The Funk Brothers was the nickname of Detroit, Michigan, session musicians who performed the backing to most Motown Records recordings from 1959 until the company moved to Los Angeles in 1972. They are considered one of the most successful groups of studio musicians in music history. The Funk Brothers played on Motown hits such as "My Girl", "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", "Baby Love", "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours", "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone", "The Tears of a Clown", "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", and "(Love is Like a) Heat Wave".

The role of the Funk Brothers is described in Paul Justman's 2002 documentary film Standing in the Shadows of Motown, based on Allan Slutsky's book of the same name. The opening titles claim that the Funk Brothers have "played on more number-one hits than The Beatles, Elvis Presley, The Rolling Stones, and The Beach Boys combined."^[1]

History[link]

Notable members[link]

Early members included bandleader Joe Hunter and Earl Van Dyke (piano); James Jamerson (bass guitar); Benny "Papa Zita" Benjamin and Richard "Pistol" Allen (drums); Paul Riser (trombone); Robert White, Eddie Willis, and Joe Messina (guitar); Jack Ashford (tambourine, percussion, vibraphone, marimba); Jack Brokensha (vibraphone, marimba); and Eddie "Bongo" Brown (percussion). Hunter left in 1964, replaced on keyboards by Johnny Griffith and as bandleader by Van Dyke. Uriel Jones joined the band as a third drummer. Late era bassist Bob Babbitt and guitarist Dennis Coffey both joined the ensemble in 1967. While most of Motown's backing musicians were African American, and many originally from Detroit, the Funk Brothers included white players as well, such as Messina (who was featured guitarist on Soupy Sales's nighttime jazz TV show in the 1950s), Brokensha (originally from Australia), Coffey, and Pittsburgh-born Babbitt.

There have been many articles written which identify the actual members of the Funk Brothers, some of which claim that virtually every musician who ever played on a Motown track was a "Funk Brother". In actuality, there are 13 Funk Brothers as identified in the film Standing In The Shadows Of Motown, as well as 13 members identified by both NARAS for the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and recognized by the recent Star on the Hollywood Walk of fame. Despite that, many other musicians contributed to the Motown Sound, including many horn and string players, as well as background vocalists, not officially included in the Funk Brothers group.^{[citation needed]}

Of the recognized members, Benjamin died in 1969, Jamerson in 1983, Brown in 1984, Van Dyke in 1992, White in 1994, Allen and Griffith in 2002, Hunter in 2007, Jones in 2009 and Brokensha in 2010.

Notoriety and Funk Brothers name[link]

Unlike their Stax Records backing-band contemporaries Booker T and the M.G.'s in Memphis, until the release of the Standing in the Shadows of Motown documentary, the members of the Funk Brothers were not widely known. Studio musicians were not credited by Motown until Marvin Gaye's What's Going On in 1971, although Motown released a handful of singles and LPs by Earl Van Dyke. The Funk Brothers shared billing with Van Dyke on some recordings, although they were billed as "Earl Van Dyke & the Soul Brothers", since Motown CEO Berry Gordy, Jr. disliked the word "funk".

Alternatively, the name "Funk Brothers" could have been given to the band ex post facto; the term "funky" as an adjective came to be associated with uptempo and backbeat, southern-styled soul music in the second half of the 1960s; the term "funk" as a noun is typically associated with uptempo soul music from the 1970s onwards. In the "Standing in the Shadows of Motown" documentary, Joe Hunter states that the name "The Funk Brothers" came from Benny Benjamin. Hunter states that Benjamin was leaving the studio (known as the Snake Pit) after session work, paused on the stairs, turned and said to his fellow musicians, "You all are the Funk Brothers". The band was then informally named.

Legacy and techniques[link]

The band used innovative techniques. For example, most Motown records feature two drummers, playing together or overdubbing one another—Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" used three drummers. A number of songs utilized instrumentation and percussion unusual in soul music. The Temptations' "It's Growing" features Earl Van Dyke playing a toy piano for the song's introduction, snow chains are used as percussion on Martha & the Vandellas' "Nowhere to Run", and a custom oscillator was built to create the synthesizer sounds used to accent several Holland-Dozier-Holland compositions and productions, such as Diana Ross & the Supremes' "The Happening" and "Reflections." A tire iron was used in the Martha & the Vandellas "Dancing in the Streets".

James Jamerson, who began his career playing upright bass, adopted the Fender Precision Bass electric instrument in 1962, and played both acoustic and electric bass on many Motown recordings. Jamerson would usually play the acoustic bass for the ensemble take and then dub the same part on electric bass afterward. He was praised for being so precise a player that listeners cannot tell right away that two basses are on the recording. And like such producers as Brian Wilson, George Martin, and Phil Spector, it wasn't uncommon for Motown composers or the Funk Brothers musicians to seek unique instrument combinations for certain lines; doubling piano, bass, and vibraphone (such as on some of the Four Tops's hits) was practically a Motown trademark, too.

The Funk Brothers often moonlighted for other labels, recording in Detroit and elsewhwere, in bids to augment their Motown salaries. It became a worst-kept secret that Jackie Wilson's 1967 hit "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher & Higher" didn't have a Motown influence quite by accident—the Funk Brothers migrated to do the Wilson session, in an interesting reference to Motown's early history: Berry Gordy, Jr. got his first music break by getting Wilson to record some of his songs (most famously "Reet Petite") in the 1950s. Various Funk Brothers also appeared on such non-Motown hits as "Cool Jerk" (The Capitols), "Agent Double-O Soul" (Edwin Starr, before that singer joined Motown itself), "(I Just Wanna) Testify" by The Parliaments, and blues giant John Lee Hooker's "Boom Boom."

Motown historiographers have also noted that the Funk Brothers—some of whom had begun their careers as jazzmen and missed that kind of informality—itched to be able to record on their own, but Gordy limited them formally to cutting sides under the name Earl Van Dyke and the Soul Brothers… and mostly limited them to recording new versions (with the familiar arrangements, however) of the Motown repertoire, with Van Dyke the feature musician playing electric organ. Some of the Funk Brothers' recordings in that vein—"Soul Stomp," "Six By Six"—became eventual favourites among Northern soul and "beach music" fans.

Dissolution and later years[link]

During the mid to late-1960s, one-fifth of Motown records began utilizing session musicians based in Los Angeles, usually covers and tributes of mainstream pop songs and showtunes. By 1970, an increasing number of Motown sessions were in Los Angeles instead of Detroit, notably all The Jackson 5's hit recordings. Nevertheless, Motown producers such as Norman Whitfield, Frank Wilson, Marvin Gaye, and Smokey Robinson steadfastly continued to record in Detroit.

The Funk Brothers were dismissed in 1972, when Berry Gordy moved the entire Motown label to Los Angeles—a development some of the musicians discovered only from a notice on the studio door. A few members, including Jamerson, followed to the West Coast, but found the environment uncomfortable. For many of the L.A. recordings, members of the Wrecking Crew--the prominent group of session musicians including drummer Earl Palmer, bassist Carol Kaye, guitar virtuoso Tommy Tedesco, and keyboard genius Larry Knechtel--joined the team at Motown.

In March 2006, some remaining Funk Brothers were invited to perform on Philadelphia writer/producer/singer Phil Hurtt's unique and interesting recording session at Studio A/Dearborn Heights/Detroit where they contributed their performances to ‘The Soulful Tale of Two Cities’ project. The double album sleeve notes read ‘Motown's legendary Funk Brothers and members of Philadelphia's world renown MFSB take you "back in the day" with an album filled with classic Philly and Motown hits’. Bob Babbitt, Joe Hunter, Uriel Jones, and Eddie Willis performed alongside other notable Detroit session musicians like Ray Monette, Robert Jones, Spider Webb, and Treaty Womack. The musicians played on the Philly hits giving their unique Detroit interpretations of the songs under the leadership of Phil Hurtt, Bobby Eli, Clay McMurray and Lamont Dozier. Many other ex-Motown and Detroit artists performed vocals on the session including The Velvelettes, Carolyn Crawford, Lamont Dozier, Bobby Taylor, Kim Weston, Freda Payne, and George Clinton.

In 2008 Uriel Jones, Ray Monette, Dennis Coffey, Robert Jones and Bob Babbitt accompanied other notable Detroit session musicians including Larry Fratangelo, Dennis Sheridan, Edward Gooch, John Trudell, George Benson, Mark Burger, David Jennings, Spider Webb, and Rob Pipho where they appeared on the Carl Dixon Bandtraxs project which featured a Dennis Coffey/Carl Dixon production of 4 brand new songs. In addition vocal performances from Spyder Turner, Pree and Gayle Butts provided lead and backing for the session. The session was also arranged by ex-Motown arranger David J. Van De Pitte. The session was also at Studio A, Dearborn Heights, Detroit and was the dream of a 19 year old Dixon, back in 1974, to pay homage to musicians, particularly The Funk Brothers, producers and those who influenced him with their music. It took Dixon almost 33 years to find the musicians and with luck, met some of them on the web site soulfuldetroit.com. It was via this web site that he and Dennis Coffey hooked up and then eventually collaborated to make the session work.

In 2010, surviving members of the Funk Brothers accompanied Phil Collins on his Motown covers album Going Back.

Awards and recognition[link]

The Funk Brothers have received three Grammy awards:

• Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004
• Best Traditional R&B Performance for "What's Going On" with Chaka Khan, 2002
• Best Compilation Soundtrack Album For A Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media for Standing in the Shadows of Motown, 2002.

Bassist James Jamerson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000, and drummer Benny Benjamin in 2003. In 2003, surviving members were invited to the White House to meet President George W. Bush, Secretary of State Colin Powell, and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, in an event tied to Black History Month.[1] In 2010, the Funk Brothers were voted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends online Hall of Fame.^[2]

Members[link]

As discussed above, the name "The Funk Brothers" was a loosely-applied designation. Although the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences recognizes 13 musicians as official "Funk Brothers", the name is often casually used as a catch-all designation to cover any musician who played on a Motown record. In fact, the "Funk Brothers" name wasn't mentioned until sometime in the mid-1960s when Mickey Stevenson gave them the nickname.

The following list covers the musicians most frequently used on Motown recordings from 1959 through 1972; it is not an exhaustive list of every musician ever used. The 13 Funk Brothers recognized as official band members by NARAS are marked with an asterisk.

Membership lists based upon research by Allan Slutsky, with some minor corrections.^[3]

Detroit musicians[link]

Los Angeles musicians[link]

Los Angeles was an alternate recording center for Motown artists beginning in the mid-1960s, utilizing a different set of musicians. Hit tracks recorded in LA include The Miracles' "More Love", many of Brenda Holloway's songs, and all the early hits of The Jackson 5.

Many of the Los Angeles players were members of The Wrecking Crew collective of studio musicians.

Arrangers and conductors[link]

• Detroit: Paul Riser, Willie Shorter, Dave Van DePitte, Wade Marcus, Johnny Allen, Gil Askey, Ernie Wilkins, Jerry Long, Henry "Hank" Cosby, Slide Hampton, and H. B. Barnum
• Los Angeles: Gene Page, James Carmichael, and Arthur Wright

List of hit songs on which The Funk Brothers played[link]

• "Please Mr. Postman" - The Marvelettes
• "Fingertips Pt. 2" - Stevie Wonder
• "My Guy" - Mary Wells
• "Where Did Our Love Go" - The Supremes
• "Baby Love" - The Supremes
• "Come See About Me" - The Supremes
• "My Girl" The Temptations
• "Stop! In the Name of Love" The Supremes
• "Back in My Arms Again" The Supremes
• "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)" - The Four Tops
• "I Hear a Symphony" - The Supremes
• "You Can't Hurry Love" - The Supremes
• "Reach Out I'll Be There" - The Four Tops
• "You Keep Me Hangin' On" - The Supremes
• "The Happening" - The Supremes
• "Love Child" - Diana Ross and the Supremes
• "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" - Marvin Gaye
• "I Can't Get Next to You" - The Temptations
• "Someday We'll Be Together" - Diana Ross and the Supremes
• "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" - Diana Ross
• "The Tears of a Clown" - Smokey Robinson and the Miracles
• "Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)" - The Temptations
• "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" - The Temptations
• "Let's Get It On" - Marvin Gaye
• "Midnight Train to Georgia" - Gladys Knight and the Pips
• "Just a Little Misunderstanding" - The Contours
• "Shop Around" - The Miracles
• "Shotgun" - Junior Walker & the All Stars
• "How Sweet it Is (To Be Loved by You)" - Marvin Gaye
• "The One Who Really Loves You" - Mary Wells
• "The Way You Do The Things You Do" - The Temptations
• "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing" - Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell
• "(I'm A) Road Runner" - Junior Walker & the All Stars
• "Ain't too Proud to Beg" - The Temptations
• "I Wish It Would Rain" - The Temptations
• "Reflections" - Diana Ross & The Supremes
• "(Love Is Like A) Heat Wave" - Martha & the Vandellas
• "Hitch Hike" - Marvin Gaye
• "What's So Good About Goodbye" - The Miracles
• "I Was Made To Love Her" - Stevie Wonder
• "It's The Same Old Song" - The Four Tops
• "You've Really Got A Hold on Me" - The Miracles
• "Standing In The Shadows Of Love" - The Four Tops
• "If I Were Your Woman" - Gladys Knight and the Pips
• "Going To A Go-Go" - The Miracles
• "Heaven Must Have Sent You" - The Elgins
• "Dancing In The Street" - Martha & The Vandellas
• "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" - Marvin Gaye
• "Cloud Nine" - The Temptations
• "What's Goin' On" - Marvin Gaye
• "Do You Love Me" - The Contours
• "Get Ready" - The Temptations
• "Function At The Junction" - Shorty Long
• "My World Is Empty Without You" - The Supremes
• "The Tracks Of My Tears" - The Miracles
• "Can I Get A Witness" - Marvin Gaye
• "Nowhere To Run" - Martha & the Vandellas
• "Here Comes The Judge" - Shorty Long
• "Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours)" - Stevie Wonder
• "Beachwood 4-5789" - The Marvelettes
• "Bernadette" - The Four Tops
• "Two Lovers" - Mary Wells
• "What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted" - Jimmy Ruffin
• "My Cherie Amour" - Stevie Wonder
• "I Second That Emotion" - Smokey Robinson & the Miracles
• "(I Know) I'm Losing You" - The Temptations
• "First I Look At The Purse" - The Contours
• "Ooo Baby Baby" - The Miracles
• "25 Miles" - Edwin Starr
• "I'll Be Doggone" - Marvin Gaye
• "Pride and Joy" - Marvin Gaye
• "Ball Of Confusion (That's What the World Is Today)" - The Temptations
• "It Takes Two" - Marvin Gaye & Kim Weston
• "This Old Heart Of Mine (Is Weak For You)" - The Isley Brothers
• "Uptight" - Stevie Wonder
• "Devil With A Blue Dress On" - Shorty Long
• "Jimmy Mack" - Martha & the Vandellas
• "Since I Lost My Baby" - The Temptations
• "War" - Edwin Starr
• "Stubborn Kind Of Fellow" - Marvin Gaye
• "Don't Mess With Bill" - The Marvelettes
• "You Beat Me To The Punch" Mary Wells
• "Shake Me, Wake Me (When It's Over)" - The Four Tops
• "Mickey's Monkey" - The Miracles
• "Ain't That Peculiar" - Marvin Gaye
• "Shoo-Be-Doo-Be-Doo-Da-Day" - Stevie Wonder

See also[link]

• Booker T and the M.G.'s
• The Wrecking Crew (music)
• Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section
• MFSB
• The J.B.'s
• Abnuceals Emuukha Electric Symphony Orchestra

References[link]

• Justman, Paul (2002). Standing in the Shadows of Motown (Motion picture). New York: Artisan Entertainment. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0314725/. 

External links[link]

• "Standing in the Shadows of Motown WebQuest"
• Official Standing in the Shadows of Motown website
• Grammy Lifetime Achievement awards
• The Funk Brothers at Allmusic
• The Soulful Tale of Two Cities
• Carl Dixon's Bandtraxs project
• Soulful Detroit Home page

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2009)

Davis Eli "David" Ruffin (January 18, 1941 – June 1, 1991) was an American soul singer and musician most famous for his work as one of the lead singers of the Temptations from 1964 to 1968 (or the group's "Classic Five" period as it was later known). He was the lead voice on such famous songs as "My Girl" and "Ain't Too Proud to Beg." Known for his unique raspy and anguished tenor vocals, Ruffin was ranked as one of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time by Rolling Stone magazine in 2008.^[1] He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989 for his work with the Temptations.^[2] Fellow Motown recording artist Marvin Gaye once said admiringly of Ruffin that, "I heard in [his voice] a strength my own voice lacked."^[1]

Early years and career[link]

Ruffin was born Davis Eli Ruffin on January 18, 1941 in the rural unincorporated community of Whynot, Mississippi, the son of Eli, a Baptist minister, and Ophelia Ruffin (née Davis). His father was strict and at times violently abusive. Ruffin's mother died just months after his birth and his father married a schoolteacher, Earline, in 1942.^[3] As a young child, Ruffin, along with his other siblings (older brothers Quincy and Jimmy, and sister Rita Mae), traveled with their father and their stepmother as a family gospel group opening shows for Mahalia Jackson and The Five Blind Boys of Mississippi among others.^[4] He also had an older sister Rosetta who died as a child. Ruffin sang in the choir at Mount Salem Methodist Church, talent shows, and wherever else he could.^[3] In 1955, at the age of fourteen, he left home under the guardianship of a minister and went to Memphis, Tennessee with the purpose of pursuing the ministry.^[4]

At age 15, Ruffin went to Hot Springs, Arkansas with the jazz musician Phineas Newborn, Sr. There they played at the Fifty Grand Ballroom and Casino. Ruffin continued to sing at talent shows, worked with horses at a jockey club and eventually became a member of the Dixie Nightingales. He also sang with the Soul Stirrers briefly after the departure of Johnnie Taylor.^[4] It was in Ruffin's travels as a teenager that he met such later popular personalities as Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Frankie Lymon, Bobby Womack, the Staple Singers, the Swan Silvertones and the Dixie Hummingbirds.

After some of his singing idols like Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson had left gospel music and gone secular, Ruffin also turned in that direction. He met and came under the guardianship of Eddie Bush and Dorothy Helen who took David to Detroit, Michigan and introduced him to Gwen Gordy Fuqua, Berry Gordy's sister and Billy Davis. Asked about Ruffin in the Detroit Free Press in 1988, Gordy Fuqua said, "He was very much a gentleman, yes ma'am and no ma'am, but the thing that really impressed me about David was that he was one of the only artists I've seen who rehearsed like he was on stage."^[3] In Detroit, his brother Jimmy Ruffin was pursuing a career in music while working at the Ford Motor Company. Jimmy landed a deal with Miracle Records, one of several labels owned by Berry Gordy's Tamla (later Motown) Records. On the StreetGold video The Original Leads of the Temptations, Ruffin explained how he went to Detroit and began to record a different kind of music. He said that he met Berry Gordy in 1957. Ruffin stated that Marvin Gaye and he used to pack records for Anna Records, which was a Chess-distributed label formed in 1958 by Gordy Fuqua and Billy Davis, and that he at one time lived with Berry Gordy’s father (who was a contractor) and worked with him in the building construction of Motown.

Early career[link]

Strongly inspired by pop and R&B music of the time, Ruffin recorded his first released records with the songs "You and I" (1958) b/w "Believe Me" (1958) and the original version of "Statue of A Fool." "You and I" a melodic ballad with a 17-year-old Ruffin as he portrays a young man wanting him and his dream girl to be a pair, and the B-side "Believe Me" which was more of an uptempo song. These songs were recorded at VEGA Records and released under the name "Little David Bush", using the last name of the man he had met previously, Eddie Bush. Ruffin eventually started recording at Anna Records, and recorded the song "I'm in Love" b/w "One of These Days" (1961), with the Voice Masters, which included future Motown producer Lamont Dozier and members of the singing group the Originals Ty Hunter, C.P. Spencer and Voice Masters and The Originals founder Walter Gaines (and, at one time, it also had another future Temptations member, Melvin Franklin, one of numerous people David would claim as a cousin). Later Billy (a/k/a "Roquel')Davis formed Check-Mate Records taking Ruffin with him. While there, he recorded the songs "Mr. Bus Driver (Please Hurry)", a minor local hit, b/w "Knock You Out With Love" (1962). He then recorded the songs, "Actions Speak Louder Than Words" b/w "You Can Get What I Got" (1961). Though Ruffin's name is on the label, the Voice Masters provide backup. Ruffin eventually met an up-and-coming local group by the name of The Temptations. His older brother Jimmy Ruffin went on a Motortown Revue tour with the Temptations, and he told David that they needed someone to sing tenor in their group. Ruffin showed interest in joining the group to Otis Williams whom he lived very close to in Detroit. In January 1964, Ruffin became a member of the Temptations after founding member Elbridge "Al" Bryant was fired from the group (Ruffin's first recording session with the group was January 9, 1964). Though both David and his brother Jimmy were considered, David was given an edge over Jimmy thanks to his performance skills, which David displayed when he joined the Temptations on-stage during the New Year's Eve party in 1963.^[5]

With the Temptations[link]

The bespectacled Ruffin initially sang backgrounds, while the role of lead singer mostly alternated between Eddie Kendrick and Paul Williams. He did sing a few lead parts both on stage and in the studio during his first year with the group, but his leads on these studio tracks would not be released for over a year, as they were considered not good enough to showcase Ruffin's vocals. Smokey Robinson, who produced and co-wrote most of the Temptations' material at this point, saw Ruffin during this period as a "sleeping giant" in the group with a unique voice that was, "mellow," yet, "gruff."^[6] Robinson thought that if he could write just the perfect song for Ruffin's voice, then he could have a smash hit.^[6] The song was to be something that Ruffin could "belt out" yet something that was also "melodic and sweet".^[6] That song, "My Girl" recorded in November 1964 and released a month later, became the group's first #1 single and its signature song and elevated Ruffin to the role of lead singer and front man.

The follow-ups to "My Girl" were also extremely successful singles, including "It's Growing" (1965), "Since I Lost My Baby" (1965), "My Baby" (1965), "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" (1966), "Beauty Is Only Skin Deep" (1966), "(I Know) I'm Losing You" (1966), "All I Need" (1967), "(Loneliness Made Me Realize) It's You That I Need" (1967), "I Wish It Would Rain" (1967), and "I Could Never Love Another (After Loving You)" (1968). Ruffin also shared lead vocals on the 1967 hit single "You're My Everything" with Eddie Kendrick. The tall, 6'3", Ruffin's passionate and dramatic performances endeared him to the Temptations' audiences and fans. According to Otis Williams, Ruffin (playfully nicknamed "Ruff" by the group) was initially a natural comedian and a hard-working singer when he first joined the group. Ruffin's most notable non-vocal contribution to the Temptations was the masterminding of their trademark four-headed microphone stand.

By 1967, however, ego problems with Ruffin became an issue for the group. He became addicted to cocaine and began missing rehearsals and performances. Refusing to travel with the other Temptations, Ruffin and his then-girlfriend Tammi Terrell traveled in a custom limo (with the image of his trademark black rimmed glasses painted on the door). After the Supremes had their name changed to Diana Ross & the Supremes in early 1967, Ruffin felt that he should become the focal point of the Temptations, just as Diana Ross was for her group and began demanding that the group name be changed to David Ruffin & the Temptations. This led to a number of fights between Ruffin and the group's de facto leader, Otis Williams. In addition to the group's problems with Ruffin's ego, he began inquiring into the Temptations' financial records, demanding an accounting of the group's money. This caused friction between Ruffin and Gordy.

In June 1968, the Temptations agreed that Ruffin had finally crossed the line when he missed a concert that month to instead attend a performance by his new girlfriend, Barbara Gail Martin(Dean Martin's daughter). Ruffin was replaced with Dennis Edwards, a former member of the Contours who had been a friend of Ruffin and the group as a whole beforehand. Though Ruffin himself personally encouraged Edwards to take his place, after Edwards' first few dates with the group, Ruffin began turning up unannounced at Temptations' concerts. When the group started to perform a Ruffin-era song such as "My Girl" or "Ain't Too Proud to Beg", Ruffin would suddenly walk on to the stage, take the microphone from Edwards' hands, and steal the show, embarrassing the group but entertaining the fans.^[7]

Meanwhile, Ruffin filed suit against Motown Records, seeking a release from the label and an accounting of his money. Motown counter-sued to keep the singer from leaving the label and eventually the case was settled. The settlement required Ruffin to remain with Motown to finish out his initial contract (Ruffin joined Motown as a solo artist and always had a separate contract from the other Temptations, which some felt caused a lot of the in-fighting within the group).

Solo years and personal issues[link]

Ruffin's first solo single was a song originally intended for the Temptations, "My Whole World Ended (The Moment You Left Me)". The single from the album entitled My Whole World Ended was released in 1969 followed soon by the album Feelin' Good. The single reached the US Pop & R&B "Top Ten." A third album, titled David, was recorded in 1970-71, but was shelved by Motown and did not see a commercial release until 2004; his next official release for Motown did not arrive until 1973, when David Ruffin was released. His final Top Ten hit was 1975's "Walk Away from Love", produced by Van McCoy, which reached number nine on the Pop chart. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the R.I.A.A. in February 1976.^[8] Other notable recordings from Ruffin's solo career include "I Lost Everything I've Ever Loved" (1969); the gospel-inflected "I'm So Glad I Feel For You" (1970); "Blood Donors Needed (Give All You Can)" (1973); "Common Man" (1973) (which was sampled on the 2001 Jay-Z song "Never Change"); "No Matter Where" (1974); "Who I Am" (1975); Statue of a Fool (1975); and cover versions of the Jackson Five's "I Want You Back", "Rainy Night in Georgia" popularized by Brook Benton (both recorded for the shelved 1970 album); and Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes' "I Miss You", featuring Eddie Kendrick (1973).

In 1970 Ruffin recorded an album with his brother Jimmy, I am My Brother's Keeper, for which they had minor hits with "When My Love Hand (Comes Tumbling Down)" and "Your Love Was Worth Waiting For". While his solo career initially showed promise, Ruffin reportedly went into decline in part because of his cocaine addiction and the lack of support from Motown.

After leaving Motown in 1977, Ruffin recorded for Warner Bros. Records releasing the albums So Soon We Change (1979) and Gentleman Ruffin (1980), and later signed with RCA Records, accompanied by former Temptations band-mate Eddie Kendrick, who chose to rekindle their friendship when Kendrick himself started experiencing problems with the Temptations. In 1982, Ruffin joined The Temptations' Reunion tour and recorded the smash hit "Standing on the Top" with Rick James. In 1985, Ruffin started touring with Kendrick as a duo act.

In 1982, Ruffin was sentenced to six months in a low-security prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, for failing to pay taxes during the mid-1970s. On May 19, 1986, he pleaded no contest to a charge of receiving and concealing stolen property worth less than $100 (a Colt .32-caliber handgun) and was fined $50 plus $100 in court costs. Charges of assault and battery and receiving stolen property worth more than $100 were dropped.^[3] A 1987 cocaine arrest landed him in jail for repeated parole violations.^[9]

In 1985, longtime Temptations fans Hall & Oates teamed up with Ruffin and Kendrick to perform at the re-opening of the Apollo Theater in New York. Their performance was released as a relatively successful live album and single. The four singers also sang a medley of Temptations hits at Live Aid on July 13, 1985. John Oates later wrote a minor hit single for Ruffin and Kendrick, but the two duos fell out, allegedly due to Daryl Hall's objections to Ruffin's heavy drug use. After being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in 1989, with the other Temptations, Ruffin, Kendrick and Dennis Edwards began touring and recording as "Ruffin/Kendrick/Edwards: Former Leads of The Temptations". Ruffin also did reunion tours with the other temptations.

Personal life[link]

Ruffin was married twice. His first marriage was to Sandra Ruffin with whom he had three daughters.^[10] In 1976, Ruffin married Joy Hamilton.^[11] He also had one son, David Ruffin, Jr. with his long time girlfriend Genna Sapia.^[12] He was also a member of the Upsilon Sigma Chapter of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc.^[13]

Ruffin also had a well publicized relationship with Motown label mate and Marvin Gaye duet partner, singer Tammi Terrell.^[14]

Death[link]

After a successful month-long tour of England with Kendrick and Edwards, Ruffin died on June 1, 1991, in a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, hospital of "an adverse reaction to drugs" - namely cocaine. Although the cause of death was ruled an accidental,^[15] Ruffin's family and friends suspected foul play, claiming that a money belt containing the proceeds from the tour ($40,000) was missing from his body.^[16] He had just finished recording the single "Hurt the One You Love" for Motorcity Records.

In The Temptations television miniseries, Ruffin's beaten body is depicted as being thrown from a moving car in front of a hospital, where he dies. Also stated in the mini-series was that his body remained unclaimed in a morgue for a week after his death. As a result, Ruffin's estate filed suit against NBC and other major players involved in the making of the series, claiming defamation. According to the plaintiffs in the case, Ruffin was actually taken to the hospital by a limousine and was escorted to the waiting area by his driver, who informed the attendants of his identity. The Ruffin children further state that his body was claimed by one of them within a few days after his death. (Ruffin's estate lost the lawsuit; the ruling against them was upheld on appeal.)^[17]

Legacy[link]

Ruffin had many admirers among his fellow artists, mainly for the emotive power he brought to every song he sang. "Nobody could sing like David Ruffin," said his close friend and colleague Martha Reeves (of Martha and the Vandellas fame).^[18] His contemporary, label-mate, and long-time acquaintance Marvin Gaye was particularly impressed with the virility of Ruffin's voice. Gaye said Ruffin's work "made me remember that when a lot of women listen to music, they want to feel the power of a real man."^[1]

Daryl Hall of Hall & Oates, one of Ruffin's biggest fans, said, "His voice had a certain glorious anguish that spoke to people on many emotional levels".^[1] Ruffin himself said, "I don't know what kind of voice I have, I really don't"...it's just about "the feeling I get for the song."^[4]

The raspy-voiced Rod Stewart fell in love with Ruffin's voice after he heard "I Wish It Would Rain". "It jumped out of the speakers and ravished my soul," Stewart exclaimed.^[19] Stewart would later become friends with Ruffin. "His voice was so powerful -- like a foghorn on the Queen Mary," Stewart told Rolling Stone magazine.^[19]

For all of his nearly forty years in the music business, much of it with modest success, Ruffin is remembered almost exclusively for his relatively brief stint in the Temptations. The cover art of his last album Gentleman Ruffin was the inspiration on the art of rapper Wiz Khalifa's mixtape Kush and Orange Juice.^[3]

In popular culture[link]

In 1998, NBC aired The Temptations, a four-hour television miniseries about the group's career. Ruffin was portrayed by Leon Robinson (who uses the professional name "Leon"). The actor won high praise for his portrayal of Ruffin, but Ruffin's family was upset by the way the miniseries portrayed Ruffin and filed a lawsuit against the producers of the miniseries and also Otis Williams, whose memoir had been the source material for the miniseries.^[17] The case was dismissed in favor of the defendants, with Williams later claiming that he had no real control over the presentation of the material.

Grand Puba of Brand Nubian referenced the singer on the 1990 single "All for One", stating: "I hit a beat and swing a note as if my name was David Ruffin".

The first song on Fall Out Boy's 2005 CD From Under the Cork Tree was to have been titled "My Name is David Ruffin...and These are The Temptations" but for legal reasons, the name was changed (to "Our Lawyer Made Us Change the Name of This Song So We Wouldn't Get Sued").

Hotstylz used Ruffin's song and referred his name on their song Lookin' Boy

Complete lead vocals with the Temptations[link]

• The Temptations Sing Smokey (1965)
  • "My Girl" (Robinson, Ronald White)
  • "You'll Lose a Precious Love" (Robinson) – Recorded on March 2, 1964, it's the first lead Ruffin recorded with the group.
  • "It's Growing" (Robinson, Warren Moore)
  • "Who's Lovin' You" (Robinson)
  • "You've Really Got a Hold on Me" (Robinson) – Ruffin and Paul Williams sings "the unison harmony co-lead vocal" with Eddie Kendrick

• The Temptin' Temptations (1965)
  • "Since I Lost My Baby" (Robinson, Moore)
  • "My Baby" (Robinson, Moore, Robert Rogers)
  • "Born to Love You" (Ivy Jo Hunter, William "Mickey" Stevenson) – shared with Eddie Kendrick
  • "You're the One I Need" (Robinson) – Ruffin sings the bridge with Paul Williams while Kendrick leads the rest of the song

• Gettin' Ready (1966)
  • "Say You" (Charles Jones, Robert Dobyne, Robert Staunton)
  • "Little Miss Sweetness" (Robinson)
  • "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" (Edward Holland, Jr., Norman Whitfield)

• Greatest Hits (1966)
  • "Beauty Is Only Skin Deep" (recorded in 1966, E. Holland, Whitfield)

• Temptations Live! (1966)
  • "I Want a Love I Can See" (Robinson) – shared with Paul Williams (who was the only lead on the studio version) and Eddie Kendrick for this live performance
  • "Yesterday"/"What Now My Love" (John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Gilbert Bécaud, Pierre Delanoë, Carl Sigman) – Ruffin does a soulful rendition of McCartney's "Yesterday". He also sings Bécaud's "What Now My Love" with Melvin Franklin doing speaking parts in French.

• The Temptations with a Lot o' Soul (1967)
  • "(I Know) I'm Losing You" (Cornelius Grant, E. Holland, Whitfield)
  • "Ain't No Sun Since You've Been Gone" (Grant, Sylvia Moy, Whitfield)
  • "All I Need" (Frank Wilson, E. Holland, R. Dean Taylor)
  • "(Loneliness Made Me Realize) It's You That I Need" (E. Holland, Whitfield)
  • "Just One Last Look" (Holland-Dozier-Holland)
  • "Sorry is a Sorry Word" (E. Holland, Hunter)
  • "You're My Everything" (Roger Penzabene, Grant, Whitfield) – shared with Eddie Kendrick
  • "Now That You've Won Me" (Robinson)

• The Temptations in a Mellow Mood (1967)
  • "Hello, Young Lovers" (Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II) – vocal ensemble; Ruffin has brief solos
  • "Somewhere" (Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim)
  • "I'm Ready for Love" (Holland-Dozier-Holland)
  • "What Now My Love" (Bécaud, Delanoë, Sigman)
  • "The Impossible Dream" (Joe Darion, Mitch Leigh)

• The Temptations Wish It Would Rain (1968)
  • "I Could Never Love Another (After Loving You)" (Penzabene, Barrett Strong, Whitfield)
  • "Cindy" (Robinson)
  • "I Wish It Would Rain" (Penzabene, Strong, Whitfield)
  • "Fan the Flame" (Al Cleveland, Terry "Buzzy" Johnson, Robinson)
  • "He Who Picks a Rose" (E. Holland, Emilio "Father" Smiley, Whitfield)
  • "Why Did You Leave Me Darling" (James Dean, Deke Richards)
  • "I've Passed This Way Before" (Dean, William Weatherspoon)

• Later Releases (Found on the Emperors of Soul box set released in 1994 and the Lost and Found: You've Got to Earn It (1962–1968) LP released in 1999)
  • "I Got Heaven Right Here on Earth" (recorded in 1966, Eddie Kendrick, E. Holland)
  • "Angel Doll" (recorded in 1967) (Morris Broadnax, Clarence Paul, Stevie Wonder)
  • "What Am I Gonna Do Without You" (recorded in 1966, Hunter, Wonder)
  • "Love Is What You Make It" (Robinson)
  • "I Know She's Not a Mannequin" (John Bristol, Shena Dermell, Harvey Fuqua)
  • "Only a Lonely Man Would Know" (Hunter, Beatrice Verdi)
  • "That'll Be the Day" (recorded in 1965, Henry Cosby, Moy, Stevenson)
  • "We'll Be Satisfied" (recorded in 1967, Marc Gordon, F. Wilson) – shared with Eddie Kendrick and Paul Wiliams

Solo discography[link]

Albums[link]

David Ruffin

The Ruffin Brothers

Ruffin & Kendrick

Singles[link]

• On the Tamla Motown Label (UK)
  • "My Whole World Ended (The Moment You Left Me)"/"I've Got to Find Myself a Brand New Baby" (7", TMG689 NOTE: also released directly by Motown [M-1140])
  • "I've Lost Everything I've Ever Loved"/"We'll Have a Good Thing Going On" (7", TMG711 NOTE: also released directly by Motown [M-1149])
  • "Blood Donors Needed (Give All You Can)"/"Take Me Clear From Here" (7", TMG936)
  • "Walk Away from Love"/"Love Can Be Hazardous to Your Health" (7", TMG1017)
  • "Heavy Love"/"Me and Rock & Roll (Are Here To Stay)" (7", TMG1022)
  • "Discover Me"/"Smiling Faces Sometimes" (7", TMG1036)
  • "I Can't Stop the Rain"/"My Whole World Ended (The Moment You Left Me)" (7", TMG1078)
  • "Rode By the Place (Where We Used To Live) /You're My Peace Of Mind (7", TMG1093)

• On the Motorcity label (UK)
  • "Hurt the One You Love" (12", MOTC 33, 1991)

References[link]

External links[link]

Biography portal

• David Ruffin at the Internet Movie Database
• David Ruffin at Allmusic
• Audio Interview David Ruffin/Eddie Kendrick (1991)
• David Ruffin at Find a Grave