Good Morning POU!
The Temptations is one of the most iconic R&B groups of all time. Their songs are classics that forever stand the test of time…but those behind those classic sounds was a LOT of drama and mess.
Consider this, Ots Williams stands as the last surviving member of the group’s original core members, with Paul Williams dying by suicide in 1973, Al Bryant succumbing to alcoholism in 1975 and Melvin Franklin and Eddie Kendricks passing away from various health ailments during the 90s. David Ruffin, meanwhile, died of a cocaine overdose in 1991.
The 2019 hit broadway musical “Ain’t Too Proud” depicts a warts-and-all look at the group, which not only doesn’t sugarcoat their story but acknowledges their trials and tribulations head-on. Among them: the aforementioned lure of drugs and alcohol, Ruffin’s abusive attitude towards women (his character is even depicted striking girlfriend, fellow Motown singer Tammi Terrell, during a picnic) and Williams’ own relationship with his son, Lamont who tragically died in a construction accident at the age of 24.
From the Temptations biography:
By 1967, David Ruffin had begun demanding special treatment as lead singer, riding to and from gigs in a private mink-lined limousine with his then-girlfriend, Motown singer Tammi Terrell, instead of in the group limousine used by the other four Temptations. The other members slowly became irritated and annoyed with Ruffin’s behavior. Following Motown’s decision to rechristen the Supremes as Diana Ross & the Supremes, Ruffin felt entitled to the same treatment and demanded that his group be renamed as well, to David Ruffin & the Temptations. Ruffin was also causing friction with Berry Gordy by demanding an accounting of the group’s earnings; Motown partially acquiesced by allowing the Temptations to retain an outside accounting firm, but the firm did not have full access to the books from the Temptations’ manager, International Talent Management, Inc. – a subsidiary of Motown.
Some of this behavior was attributed to the fact that by this time Ruffin had begun using cocaine regularly, building further tension within the group and causing him to miss a number of group meetings, rehearsals, and concerts. There was a consensus among the rest of the group that Ruffin needed to be replaced. When Ruffin missed a June 1968 engagement at a Cleveland supper club in order to attend a show by his new girlfriend, Barbara Gail Martin (daughter of Dean Martin), the group decided that he had crossed the line. The other four Temptations drew up legal documentation, officially firing Ruffin on June 27, 1968. The next day, Dennis Edwards, a singer formerly of the Contours that Eddie Kendricks and Otis Williams already had pegged as a potential Ruffin replacement, was hired to take Ruffin’s place.
Edwards and Ruffin were good friends, and at first, Ruffin went along with the changing of the guard and encouraged Edwards. However, at Edwards’ official debut with the Temptations in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, on July 7, Ruffin came to the show and jumped onstage, taking the microphone from Edwards, singing lead on “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg,” and disappearing as quickly as he had appeared. Ruffin repeated this stunt several times throughout the group’s July tour run. Despite the group hiring extra security to keep Ruffin out, he continued to find ways to sneak into the venue and jump onstage when the group performed one of the songs he had once sung lead on.
In a story recounted several times by Dennis Edwards, (rebutted by Otis Williams and Temptations road manager Don Foster), after several of these stunts, the positive audience reactions and a remorseful Ruffin’s pleas to be let back into the act convinced the other Temptations to do so. Otis Williams informed the then still-new Edwards that the group would lay him off and rehire Ruffin while in Gaithersburg, Maryland. However, when Ruffin failed to show up on time the next night for his “return” engagement, the group kept Edwards on and ceased to entertain the prospect of rehiring Ruffin.
After Gaithersburg, Ruffin stopped attempting to disrupt the Temptations’ concerts and instead turned his attention to the Motown offices back in Detroit. He sued Motown in October 1968, seeking a release from the label, but Motown countersued to keep the singer from leaving and the case was eventually settled out of court. The settlement required Ruffin to remain with Motown as a solo artist to finish out his contract.
Edwards’ first album with the Temptations was Live at the Copa, recorded at the group’s return to the Copacabana nightclub. The Temptations debuted the first of a number of collaborations with Diana Ross & the Supremes in 1968. The results included two studio albums: 1968’s Diana Ross & the Supremes Join The Temptations, which featured Edwards’s first studio recordings with the group and the number-two hit single “I’m Gonna Make You Love Me” and “Together“. There was also a joint tour and two NBC television specials, TCB (aired December 9, 1968) and G.I.T. on Broadway (aired November 12, 1969).
Paul Williams, who suffered from sickle-cell disease, fell into depression because of the stress of touring and personal issues. By the late 1960s, he had developed a serious case of alcoholism. Having never previously consumed anything stronger than milk, he began to drink quite heavily, and it was hard to take, according to Otis Williams. As his physical and mental health began to decline sharply, it made performing increasingly difficult. Williams began traveling with oxygen tanks, and the other four Temptations made valiant efforts to raid and drain his alcohol stashes.
In late 1969, Richard Street, lead singer of Motown act the Monitors and a former Distant, was hired by Otis Williams to tour with the group as a backup replacement for Williams. For most shows, save for his solo numbers, Williams danced and lip-synced on stage to parts sung live by Street into an offstage mic behind a curtain. At other shows, and during most of the second half of 1970, Street substituted for Williams on stage when he was too sick to go on.
Eddie Kendricks became detached from the group after David Ruffin’s firing and as the health of Paul Williams continued to fail. He regularly picked fights with Otis Williams and Melvin Franklin, which often became violent, and in addition, he preferred the ballad material from the earlier days and was uncomfortable with the psychedelic soul material the group was now performing. Kendricks rekindled his friendship with Ruffin, who persuaded him to go solo. He no longer felt he had a say in Otis Williams’s handling of the group and was also convinced Motown’s handling of the Temptations’ finances was cheating the group out of money. Kendricks, being the only member to continue an alliance with Ruffin, also repeatedly suggested that Ruffin should be allowed back into the group, despite the other members’ strong objections.
Kendricks lobbied strongly in 1970 to have the Temptations go on “strike” –- no performances, no recordings – until Berry Gordy and the Motown staff were be willing to go over all group finances with independent accountants. Otis Williams and Franklin strongly opposed this idea, and regular group infighting between Kendricks, Otis Williams, and Franklin grew from this disagreement. After a November 1970 Copacabana engagement, a final confrontation between the three caused Kendricks to walk out in-between shows and not return. Both Kendricks and Williams then agreed that Kendricks would be leaving the group. Kendricks later stated that he actually considered leaving as early as 1965, but remained with the Temptations and unsuccessfully attempted to get permission to record a solo album without 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 ballad that became Kendricks’ final single with the group. Included on the Sky’s the Limit LP along with the original album version of “Smiling Faces Sometimes“, “Just My Imagination” was released as a single in January 1971, and the song began steadily climbing the US pop singles chart, peaking at number 1 two months later. By the time “Just My Imagination” topped the charts, Kendricks had negotiated his release from the group and signed a solo deal with Motown’s Tamla label.
Today Otis Williams stands as the lone surviving member of the original Temptations. “I always tell people, the world loved the Temptations but the Temptations didn’t love themselves. Drugs came into play and once that happened, dreams and aspirations became fragmented. I am thankful to God for being able to withstand it all.”