Richard Street, Tempestuous times of the Tempts

[Ivory Fair]

Some of you may have already read this article that Sukka sent a bunch of us this morning, but I wanted to post it so we could discuss it. Note that the article is from 1999 and the Temptations Review is Richard and Ali's now defunct group.

The tempestuous times of the Temptations

Folks who hear the Temptations Review on Sunday will be listening to one of many groups that have acrimoniously split off from the sensational Temptations, whose reputation for infighting almost matched their fame.
By LOGAN NEILL

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 16, 1999


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After 26 years as vocalist with the legendary R&B supergroup the Temptations, Richard Street says he is interested only in claiming what is rightfully his -- his identity.

"I don't want to be imitating somebody, because I would only be imitating myself," Street offers by phone from Los Angeles. But you can sense that there is much more to it than that.

He speaks of a deep artistic rift between himself and longtime partner Otis Williams, which forced him to leave the group four years ago. And he tells of animosity for former managers who cheated him and other members of the band out of earnings. And he tells of his struggle to keep his new group going in the face of legal squabbles which could make it impossible even to associate his name with his former ensemble.

There are truths yet untold, he says, ones he plans to tell in an upcoming book about his life and times with the Temptations. But for now, Street, 57, wants only to tell his story through his music. He has put together a tribute group called the Temptations Review, a quintet he says captures the spirit of the original group more closely than the one that still performs under the name Temptations.

"There is a history of excellence in the music that people just don't get when they see (the Temptations) today," he says. "I mean, they sound okay, if all people want to hear is the songs, but there's something missing, something deeper. And that's what we're trying to do."

Street's passion for the Temptations goes back to its origins in 1955. A member of the Detroit doo-wop group the Distants, which included Williams as well as his cousin Melvin Franklin, Street left in 1959 to help form the Monitors. The other members eventually went on to record for the newly formed Motown label in 1962 as the Temptations.

But Street always kept a hand in the band. Motown president Berry Gordy hired him as a sort of quality control producer, asking him to listen to recordings and occasionally lend his tenor to sweeten the vocal track.

By 1969, the Temptations' silky, soulful harmonies made it the top R&B vocal group, with a string of pop chart toppers such as My Girl, I'm Losing You, Ain't Too Proud To Beg and Beauty Is Only Skin Deep. But by then, the wheels were beginning to work loose.



continued......

[Ivory Fair]

A year prior, lead singer David Ruffin, unhappy with the group's sound, left for a solo career and was replaced by former Contours lead vocalist Dennis Edwards. In 1971, singer Eddie Kendricks left for a solo career as well. Tenor Paul Williams, suffering from the effects of alcohol abuse, was forced to quit (he later committed suicide), and Street was chosen as his replacement.

"I just considered it returning to my rightful place," he says. "If things had been different early on, I would have been there from day one."

The arrival of Street and new lead singer Edwards signaled a musical shift in direction.

"We wanted to not just record love songs all the time," says Street. "We wanted to do some things that would also have a bigger impact."

The next few years would find the Temptations tackling topical subjects such as the Vietnam War and urban poverty with songs such as Take A Look Around, Ball Of Confusion (What The World Is Today) and the landmark Papa Was A Rolling Stone, which earned the group three Grammy awards.

But it wouldn't be until 1985's Treat Her Like A Lady that the Temptations found their way back onto the charts.

Following the death of his cousin Melvin Franklin in 1995 of heart failure, Street felt it was time to go. Years of pent up animosity between him and Otis Williams, the group's only surviving original member, had taken its toll. But worse still, an accounting of the group's finances revealed that he and other members had been significantly underpaid by its management.

Street said he'll address those accusations in an upcoming book he has tentatively titled, Ball Of Confusion.

"All I know is that it was bad," he says. "And that's why I had to do something else with my life."

While Street has spent most of his post-Temptations years as a producer for local Los Angeles-based artists, the desire to rekindle the Temptations flame remained strong. He and former Temptations lead singer Ali-Ollie Woodson formed the Temptations Review and hired singers Willie Green, Perry Moore and Chris Arnold to re-create the vocal excellence he considers paramount to the group's success.

But he has no official rights to the Temptations name. It belongs to Williams, who last year won a court settlement against former lead singer Dennis Edwards and forced him to stop billing his own band the New Temptations. Williams has been exerting legal pressure to stop Street from doing the same.

"We're fixing to iron all that out in the court," Street says. "But I'm not particularly hung up on trying to use the name. I just feel that after 30 years of being with the group, there should be some recognition for that."

[Ivory Fair]

A little bit of background information...... (and this is the Ivory Fair version so I may not have my facts straight.)

In the late 1970's Melvin and Otis gained from Motown the rights to perform using the Temptations name. When Melvin died, his half of the rights were passed on to his widow Kim. In approx. 1999, Richard and Ali, taking a que from Dennis who had already settled with Otis to be able to use the name "Temptations Review" paid Kim English a fee to be able to do the same. Otis filed for an injunction to stop them from being able to use the name on the grounds that it was not within Kim English's ability to sell the rights. His reasoning for this (and this part I'm a little fuzzy on) was that Otis had paid Kim English a lump sum in order to have her share of the rights to the name (or it may have been because Motown owned the rights to the name as a whole and it was not within either Otis OR Melvin/Kim's power to sell the name, again, I'm fuzzy on this part.) Eventually the court ruled in O's favor.

One thing that srikes me as odd in this article. Richard said he left the group AFTER Melvin's death. The only problem with that is that Richard left the group before Melvin died. Those of you who have the EOS booklet handy can check out pages 52 and 53 for a photo that shows both Theo and Melvin in the group together at the same time. Theo replaced Richard. What bothers me about this is that I've heard from Richard, although second-hand, the same story as to why Richard left the group. Unless I'm missing something, his timing is off and his story doesn't jive. That's just one of my great unanswered Tempts' questions.

[kalisa2]

Ivory...yes, the great unanswered question. This is the article I read that led me to my first unofficial contact with OUR LEADER, questioning the TemptsInfo chart of Temtpations members. It would SEEM, if anyone would know when and why Richard left, it would be Richard...LOL!

So, if we can't trust his version of WHEN he left, which we have proof is incorrect, do we trust anything else he may tell us in the future?

[Jonel]

Let me muddy the waters a little bit by suggesting that Richard didn't actually say that he left the group after Melvin's death. The newspaper correspondent relates the story that way and it isn't a direct quote from Richard. The correspondent may have misunderstood and the story was printed. Otis claims Richard left the group right before the Temptations went to Japan, in 1993. Perhaps Richard resigned himself to close that chapter (working with Otis) after Melvin's death. Up until his cousin's death, he had kept an open mind about returning to the group. Perhaps with his relative and ally gone, he felt that it was useless to try.

[Aba21]

Well I might be able to clear up one thing. I saw them in AC when Theo was either traveling incognito in a poorly kept secret that he was about to become a Temptation or actually in training to be a Temptation with everyone knowing the deal. I lean to the latter because for One it was just before then the Ali began to sing My Girl much to the displeasure of Richard who could be seen onstage in a real state of anger especially during the singing of that song because it sent alarms out all through the area where the "friends" of the group were sitting. At first I thought something was wrong with Richard's voice but he was singing everything else so that wasn't it. But it was real obvious something was not right. Richard was known to smile and laugh through out the shows and I got none of that that night. Of course I was able to get the real news after the show. The people who were at the show never knew what was going on but having seen too many shows, I knew from the start something was very wrong. And its sad.

So as I look back, I believe Richard already knew he was gone just as Dennis did during the Motown 25 special when Levi looked at him and said, "It's all over your face! Someone's taking your place" I forget that the show must go on even if it's your last. Dennis went out in a blaze of glory. I can't say the same for Richard.

There is no doubt that it went like this: Richard out, Theo in, Melvin out, Harry in and then Ali out and Terry in, Theo out and Bo in, in that order.

There is something very special about Richard in that he wasn't the forst replacement in the group, he may have been the one you wanted to replace first. But he was there a long time. He was around the entire Temptation life, even that part that is not talked about much. He was a childhood friend of Otis, a cousin to Melvin, worked behind the scenes wiith the group for a long time, was a stand-in before getting in, worked in creative control department for Motown and has a long history that I want to hear about when he writes his book.

I will be thrilled to get another view of what happened. I think he will be very careful what he writes because he has seen what happened to Otis after his books. I don't know what happened between he and Otis but I always had a wonderful time around him and I felt comfortable with him in the group. I knew he would give a class show like I had become used to with all those before him.

[Aba21]

Jonel said:

Let me muddy the waters a little bit by suggesting that Richard didn't actually say that he left the group after Melvin's death. The newspaper correspondent relates the story that way and it isn't a direct quote from Richard. The correspondent may have misunderstood and the story was printed. Otis claims Richard left the group right before the Temptations went to Japan, in 1993. Perhaps Richard resigned himself to close that chapter (working with Otis) after Melvin's death. Up until his cousin's death, he had kept an open mind about returning to the group. Perhaps with his relative and ally gone, he felt that it was useless to try.

QUESTION: Did he leave or was he fired?

[Jonel]

SATURDAY 1 FEBRUARY

The Legendary TEMPTATIONS Show
featuring “Richard Street” Lead Singer (‘71-‘95)
8.00pm (QLD Time)
Tickets: $20.00

Bookings Open

Richard Street's passion for The Temptations goes back to its origins in 1955 as a member of the Detroit doo-wop group The Distants, which included long-time Temptation, Otis Williams, as well as Richard's cousin, the late Melvin Franklin who was The Temptations legendary bass singer until his untimely death in 1995. Richard left The Distants in 1959 to form The Monitors and the other members eventually went on to record for The Temptations.

Richard always kept a hand in The Temptations band, assisting with recordings and lending his voice for the occasional track. In 1971 after a few changes to their line-up Richard was asked to replace the group's distinctive tenor vocalist Paul Williams.

The arrival of Richard, together with Dennis Edwards signaled a notable musical shift for the group and lead them to such songs as Take A Look Around, Ball of Confusion and the landmark Papa Was A Rolling Stone, which earned the group three Grammy Awards.

Richard has performed hundreds of shows with the Temptations in over twenty years, visited forty countries around the world and was part of the group when it was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1989.

Today, Richard presents a show that brings all the great music of the Temptations to life and includes other classic hit songs that document the golden years of the Motown sound.

With only one of the totally original Temptations alive today (Otis Williams) this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to relive the magic.

You will hear all the legendary hits….My Girl, Treat Her Like a Lady, Papa Was a Rolling Stone, Can't Get Next to You, Aint Too Proud to Beg and Ball of Confusion.

Don't miss The Legendary Temptations with Richard Street at Twin Towns.

www.twintowns.com.au/resortdream.htm
www.twintowns.com.au/entertainment.htm

This is in Australia y'all.

[Jonel]

Whoa. Guess that blows my theory. He says "1995".

[Aba21]

That had to be interesting in that the way people on this board scream about who has the right to sing what song and who should or should not sing the classic songs, all those songs listed above do not have Richard as lead so what is he doing? Pushing the other guys?

If this is his group, then don't you think they should have listed, Hey Girl, Heavenly and Isn't The night Fantastic or Firefly on there somewhere? Could it be he knows those song are not as well known? Or could the promoters be using that Temptation connection again?

[Jonel]

Y'all are going to have to excuse me. I did not realize until now that the other venue at Canterbury was in New South Wales. I thought the group was in the UK, not Australia!

[Aba21]

Jonel said:

Whoa. Guess that blows my theory. He says "1995".

No way Melvin died in 1995 and Richard was long gone by then.

[kalisa2]

Jonel...Yes, your theory was a good one. I like it better than "Richard has CRS" ;D ;D ;D , though tying and timing his departure (actual resignation?) to Melvin's death is misleading in the extreme, however that got started.

Aba...I don't know how it is in Australia but I don't think any of the songs you mentioned are at the top of many playlists, at least here. You have to grab people with what they know.

and p.s. Sheesh!! Next he'll be adding "Stay" to his show, then what will we do?

[Aba21]

Oh is that what they're doing? ;D ;D

[Ivory Fair]

Jonel, ordinarily I would just discount that as a reporter's error, but like I said, I've heard from people who know Richard an account of why HE says he left the group. Again, it's second or third hand information, but they say Richard claims he left the group because of how things were handled with Melvin and his participation in the group shortly before his death. Now I've talked to a friend who lives in Detroit who was there at the time and who has no reason to protect Otis and he says Richard's story's not true. But the fact that Richard is APPARENTLY claiming to have left the group two years after he did, and defaming Otis in the process, just perplexes me.