'Temptations Revue' relives Motown sound

[Jonel]

Published 12/30/2002
'Temptations Revue' relives Motown sound without troubles of years past

By Mike Hughes
Lansing State Journal

In the 41 years of the Temptations, only the music - sweet and soaring - has remained the same.

The rest keeps being altered by death, departures and lawyers. "We had an Olympian court battle," said Dennis Edwards, who will be at the Soaring Eagle casino in Mount Pleasant on New Year's Eve.

The winner was Otis Williams, 61. He's the only one who can call his group The Temptations.

That leaves Edwards, 59, with a show called "The Temptations Revue." It will sound like the real thing, he promised.

"I'm the last living lead singer," Edwards said by phone. "Otis (a baritone) was a great singer, but he's one of the backup guys."

Both reflect the Motown sound at its peak. The Temptations hit No. 1 four times, with "My Girl," "I Can't Get Next to You," "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" and "Just My Imagination"; they had 11 more songs in the top 10.

The group formed in 1961 in Detroit, but caught on two years later, when it added David Ruffin.

"In the Temptations, everybody was a lead singer," Motown founder Berry Gordy wrote in "To Be Loved" (Warner Books, 1994, $22.95). "But not like David Ruffin. He was a natural star. ... Talented he was, humble he wasn't."

Five years later, the others voted to oust Ruffin; Edwards - who was singing with the Contours - took his place.

"Initially, Ruffin's departure was viewed as an insurmountable blow," said the Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll. "Dennis Edwards may have lacked some of the vocal polish of his predecessor, but his more aggressive approach perfectly suited the new ... soul-rock hybrid."

Indeed, the first song he sang for the Temptations, "Cloud Nine," won Motown its first Grammy.

By most accounts, the time that followed was sheer chaos. Ruffin simply refused to leave.

"He kept showing up at dates, trying to go on," Gordy wrote. "They had trouble getting him off stage."

That isn't the way Edwards recalls it. "I would have loved having him in the group," he said. "I was the one who told him where we would be."

Indeed, he said he and Ruffin were always friends.

"I heard about the breakup at 3 in the morning, from the fabulous David Ruffin," Edwards said. "He said, 'They're going to put me out of the group and have you in it. I want you to take it.' "

The two remained friends, Edwards said. When the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inducted the Temptations in 1988, it specified that both Ruffin and Edwards be included. For a time, they toured with another Temptations lead, Eddie Kendricks.

The glory years faded. Ruffin, addicted to cocaine, slipped into a coma and died at 50; Kendricks died of lung cancer at 52.

Edwards' troubles often involved legal fights. "Unfortunately, there are two parts of show business," he said, "show and business." He left the Temptations three times between 1969 and 1987, the third time for good.

Edwards has settled into St. Louis, Mo., with his wife, Brenda. "I met her in divorce court," he said. "She was getting a divorce and so was I."

From that spot in the middle of the country, he adds other singers to re-create the classics. The Temptations Revue is in business.

Contact Mike Hughes at 377-1156 or [e-mail].

www.lsj.com/things/things/021230_temptations_5d.html

[Aba21]

Once again Jonel, you find the information to solve so many misconceptions. It kind of makes Mike look pretty good I would say because he has been saying that for as long as I have been around. It is the kind of stuff we need to see more of when all these different stories come about in talking about the Temptations. The only thing in that article that surprised me was the quote he had about Otis being a back up guy. Although its true, I have never heard Dennis or seen a quote from him actually saying that. Great job on finding that information. I don't have to tell you to keep up the good work!!!


By the way I'm glad you enjoyed my Four Tops moment! ;D

[iratherlikeme]

That isn't the way Edwards recalls it. "I would have loved having him in the group," he said. "I was the one who told him where we would be."

Edwards has settled into St. Louis, Mo., with his wife, Brenda. "I met her in divorce court," he said. "She was getting a divorce and so was I."

How sweet.

[Cadeho]

That backup quote struck me too... I was surprised when Eddie said it... It's almost used against Otis...

[iratherlikeme]

Maybe he meant backup in a way that implied that he was an integral part of the sound. Tone doesn't always come across on paper (or in this case, the internet).

[kalisa2]

I think Dennis meant it in a good way, that Otis's voice added to the sound that was the whole package...and that no, he was NOT ever considered one of the main leads, but he is/was/evermore shall be an integral part of "THE TEMPTATIONS".

Eddie's quote was in a taped interview, and there is no mistaking his meaning. Regardless of what anyone else has said, Eddie felt at the outset that HE was the main leader of the group, brought more into it (two lead singers) when they merged.

[Aba21]

I may be familiar with the Eddie qoute to that effect, Kalisa2. That being said, how do you think HE felt upon the arrival of David? I mean Paul was his friend and he probably thought Paul would have some leads but the bulk would go to him and now here comes David. At first David was not singing lead and then he singing all the leads. How do you think Eddie felt? My take on the quote from Eddie is some resentment of Otis in some way and I'm not sure if its got to do with the business of the group or the rules of the group.

[kalisa2]

My take on the Eddie quote is somewhat resentment. The interview I speak of was a conversation between he and Martha Reeves on "Street Gold" (A NECESSITY OF LIFE! ;D ), and she says "Why did I always think Otis started the group?" and Eddie carries it on from there. Also another interview with Ms. Neville he reiterates close to the same things.

I don't know how he felt when David first joined the group, or when David got more leads than his friend Paul. So far I've only seen Otis say that Eddie expressed suspicions of David. I know they ended up good friends. Didn't Eddie and Paul start their relationship with a fight? .

[Aba21]

Sometimes the best friendships start with as fight. Ok that's the Street Gold you speak of. I may have seen some of those clips and it will soon be a part of my information science highway depot. The amount of success they had at the time David joined was minimal to say the least in terms of record sales. SO I would think a new singer adding star power would make you happy. Somehow we seem to alwyas leave out how big the egos were in the group. We only seem to mention David's ego when it's obvious that all of them to a certain degree had a pretty good size one.

[Aba21]

Speaking of friendships......in the video,"ONE MORE FOR THE LONELY HEARTS CLUB" as well as the video of them doing a medley of Temps songs together, did you feel sad when you watched it? I felt sad for all the time wasted(and I say that in a heartfelt way) when they could have meaking songs like that before. I really like that song. It's from the Ruffin & Kendrick lp and it's the kind of song I like. Do you have that LP/CD?

When I think about it, many friendships go like that and sometimes you never get the chance they did to say I'm sorry or whatever feelings they shared. It was good to me just to see them back together. Seeing that makes me miss Paul even more. I think had he stayed alive at least Eddie would not have left and Dennis would have stayed longer. I believe in my heart all things considered and Paul not being ill, there's no way Paul would have let that group disolve. I don't see it.

In terms of the quote from Dennis, I was thinking he probably shouldn't have said just for the simple fact it could be interpreted in just the ways we are doing so now. First read was resentment to me. Second read was he was saying just the facts. Third thought is he could be tired of talking about the miniseries which was fiction to say the least and now is starting to feel some resentment for the portrayals of different group members. That's why I want to hear form Dennis to get his take. But at this time has felt he doesn't want to share it. You know he has been asked a million times to do a book about it. But my take of Dennis is that he believes that while in the group, what you see here, what you do here, let it stay here!

[iratherlikeme]

I don't know much about journalism, but I do know that reporters can't misquote the subject (I saw that on TV ;D). They can, however, put it into a certain context to make it hard to ascertain the real tone in which it was said. Like in an interview I read in Vibe once: The article was about blue-eyed soul or something. This white singer said something like, "I don't know how the ghetto pass happened, but we're glad it did." Readers wrote in talking about how he shouldn't have said that, but in reality the interviewer could have very well said, "How do you feel about the ghetto pass you've gotten into the urban community?" and he repeated it back to her in his answer. (I have to try and relate things to other things so that I can explain what I'm saying, that's why I went all over the place with that. ) Like my pastor says, I said that to say this: Mr. Edwards' comment could have very likely been taken out of context on purpose, to stir up controversy. But what do I know?

Oh, and I don't want anybody to jump on me for this, but I've been thinking about it for a while. The Temptations have had so many different members over the years, and I think it's because none of them were real friends first. I know Eddie James and Paul were friends, and Melvin, Otis, and Al were friends, but the group getting together seemed more like a business deal. And in my opinion, that can lead to bad business in the future.

[kalisa2]

Aba...I think it very very possible that Paul would have left the group and possibly gotten together with Eddie...and maybe even David. Eddie would have left anyway, we only have the miniseries telling us that he left because of Paul. We have the Klub Kabana CD showing they kept in contact. Eddie and David didn't get together until around 1985 as an entity, though we know they showed up at each other's gigs, probably frequently.

YES, I wish they would have gotten together sooner. I LOVE "Lonely Hearts Club" (yes, I have the R&K CD ). I don't much care for the rest of the CD, but Lonely Hearts is one of those great contrastings of their voices, akin to "You're My Everything".

I agree with most of what you said, other than I did not read any resentment into Dennis's statement. Just stating the facts, and we of course don't know the whole context.

[kalisa2]

IRLM..."what do I know?"...LOL!

From the rest of your post, you know A LOT!

I wanted to think about what you said before responding.

I don't know if being friends or not close friends at the beginning of a business relationship had much to do with the way things evolved. Remember, Al and Otis were good friends at the outset, and look where that went..."Business is business, and the rest is BS" from the looks of it. From Otis's admission, it was HE who wanted Al out of the group after the fight with Paul, not Paul who supposedly wasn't Al's good friend. Interpersonal relationships grow, change and evolve over the course of time...throw business, egos and money into the mix and they can go anywhere.

Just my thoughts..

[Cadeho]

So after Al was out of the group, he became Otis' ex friend? Not just Otis but all of their ex-friend? Someone had to have kept in touch with him and gone to his funeral. History forgets him but I hope they didn't. What was the time span between his departure and David's arrival?

How could Eddie think he was the main leader? He didn't get a lead song until about their sixth song that I know of. Still Paul outnumbered his leads by the time David came. However, Eddie did get a lot more songs after their first hit, so I can see how his ego was pumped. Why didn't Eddie demand Paul get more songs on an album? We didn't even get to hear a lot of his songs until long after he died.

Were they all good friends as a group or did they have to be because of the business?

[kalisa2]

How could Eddie think he was the main leader? He didn't get a lead song until about their sixth song that I know of.

I think he felt the leadership or whatever dealt with the group dynamic behind the scenes. Remember, the artists had little or nothing to say about what they recorded or who sang lead, or what was released as a single or on albums.

Why didn't Eddie demand Paul get more songs on an album? How could Eddie insist on anything to the producers or the quality control people or BG? They not the group were the ones making those decisions.

Do we know that any of them maintained the friendship with Al or attended his funeral? I hadn't heard that.

I don't know the answers to those or other questions you've asked.