Post by ((LEGACY)) on Dec 18, 2003 15:41:20 GMT -5
BY TIM SHELLBERG
Times Correspondent
Strategic placement is working quite well for the Temptations this holiday season.
"20th Century Masters: A Christmas Collection," a disc of holiday hits first recorded by the Motown legends in the '70s and '80s and released in September, has become a favorite for shoppers at checkout counters at stores not commonly associated with music purchases, including Walgreen's drugstores, as well as at record shops.
"We were just informed yesterday that that album has gone gold," said Temptations co-founder Otis Williams late last week. "That makes two (Christmas albums) that have gone gold."
Scheduled to perform tonight at Merrillville's Star Plaza Theatre, the Temptations' latest plaque is, according to Williams, one of nearly 40 gold and platinum recordings the band has received in its career, which has spanned more than four decades. The group's catalog of more than three-dozen Top 40 hits spans the '60s and '70s. Classics such as "My Girl," "Ain't Too Proud to Beg," "Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)" and "Papa Was a Rolling Stone," barely scratch the surface.
The Temptations formed in Detroit in 1960, when members of two rival Motor City vocal groups, the Distants and the Primes, joined forces. In 1962, they were taken under Motown founder Berry Gordy Jr.'s wing. Two years later, they landed their first blockbuster hit with "The Way You Do the Things You Do," penned and produced by then-Miracle and in-house songwriter Smokey Robinson. They were joined throughout the '60s and '70s by a bevy of fellow Motown legends, including the Supremes, the Four Tops, Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder.
"I think the thing that made Motown acts unique was that we were taught to be in show business and not to just have a hit record and that would be it," Williams said. "I think that that's partially why we've been around for the last 40-plus years. We wanted to be in show business as our career. Not just to have a few hit records and never be heard from again and try to find something else to do."
Williams is the sole remaining original member of the band. The remainder of the band consists of G.C. Cameron, Joe Herndon, Ron Tyson and Terry Weeks.
In 1989, the Temptations were nominated into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Nine years later Williams served as an executive producer for the band-titled four-hour miniseries, which aired on NBC. Released on DVD in 2001 and based on "Temptations," a Williams-penned book chronicling the band's history, "The Temptations" miniseries airs frequently on music cable station VH1.
"I'm pleasantly surprised that (the miniseries) has taken on a life of its own," Williams said. "I've been told that certain schools use it as part of their curriculum, and a guy told me that his family looks at it two or three times a week. To see how people still react to it is great. I'm very proud of it."
Still with Motown, the Temptations are planning to begin work on what will be the band's 60th album in the near future. The album will be their first collection of new material since their 2001 effort "Awesome."
"It's still in the early stages, but we got some songs that we feel good about, and Motown is getting hyped up about a song that we're going to do that will possibly be a single," Williams said. "It's still (in its) early (stages), so we're taking it as it comes."
onstage
The Temptations
When: 8 tonight
Where: Star Plaza Theatre, I-65 at U.S. 30, Merrillville
Tickets: $38
For more info: (219) 769-6600, (773) 734-7266 or visit www.starplazatheatre.com
Times Correspondent
Strategic placement is working quite well for the Temptations this holiday season.
"20th Century Masters: A Christmas Collection," a disc of holiday hits first recorded by the Motown legends in the '70s and '80s and released in September, has become a favorite for shoppers at checkout counters at stores not commonly associated with music purchases, including Walgreen's drugstores, as well as at record shops.
"We were just informed yesterday that that album has gone gold," said Temptations co-founder Otis Williams late last week. "That makes two (Christmas albums) that have gone gold."
Scheduled to perform tonight at Merrillville's Star Plaza Theatre, the Temptations' latest plaque is, according to Williams, one of nearly 40 gold and platinum recordings the band has received in its career, which has spanned more than four decades. The group's catalog of more than three-dozen Top 40 hits spans the '60s and '70s. Classics such as "My Girl," "Ain't Too Proud to Beg," "Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)" and "Papa Was a Rolling Stone," barely scratch the surface.
The Temptations formed in Detroit in 1960, when members of two rival Motor City vocal groups, the Distants and the Primes, joined forces. In 1962, they were taken under Motown founder Berry Gordy Jr.'s wing. Two years later, they landed their first blockbuster hit with "The Way You Do the Things You Do," penned and produced by then-Miracle and in-house songwriter Smokey Robinson. They were joined throughout the '60s and '70s by a bevy of fellow Motown legends, including the Supremes, the Four Tops, Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder.
"I think the thing that made Motown acts unique was that we were taught to be in show business and not to just have a hit record and that would be it," Williams said. "I think that that's partially why we've been around for the last 40-plus years. We wanted to be in show business as our career. Not just to have a few hit records and never be heard from again and try to find something else to do."
Williams is the sole remaining original member of the band. The remainder of the band consists of G.C. Cameron, Joe Herndon, Ron Tyson and Terry Weeks.
In 1989, the Temptations were nominated into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Nine years later Williams served as an executive producer for the band-titled four-hour miniseries, which aired on NBC. Released on DVD in 2001 and based on "Temptations," a Williams-penned book chronicling the band's history, "The Temptations" miniseries airs frequently on music cable station VH1.
"I'm pleasantly surprised that (the miniseries) has taken on a life of its own," Williams said. "I've been told that certain schools use it as part of their curriculum, and a guy told me that his family looks at it two or three times a week. To see how people still react to it is great. I'm very proud of it."
Still with Motown, the Temptations are planning to begin work on what will be the band's 60th album in the near future. The album will be their first collection of new material since their 2001 effort "Awesome."
"It's still in the early stages, but we got some songs that we feel good about, and Motown is getting hyped up about a song that we're going to do that will possibly be a single," Williams said. "It's still (in its) early (stages), so we're taking it as it comes."
onstage
The Temptations
When: 8 tonight
Where: Star Plaza Theatre, I-65 at U.S. 30, Merrillville
Tickets: $38
For more info: (219) 769-6600, (773) 734-7266 or visit www.starplazatheatre.com
