Post by Ivory Fair on Apr 22, 2002 12:52:30 GMT -5
IT'S NOT JUST OUR IMAGINATION - THE TEMPTATIONS ARE ON RISE AGAIN
By Kevin Johnson Of The [St. Louis] Post-Dispatch
* The way they do the things they do bridges generations and music styles as their 'Phoenix Rising' goes gold.
Long past their prime but not long in the tooth, Motown legends The Temptations boldly titled their latest CD "Phoenix Rising," hoping the name would be a fitting way to describe the band.
Turns out it was - and the group watched its career trajectory shoot skyward in a comeback no one could've predicted.
"We've always been able to rise from the ashes. That's what The Temptations have always been about," says Otis Williams, the only surviving member of the original Grammy-winning Motown group. (The others were Melvin Franklin, David Ruffin, Eddie Kendricks and Paul Williams).
"Phoenix Rising" was the first regular Temptations album to go gold in more than 20 years, and that came on the heels of the huge ratings success of "The Temptations," a two-night NBC miniseries that recapped the band's history.
Live gigs, the group's bread and butter, are at an exhaustive level, and the band is booked through New Year's Eve. The group earned Grammy and Soul Train Award nominations this year. And now their lengthy legal battle with ex-Temptation Dennis Edwards (who lives in the area) over rights to the name appears to be over. Edwards can no longer tour under the name the New Temptations or The Temptations featuring Dennis Edwards. They settled on Dennis Edwards & The Temptations Review.
"We had no indication '98 would be so good. We feel blessed that wonderful things can happen to a group like us. It makes us feel like we're starting all over again. That's the wonderment of working in show business," says Williams, interviewed recently during a tour stop in Markville, La. The group comes to the Fox Theatre with Gladys Knight on Sunday.
Beginning in the '60s, The Temptations laid down classics like "The Way You Do the Things You Do," "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" and "Can't Get Next to You," not to mention "My Girl" and "Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)." But the '80s and '90s were spotty. Today's Temptations, with Williams, Ron Tyson, Barrington Henderson, Terry Weeks and Harry McGilberry, see a new day dawning with the group's 54th album, "Phoenix Rising."
In this era where hip-hop kings and teen divas rule R&B radio, The Temptations weren't supposed to resurface. The push getting this "wonderful 'Ball of Confusion,'" as Williams puts it, rolling again came with "Stay," the hit first single from "Phoenix Rising." The song gave fans the best of both music worlds, new and old, by mixing a sample of the legendary hit "My Girl" with contemporary beats and the group's classic vocals.
"I think Narada (Michael Walden, the producer) was very clever and sort of genius to bridge those two elements together. He played the track to 'Stay' for me for the first time, and I said forget that other song," says Williams, referring to previously scheduled first single "If I Give You My Heart."
That choice changed the fortunes of a group that had gotten used to recording CDs that were no longer commercial successes. "Being artists, your ego gets involved. You'd like to achieve gold and platinum status, but you understand the nature of the business, and that can be off-setting," says Williams, who turns 60 this fall.
"Phoenix Rising" served as the perfect lead-in to the miniseries, of which Williams was a co-producer. Despite what you may have heard, Williams says everything that unfolded on TV really happened, except for Franklin's death scene at the end. In the miniseries, Franklin rolled his wheelchair into the kitchen and died there peacefully. "He died in a hospital, in a coma, with all the tubes. I didn't want to show him in that light. I wanted to leave him with some dignity, and everybody concerned felt the same way," says Williams.
Williams wants to tour as long as they have fans who want to see them. "I plan on riding the hair off this horse," he jokes.
And he can carry on with less fear of confusion on the part of fans over Williams' Temptations and Edwards' Temptations.
Williams takes the high road in discussing Edwards. "I never make it a point to slam any of the guys who've ever been in the group. They say all kinds of things concerning me, but I wish them all the best, and they're all very talented guys. Dennis is a fun brother, funny as all get-out, a good-hearted brother. I guess he's just trying to make a living, doing what he's doing. It's an act of survival," says Williams.
And Williams, in turn, did what he had to do to maintain his own livelihood. "This is a business. I'm only protecting what I rightly own. And you can't trespass on what I own."
By Kevin Johnson Of The [St. Louis] Post-Dispatch
* The way they do the things they do bridges generations and music styles as their 'Phoenix Rising' goes gold.
Long past their prime but not long in the tooth, Motown legends The Temptations boldly titled their latest CD "Phoenix Rising," hoping the name would be a fitting way to describe the band.
Turns out it was - and the group watched its career trajectory shoot skyward in a comeback no one could've predicted.
"We've always been able to rise from the ashes. That's what The Temptations have always been about," says Otis Williams, the only surviving member of the original Grammy-winning Motown group. (The others were Melvin Franklin, David Ruffin, Eddie Kendricks and Paul Williams).
"Phoenix Rising" was the first regular Temptations album to go gold in more than 20 years, and that came on the heels of the huge ratings success of "The Temptations," a two-night NBC miniseries that recapped the band's history.
Live gigs, the group's bread and butter, are at an exhaustive level, and the band is booked through New Year's Eve. The group earned Grammy and Soul Train Award nominations this year. And now their lengthy legal battle with ex-Temptation Dennis Edwards (who lives in the area) over rights to the name appears to be over. Edwards can no longer tour under the name the New Temptations or The Temptations featuring Dennis Edwards. They settled on Dennis Edwards & The Temptations Review.
"We had no indication '98 would be so good. We feel blessed that wonderful things can happen to a group like us. It makes us feel like we're starting all over again. That's the wonderment of working in show business," says Williams, interviewed recently during a tour stop in Markville, La. The group comes to the Fox Theatre with Gladys Knight on Sunday.
Beginning in the '60s, The Temptations laid down classics like "The Way You Do the Things You Do," "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" and "Can't Get Next to You," not to mention "My Girl" and "Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)." But the '80s and '90s were spotty. Today's Temptations, with Williams, Ron Tyson, Barrington Henderson, Terry Weeks and Harry McGilberry, see a new day dawning with the group's 54th album, "Phoenix Rising."
In this era where hip-hop kings and teen divas rule R&B radio, The Temptations weren't supposed to resurface. The push getting this "wonderful 'Ball of Confusion,'" as Williams puts it, rolling again came with "Stay," the hit first single from "Phoenix Rising." The song gave fans the best of both music worlds, new and old, by mixing a sample of the legendary hit "My Girl" with contemporary beats and the group's classic vocals.
"I think Narada (Michael Walden, the producer) was very clever and sort of genius to bridge those two elements together. He played the track to 'Stay' for me for the first time, and I said forget that other song," says Williams, referring to previously scheduled first single "If I Give You My Heart."
That choice changed the fortunes of a group that had gotten used to recording CDs that were no longer commercial successes. "Being artists, your ego gets involved. You'd like to achieve gold and platinum status, but you understand the nature of the business, and that can be off-setting," says Williams, who turns 60 this fall.
"Phoenix Rising" served as the perfect lead-in to the miniseries, of which Williams was a co-producer. Despite what you may have heard, Williams says everything that unfolded on TV really happened, except for Franklin's death scene at the end. In the miniseries, Franklin rolled his wheelchair into the kitchen and died there peacefully. "He died in a hospital, in a coma, with all the tubes. I didn't want to show him in that light. I wanted to leave him with some dignity, and everybody concerned felt the same way," says Williams.
Williams wants to tour as long as they have fans who want to see them. "I plan on riding the hair off this horse," he jokes.
And he can carry on with less fear of confusion on the part of fans over Williams' Temptations and Edwards' Temptations.
Williams takes the high road in discussing Edwards. "I never make it a point to slam any of the guys who've ever been in the group. They say all kinds of things concerning me, but I wish them all the best, and they're all very talented guys. Dennis is a fun brother, funny as all get-out, a good-hearted brother. I guess he's just trying to make a living, doing what he's doing. It's an act of survival," says Williams.
And Williams, in turn, did what he had to do to maintain his own livelihood. "This is a business. I'm only protecting what I rightly own. And you can't trespass on what I own."