TEMPTATIONS

The temptations were an all male group that was made back in 1960s. The ones that came up with this group were: Otis Williams, Elbridge "Al" Bryant, Melvin Franklin, Paul Williams and Eddie "Corn" Kendricks. These boys had the talent and skills to form this talented group. They did seven songs between 1961 and 1963: "I Want A Love I Can See", "Oh Mother Of Mine", "Check Yourself", "Paradise", "Isn't She Pretty", "Dream Come True", and "Do You Love Me". Not one of these songs made the charts.

The year they had the NEW YEARS EVE party which was 1963, they had to fire Al because he drank to much and he always had to argue with Paul over some stupid stuff. The next person to step up and take his place was David Ruffin who was actually Jimmy Ruffin baby brother. Jimmy Ruffin and David both cut solo records before David decided that he wanted to joined the Temptations.

In January 1964 Smokey Robinson and Miracles bandmate Bobby Rogers co-wrote and produced  "The Way You Do The Things You Do" as Eddie kendricks as the lead singer and the rest of them as the background which became as the Temptations first Top 20 Hits in April. Shortly afterward, "The Way You Do The Things You Do" and several pre-David Ruffin singles were compiled into the group's first album, Meet The Temptations, released in early 1964. The next two Temptations singles in 1964, "Girl (Why You Wanna Make Me Blue)" along with "I'll Be in Trouble" and its B-side "The Girl's Alright With Me", all featured Kendricks on lead. However, producer Smokey Robinson saw potential in the "mellow" yet "gruff" voice of David Ruffin, and thought that if he could write the perfect song for his lead, then the group could have a Top 10 smash hit.

While traveling as part of Motown's Motortown Revue later that year, Robinson and fellow Miracles member Ronnie White wrote "My Girl", which the Temptations recorded in the fall of 1964 with Ruffin singing his first lead vocal for the group. Released as a single on December 21, 1964, the song became the Temptations' first number-one pop hit in March 1965, and is their signature song to this day.
After the success of "My Girl", Ruffin sang lead on the next three singles: "It's Growing", "Since I Lost My Baby" and "My Baby", all of which made it to the Top 20 in 1965. The B-side to "My Baby", "Don’t Look Back", featured a stirring lead from Paul Williams, and was a sleeper hit on the R&B charts and a standard for vocal groups playlists.
Norman Whitfield had requested the opportunity to write for the group and in 1966, Berry Gordy promised him that if Robinson's "Get Ready", with Eddie Kendricks on lead, failed to chart in the Top 20, Whitfield would be allowed to produce the next song. "Get Ready" subsequently missed its mark, and Gordy issued the Whitfield-produced "Ain't Too Proud to Beg", with David Ruffin on lead, as the next single. "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" outperformed "Get Ready" on the Billboard charts, and Whitfield became the Temptations' new main producer. He began pulling the group away from the ballad-based productions espoused by Robinson, toward a harder-edged and brass-heavy soul sound reminiscent of James Brown.
Nearly all of the singles produced by Whitfield prior to 1968 featured David Ruffin on lead, including the R&B number-one/pop Top 10 hits "Beauty Is Only Skin Deep", "(I Know) I'm Losing You"^[14] and the early 1967 hit "(Loneliness Made Me Realize) It's You That I Need". Other important singles from this period include "All I Need", produced by Frank Wilson, a Whitfield protégé, and the "You're My Everything", on which Kendricks and Ruffin share lead. Studio albums during the "Classic Five" period apart from Meet The Temptations include The Temptations Sing Smokey (1965), The Temptin' Temptations (1965), Gettin' Ready (1966), The Temptations with a Lot o' Soul (1967), and The Temptations Wish It Would Rain (1968).

The other four Temptations drew up legal documentation, officially firing Ruffin from the group. Dennis Edwards, formerly of the Contours, was hired to replace him. Edwards and Ruffin were good friends, and at first, Ruffin went along with the changing of the guard. After a short time, however, Ruffin began turning up at shows, jumping onstage during performances of the songs he once sang lead on, stealing the spotlight from Edwards.
Both the Temptations and Motown were forced to hire extra security guards to prevent Ruffin from attending other Temptations performances and providing further embarrassment to Edwards and the group. Ruffin then sued Motown in October 1968, seeking a release from the label, but Motown countersued to keep the singer from leaving and the case was eventually settled out of court. The settlement required Ruffin to remain with Motown as a solo artist to finish out his initial contract.
Edwards' first album with the Temptations was Live at the Copa, recorded at the group's return to the famous Copacabana nightclub, and later that year, Berry Gordy commissioned the first of a number of collaborations for the Temptations with Diana Ross & the Supremes. The results included two studio albums, Together) and Diana Ross & the Supremes Join the Temptations, which featured the number-two hit single "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me". The tracks for the latter included Dennis Edwards' first studio recordings with the Temptations and further results of this collaboration included a joint tour and two NBC television specials, TCB (aired December 9, 1968) and G.I.T. on Broadway (aired November 12, 1969).

By 1969, Richard Street, lead singer of Motown act The Monitors and a former Distant, was touring with the group as a backup replacement for Williams.^[15] For most shows, save for his solo numbers, Williams would dance and lip-sync onstage to parts sung live by Street into an offstage mic behind a curtain. At other shows, and during most of the second half of 1970, Street substituted for Williams onstage.^[16]
Eddie Kendricks became detached from the group after David Ruffin's firing and as the health of Paul Williams continued to fail. Kendricks began regularly fighting with Otis Williams and Melvin Franklin over leadership of the group. In addition, Kendricks preferred the ballad material from the earlier days and was uncomfortable with the psychedelic soul material the group was now performing. As a result, Kendricks rekindled his friendship with Ruffin, who persuaded him to quit the Temptations and go solo. After a November 1970 Copacabana engagement, another confrontation between himself, Otis Williams, and Franklin caused Kendricks to walk out in-between shows and not return. Both Kendricks and Williams then agreed that Kendricks would be leaving the group. Kendricks later stated that he actually considered leaving as early as 1965, but remained with the Temptations and unsuccessfully attempted to get permission to record a solo album without leaving the group.

"Sail Away," produced by a returning Norman Whitfield and featuring Ron Tyson's first lead vocal, peaked at number 13. In addition, a then-relatively unknown singer/musician, Ali-Ollie Woodson was featured on one track, "Stop the World Right Here (I Wanna Get Off)." Woodson was a Detroit native who had been a potential candidate to replace Dennis Edwards back in 1977. Meanwhile, Edwards (who also had his share of lead vocals on the Back to Basics album) was again fired in 1984, for missing rehearsals or showing up hungover. He then attempted a second solo career, scoring a hit with the 1984 single "Don't Look Any Further", a duet with Siedah Garrett. At this point, Woodson officially joined the group, taking Edwards' place. Woodson's first lead on a single was 1984's "Treat Her Like a Lady", co-written by himself and Otis Williams, and co-produced by former Earth, Wind & Fire members Al McKay and Ralph Johnson. The single became their biggest success on R&B radio since 1975, reaching number-two on the R&B charts, and just missing the Pop Top 40 at number 48. The group experienced similar success in 1986 with the single "Lady Soul", another Top 5 R&B smash.
Ollie Woodson remained with the Temptations until 1987, when he was fired for consistent lateness. He was replaced by the again-returning Dennis Edwards. The group recorded one album during Edwards' third tenure, Together Again, released in late 1987. The following year, Otis Williams published his autobiography, Temptations, co-written with Patricia Romanowski, chronicling the careers of the group from the Primes/Distants days and focusing on the lives of Williams and Melvin Franklin. (An updated version of the book was published in 2002.)
Edwards was fired from the group for the third and final time in late 1988, with Woodson re-joining the lineup. On January 18, 1989, the Temptations were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The event honored Edwards, Franklin, Otis Williams, David Ruffin, Eddie Kendricks (now performing as "Eddie Kendrick"), and, posthumously, Paul Williams. Most of the Temptations, present and former, showed no ill feelings towards one another, although Otis Williams reported that Kendricks would not speak to him during the ceremony.^[26] The Temptations ended their induction ceremony with a performance of Paul Williams' signature song, "Don't Look Back", dedicated to his memory.
After reuniting at the induction ceremony, and much to the chagrin of Otis Williams and Motown, Edwards, Ruffin, and Kendrick made plans to tour and record as "Ruffin, Kendrick and Edwards, Former Leads of The Temptations". The tour was in fact carried out, but production on the accompanying album was terminated when 50-year-old David Ruffin died in Philadelphia after a cocaine overdose on June 1, 1991. Kendrick was diagnosed with lung cancer soon after; he continued to perform until his death on October 5, 1992 in his native Birmingham.

Richard Street also leads a group, billed as "Richard Street" or "Richard Street's Temptations".^[40] Street is in the process of writing a book regarding his time with The Temptations entitled Ball of Confusion. If it is published, it will be the second autobiography regarding the group. In 1992, "Ruffin & Kendricks" roadie, Tony Turner, also wrote a book, assisted by Barbara Aria, contrasting Otis Williams' account of the group's glory days, entitled Deliver Us From Temptation.Leonard, Woodson, and Henderson have toured as "Legendary Lead Singers of the Temptations" and "The Temptations Reunion Show" since 2004. This prompted a lawsuit by Otis Williams filed in October 2007, citing not just the three performers but their managers and every venue that hosted them. Williams' complaint deals with their use of the name, "The Temptations", as well as claims that the act accepted considerably lower fees than The Temptations, hurting the group's reputation as well as the ability to work. Also cited is advertising by the venues claimed to be misleading by billing Leonard, Woodson and Henderson's group as "The Temptations".

Paul Williams died from suicide,but someone along time ago said he owed somebody some money, but he was really from touring from one state to another. Eddie Kendrick died from lung cancer. What took his life was from doing cocaine with David Ruffin. David Ruffin died from a drug overdose. He told Otis and them that he had quit all of that stuff, but all of that was a lie. Melvin Franklin died from a weeklong coma. He got shot in the leg by someone saying that they kenw him from somewhere. Otis Williams and Dennis Edwards are the only ones still living today!