Post by tempfan on Jun 18, 2006 13:57:49 GMT -5
MOTOWN TO PEEKSKILL: WILLIAMS TALKS TEMPTATIONS
By PETER D. KRAMER
THE JOURNAL NEWS
Forty-five years ago, Otis Williams was present at the creation of the Motown supergroup the Temptations. Now, at 66, he says he's never tempted to retire.
"No, I'm too young and still having fun," he says.
"Fun" means touring 35 weeks a year, "a string of one-nighters" from San Diego to West Virginia to Peekskill's Paramount Center for the Arts where, the latest incarnation of the Tempts take the stage for the venue's annual fund-raising gala.
There have been 22 men to call themselves Temptations — a group that began life as the Elgins when the Primes (Eddie Kendricks and Paul Williams) got together with a competing group, the Distants (Otis Williams, Melvin Franklin and Elbridge Bryant), and signed with Motown's Berry Gordy in March 1961.
Along the way, they've had dozens of hits — 41 reached the Top 10 on the R&B list — including "My Girl," "Ain't To Proud to Beg" and "Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)."
"Just My Imagination" topped the charts in April 1971, ahead of "Me and Bobby McGee" by Janis Joplin, "For All We Know" by the Carpenters, "She's a Lady" by Tom Jones and "What's Going On" by Marvin Gaye.
Williams remembers that time well.
"We were doing like we're doing now: working our fannies off all over the place and enjoying the luxury of having a huge record, a 2-million-plus seller," he says.
"I figured it'd do well," he says, "because it was a beautiful song, but I [had] no idea that it would be as hugely successful as it was."
He "can't even hazard a guess" as to how many times he's sung "Just My Imagination," much less "My Girl," which hit the charts six years earlier and is still in the group's repertoire.
"I've heard some artists say, 'Man, I get tired of singing those songs over and over again,' " Williams says. "When I hear them say that, they just need to quit.
"When you're bringing happiness and joy to thousands of people that still love to hear those songs, you're tired but they're still loving it and they've heard it just as long as you've, probably, been singing it."
The Temptations crowd, those people loving the much-sung songs, range in age from 4 to 80 these days, Williams estimates.
Those people singing the much-sung songs now include G.C. Cameron, Joe Herndon, Ron Tyson, Terry Weeks and Williams.
"God has blessed me to be the SuperGlue to hold all this stuff together," Williams says with a laugh.
That the Tempts have had so many members confirms what Motown master Gordy told Williams at the outset: It's about the sound, not the men who make it.
"Berry Gordy said: 'No one man is greater than the sum total. And the sum total is that 11-letter word: Temptations,' " Williams remembers.
In 50 years, when Otis Williams finally retires at age 116, will the Temptations go on?
"Who knows?" he says. "I'd like for it to go on. Life goes on so music should go on. Hopefully, the fans will understand that and we can fashion the Tempts to go on."
By PETER D. KRAMER
THE JOURNAL NEWS
Forty-five years ago, Otis Williams was present at the creation of the Motown supergroup the Temptations. Now, at 66, he says he's never tempted to retire.
"No, I'm too young and still having fun," he says.
"Fun" means touring 35 weeks a year, "a string of one-nighters" from San Diego to West Virginia to Peekskill's Paramount Center for the Arts where, the latest incarnation of the Tempts take the stage for the venue's annual fund-raising gala.
There have been 22 men to call themselves Temptations — a group that began life as the Elgins when the Primes (Eddie Kendricks and Paul Williams) got together with a competing group, the Distants (Otis Williams, Melvin Franklin and Elbridge Bryant), and signed with Motown's Berry Gordy in March 1961.
Along the way, they've had dozens of hits — 41 reached the Top 10 on the R&B list — including "My Girl," "Ain't To Proud to Beg" and "Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)."
"Just My Imagination" topped the charts in April 1971, ahead of "Me and Bobby McGee" by Janis Joplin, "For All We Know" by the Carpenters, "She's a Lady" by Tom Jones and "What's Going On" by Marvin Gaye.
Williams remembers that time well.
"We were doing like we're doing now: working our fannies off all over the place and enjoying the luxury of having a huge record, a 2-million-plus seller," he says.
"I figured it'd do well," he says, "because it was a beautiful song, but I [had] no idea that it would be as hugely successful as it was."
He "can't even hazard a guess" as to how many times he's sung "Just My Imagination," much less "My Girl," which hit the charts six years earlier and is still in the group's repertoire.
"I've heard some artists say, 'Man, I get tired of singing those songs over and over again,' " Williams says. "When I hear them say that, they just need to quit.
"When you're bringing happiness and joy to thousands of people that still love to hear those songs, you're tired but they're still loving it and they've heard it just as long as you've, probably, been singing it."
The Temptations crowd, those people loving the much-sung songs, range in age from 4 to 80 these days, Williams estimates.
Those people singing the much-sung songs now include G.C. Cameron, Joe Herndon, Ron Tyson, Terry Weeks and Williams.
"God has blessed me to be the SuperGlue to hold all this stuff together," Williams says with a laugh.
That the Tempts have had so many members confirms what Motown master Gordy told Williams at the outset: It's about the sound, not the men who make it.
"Berry Gordy said: 'No one man is greater than the sum total. And the sum total is that 11-letter word: Temptations,' " Williams remembers.
In 50 years, when Otis Williams finally retires at age 116, will the Temptations go on?
"Who knows?" he says. "I'd like for it to go on. Life goes on so music should go on. Hopefully, the fans will understand that and we can fashion the Tempts to go on."