Good Morning POU! Today’s mess……well…..ya just have to read it.
Patti Labelle fights off Jackie Wilson
Here’s her account of what happened that day via news publication, Michigan Chronicle:
Patti Labelle has had her share of downs, one of which involves being the victim of an attempted rape by another of the greatest singers and performers of all time, the iconic Jackie Wilson. It happened, LaBelle alleges, in the early 1960s. At the time she was with the group Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles. The scene was backstage at a theater and LaBelle happened to be alone. Someone, she says, came up behind her.
“It was Jackie Wilson,” she recalled. “He was kissing my neck and I could smell the liquor on his breath. As I struggled to free myself, Jackie’s accomplice started dragging me in backwards. I was kicking with all my might, but I was no match for him.” Next thing she knew, she was locked in a room.
“Jackie started touching. I started screaming, but no one could hear me. I didn’t have a knife, but I had my voice. I started screaming even louder, at the top of my lungs, and I can scream every bit as loud as I can sing.”
“It worked. Suddenly they backed off. They let me go. I ran as fast as I could in the direction of the lights.”
Gladys Knight didn’t deny the accuracy of Patti LaBelle’s story, but remembers Jackie Wilson as a perfect gentleman who always went out of his way to help Gladys Knight & the Pips in the group’s early days. One man, two remembrances.”
Was David Ruffin the cause of Tammi Terrell’s death?
We know that the legendary Tammi Terrell died at the young age of 24 from a Brain Tumor, but could it have resulted from being hit in the head with a hammer by The Temptations David Ruffin? To make matters worse, Ruffin’s abuse was the second such relationship Tammi had been involved in.
In 1962, 17-year-old Terrell became involved in an abusive relationship with James Brown, who was 12 years her senior. One night on the road in 1963, Terrell left Brown after he assaulted her for not watching his entire performance. Bobby Bennett, former member of the Famous Flames, witnessed the incident. “He beat Tammi Terrell terrible. She was bleeding, shedding blood. Tammi left him because she didn’t want her butt whipped,” said Bennett.
During the Motortown Revue in 1966, Terrell embarked on a torrid romance with The Temptations lead singer David Ruffin. That year, Terrell accepted Ruffin’s surprise marriage proposal. After Terrell announced their engagement onstage during an appearance together, she discovered that he was already married. Ruffin had a wife, three children, and another girlfriend in Detroit. This revelation and Ruffin’s drug addiction led to violent arguments. Terrell told Ebony magazine in 1969 that she believed her emotional state during this relationship was a contributing factor to her headaches, which would come after quarrels.
Famed organist Earl Van Dyke, leader of Motown’s famous and prolific Funk Brothers band, recalled Ruffin beating up Terrell in the Hitsville building. He and some of the other musicians were furious but when they attempted to intervene, Van Dyke recalled that Tammi screamed, “Don’t hurt him!”
In 1967, Terrell ended their relationship after Ruffin hit her in the head with his motorcycle helmet. It was rumored that Ruffin also hit Terrell in the head with a hammer, which further complicated her unknown condition. However, this rumor was dispelled in Terrell’s Unsung episode.