albums such as
Solid Rock,
All Directions, and particularly
Masterpiece.
From funk to disco to adult contemporary
After Whitfield was dismissed as the Temptations' producer in 1974, the group altered its sound to accommodate a balance of both up-tempo dance material and ballads. The vocal arrangements began to again focus primarily on one lead singer per track, although leads were still being periodically shared. In addition, the Temptations themselves, after fighting Motown and Berry Gordy for creative control, began to write and produce some of their material. From this point on, the Temptations focused almost exclusively on songs about romance; songs about social issues similar to the Whitfield-era recordings were periodically recorded as well.
Mid-1970s Temptations recordings focused significantly on
funk music influences from artists such as
Funkadelic and Sly & the Family Stone; members of both acts contributed to Temptations material during this period. The group's ballads, reduced to filler material during much of the Whifield period, were restored to the lush sound of the earlier Smokey Robinson-produced hits. After a brief diversion into
disco in the late-1970s, the Temptations settled into an
adult contemporary-rooted form of R&B, a style in which they continue to record. As the ages of its members increased, the Temptations' live shows have focused on less intricate choreography, although dancing remains an important aspect of the group's act.
The Temptations', with their tailored suits and detailed choreography, set the bar for male soul and R&B groups. Before The Temptations became popular, most black vocal groups were rough, high-energy acts with rawer vocals and more improvisational dance movements. Only a few performers, including contemporaries
Marvin Gaye and
Sam Cooke, showed the refined style that would be popularized by The Temptations.
Berry Gordy insisted his acts be equally appealing to white and black audiences, and employed a creative team to help tailor Motown talent for crossover success. Paul Williams and Motown
choreographer Cholly Atkins created The Temptation's trademark precise and energetic, yet refined, dance steps. The most famous of these, the "Temptation Walk", or "Temptation Strut", was adapted from similar moves by a 1950s act called
The Flamingos and a 1960s act called
The Vibrations. From those two sources, Paul Williams crafted the group's signature dance routine.
During the 1960s and 1970s, a number of soul groups showed significant influence from the Temptations, among them
The Delfonics,
The Stylistics,
George Clinton's original
Parliaments,
The Dramatics, and Motown's
The Jackson 5. These acts, and others, showed the influence of The Temptations in both their vocal performances and their onstage choreography. Several more recent soul and R&B vocal groups, including the
Johnny Gill-led version of
New Edition,
Jodeci,
BLACKstreet,
Dru Hill, and, most notably, 1990s Motown act
Boyz II Men, also showed significant influence from The Temptations.
Temptations songs have been covered by scores of musicians, from R&B singers such as
Luther Vandross ("Since I Lost My Baby"), to pop vocalists such as
Bette Midler ("Just My Imagination"), to rock bands such as
Rare Earth ("Get Ready") and
The Rolling Stones ("Ain't Too Proud to Beg"). In 1991,
British singer
Rod Stewart collaborated with The Temptations on the single "The Motown Song".
For a detailed listing of the various versions of The Temptations (and a timeline), see: Temptations chronology.
The Primes
''aka
The Cavaliers*
Paul Williams (1955 â€" 1960)
*
Eddie Kendricks (1955 â€" 1960)
* Kel Osbourne (1955 â€" 1960)
* Wiley Waller (1955 â€" 1957)
The Distants
aka Otis Williams & the Distants, Otis Williams & the Siberians and The El Domingoes*
Otis Williams (1958 â€" 1960)
*
Elbridge "Al" Bryant (1958 â€" 1960)
* James "Pee-Wee" Crawford (1958 â€" 1959)
* Vernard Plain (1958 â€" 1959)
* Athrur Walton (1958 â€" 1959)
*
Melvin Franklin (1959 â€" 1960)
*
Richard Street (1959 â€" 1960)
* Albert "Mooch" Harrell (1959 â€" 1960)
The Temptations
aka The Elgins*
Otis Williams (1960 â€" present)
*
Elbridge "Al" Bryant (1960 â€" 1963)
*
Melvin Franklin (1960 â€" 1994)
*
Eddie Kendricks (1960 â€" 1971, 1982 reunion)
*
Paul Williams (1960 â€" 1971)
*
David Ruffin (1964 â€" 1968, 1982 reunion)
*
Dennis Edwards (1968 â€"1977, 1980 â€" 1984, 1987 - 1989)
*
Ricky Owens (1971)
*
Richard Street (1971 â€" 1993)
*
Damon Harris (1971 â€" 1975)
* Glenn Leonard (1975 â€" 1982)
* Louis Price (1977 â€" 1980)
*
Ron Tyson (1983 â€" present)
*
Ali-Ollie Woodson (1984 â€" 1987, 1989 -1998)
*
Theo Peoples (1992 â€" 1998)
*
Ray Davis (1994 - 1995)
* Harry McGilberry (1995 - 2003)
*
Barrington "Bo" Henderson (1998 - 2003)
* Terry Weeks (1998 - present)
*
G.C. Cameron (2003 â€" present)
* Joe Herndon (2003 â€" present)
For a detailed listing of albums and singles, see: Temptations discography.
US and UK Top Ten Singles
The following singles reached the Top Ten of either the
United States pop singles chart or the
United Kingdom pop singles chart. Also included are the singles that hit #1 on the US R&B charts.
Other samples
Top Ten Albums
The following albums reached the Top Ten on either the United States pop albums chart or the United Kingdom pop albums chart.
* 1966:
Greatest Hits (US #5)
* 1967:
Temptations Live! (US #10)
* 1967:
The Temptations with a Lot o' Soul (US #7)
* 1968:
Diana Ross & the Supremes Join the Temptations (with
Diana Ross & The Supremes) (US #2)
* 1968:
TCB (with
Diana Ross & The Supremes) (US #1)
* 1969:
Cloud Nine (US #4)
* 1969:
Puzzle People (US #5)
* 1972:
All Directions (US #2)
* 1973:
Masterpiece (US #7)
* George, Nelson. "Cool as They Wanna Be". The Temptations: Emperors of Soul [CD Box Set]. New York: Motown Record Co., L.P.
* Graff, Gary (Aug 28, 1988).
The Temptations: Otis tells the group's tale.
Detroit Free Press.
* Hardin, Ritchie (July 17, 2004). The Tangled History of The Temptations.
The Ritchie Hardin Network. Retrieved on February 9, 2005 from http://www.ritchie-hardin.com/soul/temps0.html.
* Posner, Gerald (2002). Motown : Music, Money, Sex, and Power. New York: Random House. ISBN 037-550062-6.
* Teegardin, Carol (April 6, 1986).
Eddie Kendrick: once again, he's doing fine on cloud nine.
Detroit Free Press.
* Weinger, Harry (1994). "Sunshine on a Cloudy Day". The Temptations: Emperors of Soul [CD Box Set]. New York: Motown Record Co., L.P.
*
Williams, Otis and Romanowski, Patricia (1988, updated 2002). Temptations. Lanham, MD: Cooper Square. ISBN 081-541218-5.
* George, Nelson (1985, rev. 2003). Where Did Our Love Go: The Rise and Fall of the Motown. London: Omnibus Press. ISBN 071-199511-7.
*
List of best-selling music artists*
The Temptations at the
All Music Guide*
Otis Williams' offiical website (includes current tour schedule)*
Ron Tyson's official website*
Official Motown/Universal Website for The Temptations*
Classic Temptations page at Classic Motown website*
Vocal Group Hall of Fame page on The Temptations*
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame page on The Temptations
