Post by Jonel on Jan 29, 2004 11:08:09 GMT -5
Tempting fFate
`Real' Temptations still packing in crowds hungry for that Motown sound
FLINT
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Wednesday, January 28, 2004
By Doug Pullen
JOURNAL ENTERTAINMENT WRITER
Even though Otis Williams, the last original member of Motown's Temptations, has lived in Los Angeles for 30 years, he knows just what to pack for the group's weeklong concert swing through Michigan, which stops Thursday at Whiting Auditorium.
"Sweaters, all kind of heavy pants," he says, listing a few of the items going into his suitcase as he prepares for the departure from Southern California's balmy climes for the Ice Age weather gripping his home state.
After 43 years, 37 Top 10 hits, 50 albums and nearly two dozen personnel changes, the Texas-born Williams, 62, knows a little something about adapting. He is the quiet force behind the group's longevity, which has been tested time and again by in-fighting, death and competition from former member Dennis Edwards, who tours with his own legally sanctioned (and cheaper) splinter group, the Temptations Review featuring Dennis Edwards.
"This group should have been through a long time ago, when we lost Ruffin and Eddie," Williams says of two of the group's greatest lead singers, David Ruffin and Eddie Kendricks, who died years ago. "But we got even larger after that. It's one of those questions that's hard to answer because there are so many different ingredients that come to mind that make us continue to survive."
Of course, there are the velvet harmonies, the slick dance steps and the classic songs (including Tempts' staples "My Girl," "The Way You Do the Things You Do," "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone," "Cloud Nine" and "Just My Imagination") that provided the template for a couple of generations of vocal groups, from The Chi-Lites to 'N Sync.
But one thing the group never has lost, he insists, is its ability to perform and entertain at a high level, no matter who is in the group. The current lineup includes 21-year veteran Ron Tyson, six-year member Terry Weeks and 2003 additions G.C. Cameron (formerly of the Spinners) and Joe Herndon.
"People love to be entertained. We know that regardless of all the videos and young artists singing to (pre-recorded) tracks who are asking for $50,000, $60,000 and $70,000, we are not performing to tape. ... We always respect our audience and give them their money's worth. We're old school like that. We'll start rehearsing in the morning and not come out until 6 or 7 in the evening."
The group's winter swing through Michigan will visit seven cities in the state, beginning last Saturday in Jackson and ending Saturday in Benton Harbor.
At least three of the shows, including Thursday's Whiting Auditorium concert (their first Flint-area appearance since 1998) will feature former Motown labelmates and touring partners the Velvelettes as the opening act.
The female quartet, which formed at Western Michigan University in the 1960s, consists of Flint's Norma Fairhurst and Mildred Arbor and Kalamazoo's Cal Street (ex-wife of former Tempt Richard Street) and Bertha McNeal.
"It will be a pleasure to see Cal and the Velvelettes," Williams says. "I haven't seen them in years. It'll be great to see them."
The Temptations have dates booked all the way through the end of the year but have been working on their 51st album, tentatively titled "Impeccable," for release in the spring or early summer. Motown, part of the vast Universal Music Group, continues to reissue the group's songs on hits anthologies, including "Temptations: Love Songs," which hit stores Jan. 13.
"I'm not going to complain," Williams laughs. "Every six months I get a nice royalty check."
He does complain about former member Edwards' Temptations knockoff.
Williams fought a lengthy legal battle against the "Cloud Nine" singer, who last sang with the group in 1982, which ended with a judge granting Edwards the right to use a variation of the Temptations name.
"It has put a chink in our armor to a certain extent," Williams admits. Edwards' group works for "thousands" of dollars less than the official Temptations do, but Williams refuses to lower his group's fee to make it harder on the faux Tempts.
"We've worked too hard to get where we are to be paid below where it's been for a number of years," he explains.
He's more perturbed with concert promoters who either don't know the difference between the two groups or try to be "nickel slick" by purposely misleading ticket buyers. "You get a lot of slick promoters who won't advertise that (it's Edwards' group); they'll just say it's the Temptations," Williams complains.
He recounts just such an incident, related to him by longtime manager Shelley Berger, when a White House staffer mistakenly hired Edwards' group, not Williams', to perform for George W. Bush shortly after his inauguration in 2001.
"Dennis came out and, man, President Bush went off," Williams recalls with a chuckle. "He said, Where's Otis? That's not Otis. I don't want them.' But I guess they did a reasonable job." Williams and the group are resigned to the situation, promising to "ride it out and do what we have to do."
Motown founder Berry Gordy signed the Temptations - an amalgamation of Williams' group the Distants and Kendricks' the Primes - to the label in 1961.
The Tempts are one of the few Motown groups that never quit, but Williams knows that day will come. He's not so sure the Motown sound ever will die.
"Those songs will be around when everybody connected with Motown is no longer on this earth," he says.
"Here they are, 40 years later, just as popular as ever. Look at TV long enough and you'll hear one. Go to a movie and you'll hear a Motown song. I've been in elevators and heard the Muzak form of Motown.
"That just shows that those songs are loved. They're evergreen."
***
Doug Pullen covers music and media. He may be reached at (810) 766-6140 or dpullen@flintjournal.com.
© 2004 Flint Journal.
www.mlive.com/entertainment/fljournal/index.ssf?/base/features-0/107530722138740.xml
the Review is not the Tempts, so that would make them the faux Temptations.