By this time, his popularity had waned, and he was also gradually losing his voice as a result of chain smoking. He moved first to Arista Records, and later to Atlantic Records. ![]() Hold on" for her song "My People" on her album New Amerykah Part One (4th World War).Įxasperated by a lack of creative and financial control, Kendricks left Motown in 1978, with the requirement of signing away the rights to his royalties. Another notable song is "Intimate Friends" (1977), which is sampled for the Alicia Keys song "Unbreakable", "A Penny for My Thoughts" by Common, Sparkle's "Time to Move on" on her self-titled first studio album and Sweet Sable's "Old Time's Sake" from the soundtrack for the 1994 2pac film, Above the Rim. Erykah Badu also sampled "Intimate Friends" for her song "Fall in Love (Your Funeral)", as well as his song "My People. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. Future hits included "Boogie Down" (US #2) (1974), "Son of Sagittarius" (US #28) (1974), "Shoeshine Boy" (US #18) (1975), and "He's a Friend" (US #36) (1976). As the dance craze seeped through into other cities, Kendricks scored a #1 pop hit in 1973 with the Frank Wilson-produced "Keep on Truckin'". ![]() Hold On, was a cornerstone of DJ playlists in downtown New York's nascent disco scene. Kendricks' solo career began slowly he endured two years of singles that missed the Top 40, while The Temptations continued with their string of Norman Whitfield-helmed hits. Despite enjoying only a modicum of commercial success and radio airplay, Kendricks's 1972 album, People. Kendricks' soaring falsetto was instantly recognizable, and drove many of the biggest hits of the Temptations, including "The Way You Do The Things You Do" and a signature song, "Just My Imagination." But amidst group turmoil, Kendricks left the Temptations in 1971. ![]() Every major soul group since 1965 owes a huge debt to the Temptations, and most acknowledge it. In the 60s they redefined the soul group, from the impeccable look they brought to the stage, to their focus on group choreography, to, most importantly, the immediately identifiable 5-part group harmony they mastered. It is impossible to talk about the development of soul music since the early 60s without repeatedly coming back to the Temptin' Tempts. Kendricks is survived by his parents and a sister.Happy birthday to the late Eddie Kendricks of the Temptations, born December 17, 1939. “A lot of people were saying it was HIV … or drugs,” Kendricks said. He said the disease was caused by 30 years of smoking, and he urged children not to smoke. Kendricks, a Birmingham native, underwent surgery last year to have a lung removed. Ruffin died last year of a drug overdose, shortly after completing a European tour with Kendricks and another former Temptation, Dennis Edwards. Paul Williams killed himself in 1973, two years after he was asked to leave the group because of alcoholism and related health problems. Kendricks and Ruffin began working together after their 1985 album, “Live at the Apollo,” with the pop duo Hall and Oates. He was reunited with the band again in 1989 as it was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Kendricks began a solo career in 1971 but rejoined the group in 1982 for a reunion tour. ![]() “They could out-dress, out-dance and out-sing any competition in sight.” “While the Four Tops covered the frenetic side of the Motown sound and the Miracles monopolized its romantic side, the Temptations quite simply stood as the finest vocal group in ’60s soul,” Joe McEwen and Jim Miller wrote in the Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll. The Temptations went on to become Motown’s most successful male group, with more than a dozen hits.Īmong Motown’s groups, the Temptations ceded chart supremacy only to the Supremes, who started as the Primettes, a sister act to the Temptations’ initial incarnation as the Primes. But the ladies really loved Eddie and his style.” “Eddie just had that great, great tenor voice that just was so captivating,” Esther Edwards, the Temptations’ first manager and the sister of Motown founder Berry Gordy Jr., said recently.
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