The Temptations, 1965. Clockwise from right: Otis Williams, Eddie Kendricks, David Ruffin, Paul Williams, Melvin Franklin.
Over the next four years, Eddie and his fellow Tempts could do no wrong, especially with Smokey Robinson producing them for two years. They were second only to the Supremes as consistent hit makers on Motown, with songs such as "I'll Be In Trouble", "The Girl's Alright With Me", "Girl (Why You Wanna Make Me Blue)" (all featuring Eddie on lead), "My Girl" (their first #1, with David on lead vocals), "Since I Lost My Baby", "Don't Look Back", "It's Growing" and "Get Ready", and had gained millions of fans. They'd simply put any group who'd come up against them to shame by outsinging them, outdancing them, and outdressing them. They were the epitomy of class and style, and presented themselves as gracious gentlemen. Guys admired them, women adored them, and Eddie especially possessed a baby face and a seductive coyness that made females go crazy and want to enfold him in their arms and cuddle and protect him, giving him the name "Sweet Eddie". He, Paul and David took turns singing lead on songs. But after a while, Norman Whitfield, who worked with the guys steadily since his gritty production of David's lead on the smash "Ain't Too Proud To Beg" in 1966, preferred to just concentrate on Ruffin's voice. It proved to be a good move, because it was obviously his vocals and his electrifying stage persona as the Tempts' frontman that was helping to sell their records. That was something that could not be overlooked. However, it would also soon be the cause of division in the group.
At their apex, 1967. L to R: David Ruffin, Melvin Franklin, Eddie Kendricks, Paul Williams, Otis Williams.
In the summer of 1968, David Ruffin was dismissed from the Tempts. The story goes that he supposedly started demanding that the group be billed as "David Ruffin and the Temptations", purposely missing recording sessions and gigs, and treating his fellow groupmates with disrespect. He also became a magnet for undesirables who all wanted a ride on the Temptations' gravy train, and David was willing to accommodate them. The trappings of money and fame had affected them all, but David the most. His ego soon became too much for some of the group members to deal with. David was hot and he knew it. He certainly had reason to feel this way ~ a large part of the Tempts' success WAS due to him ~ but humility wasn't a very strong attribute of his. He wanted the same treatment from Motown that Diana Ross was getting as the lead singer of the Supremes, but that wasn't going to happen for him. As a result he was voted out, and forced into a solo career that he really didn't want. Dennis Edwards, a powerful solo singer who was signed to the label but was placed in another vocal group called the Contours for a while, was brought in. Around the same time, Norman Whitfield and his partner, Barrett Strong (who had abandoned his singing career to concentrate on songwriting), were preparing to take the Tempts into new territory musically. America was in the midst of a social upheaval in 1968 ~ anti-Vietnam war protests, racial riots, civil rights struggles, widespread drug abuse among the youth, shootings, political unrest, women's rights ~ and with the exception of Motown, it was reflected in the music. Motown took a lot of flak for this, but they wanted to play it safe and just continue to release love songs, not anything that was considered trendy or risky. This attitude hurt Motown in record sales about this time, because people were just not interested in hearing vapid love songs when the country was in such disarray. They were viewed as being pitifully behind the times.
The new Tempts, late 1968. L to R: Paul Williams, Melvin Franklin, Eddie Kendricks, Otis Williams, Dennis Edwards.
Whitfield, however, had other things on his mind. He was intrigued by the sounds of other acts in the industry ~ The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Santana, the early work of George Clinton's Funkadelic ~ but most significantly, Sly and the Family Stone, and wanted to try that sort of thing for the Temptations. He came up with "Cloud Nine", a song that featured all of the group members having their own lyrics to sing (or scat) , instead of the traditional lead singer/background vocal arrangement. The music used elements from R&B, jazz, hard rock, Latin, and various sound effects, and it became labeled as "psychedelic soul". Surprizingly, Berry Gordy had no objection to the new music, but he had a problem with some of the lyrics, which seemingly had drug-related meanings. Whitfield convinced Gordy that a little controversy could actually help the sale of the record, and Gordy agreed. The Tempts themselves had their doubts, too. It was a risk...for years they were known for their beautiful love ballads ~ their current hit was a pretty love song called "Please Return Your Love To Me", on which Eddie sang lead ~ and here they were, about to push the envelope singing about getting high, ghetto life, racism, poverty, and their music took on a harder edge, starting with "Cloud Nine". Plus they had a new lead singer in Dennis, and the pressure for him to fill David's shoes had to be tremendous. It was not known if the fans would take to their newest member, so there was a great many things going on. "Cloud Nine" was unlike anything that had ever come out of the company before, both lyrically and musically, but the risk paid off. It was a smash. That song became the Tempts' ~ AND Motown's ~ first Grammy winner in March, 1969...and the fans welcomed Dennis with open arms.
In a psychedelic mood, 1969. L to R: Otis Williams, Eddie Kendricks, Melvin Franklin, Paul Williams, Dennis Edwards.
With the exception of recording material with Diana Ross and the Supremes (most notably "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me", #2 Pop and #2 R&B, 1968 - which featured Eddie's soaring male lead), for the next three years, The Tempts sang about social issues and made some truly groundbreaking and innovative music ("Runaway Child, Running Wild", "I Can't Get Next To You", "Don't Let The Joneses Get You Down", "Message From a Black Man", "Psychedelic Shack", "Ball of Confusion"), and continued to rake in the hits. They even changed their dress...they alternated between wearing sharp tuxedos to less conventional and more contemporary outfits while they performed. This was a bit alarming for the fans at first, but they got used to it. Even though the fans loved these new songs, they really missed the classic Temptations' sound. The guys began to complain about it as well, but Whitfield wasn't listening to them. He continued in the psychedelic/social commentary mode, and encouraged Barrett Strong to compose lyrics that were befitting the music. Because of this, Eddie thought about doing a solo project ~ not leaving the Tempts, but just being able to do his own thing away from the group. He missed singing love ballads, and was hoping he could get back to doing them with a solo album. But not one person supported him in this. It was the late '60s, and back then, making a solo album strictly meant that someone was either leaving a group or really giving it some serious thought. His fellow Tempts immediately told him that they didn't like the idea and to forget about it. This didn't make him very happy. He was upset that he wasn't being allowed to do things independently, and it stayed on his mind for a long time afterward. This, more than anything, would influnce his decision whether or not to continue as a group member. In mid-1970 without the other Tempts knowing, he met with some Motown executives, who surprisingly gave him the green light to record a solo album. But they made it clear that they were not exactly thrilled about this project. They didn't think that someone who mainly sang falsetto would be marketable without a group backing him up, but allowed him to do it anyway, hoping the project would fail and all thoughts of a solo career would fly out of the window.
In the meanwhile, Eddie also began to bump heads with the other guys, mainly Otis and Melvin. He never really agreed with how David was ousted from the group, Otis' willingness to go along with everything Berry Gordy, Jr. wanted, and what was now happening with his best friend, Paul. Somewhere along the line, something went terribly wrong, and Paul began to suffer from depression and started drinking heavily. He had been pushed to the background from being the Tempts' lead singer after Ruffin joined the group, and rarely got leads anymore, expect on album cuts and in live shows. It frustrated him, but he accepted it to a degree because he was a team player. But then his physical health began to suffer and he also had serious personal issues. He also suffered from sickle cell anemia, which causes great pain and fatigue, but he didn't disclose any of this to anyone. He loved performing so much he was willing to endure the pain of having the disease. Eddie didn't feel as if Otis was being sympathetic enough to Paul's problems. He was also fed up with singing the psychedelic soul music ("I don't dig those weird, freaky sounds", he once admitted in an interview), he didn't get along with Norman Whitfield, and he wanted more leads. Since Dennis had joined the group in 1968, the songs Eddie took the full lead on decreased dramatically. Like Whitfield had done with Ruffin, he was now putting Dennis out in front more ~ and reducing the vocals of the two original leads, Eddie and Paul, to basically nothing more than background filler. Plus Eddie was growing increasingly distrustful of Gordy and Motown, who he felt was ripping them off. He had suggested to his fellow Tempts that they go on strike against the company, and if they didn't get what they wanted, they should leave Motown. Once again, he got zero support. Finally he threatened to leave the group if things didn't change, but it was probably his loyalty to Paul that kept him there as long as he was. Eddie's mother, Lee Bell Kendrick, says that her son was very troubled by the situations in the group, and couldn't bear the thought of not being with them, but he had had enough. She didn't want him to leave, either, and tried to convince him to stay and and try to stick things out. But he just told her, "Momma, please. I'll handle it."
All was not well at this time, although it appeared that way during a 1970 TV appearance. L to R: Eddie Kendricks, Melvin Franklin, Dennis Edwards, Otis Williams, Paul Williams.
To appease Eddie, in January 1971, Norman and Barrett came up with "Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)", a gorgeous, dreamy ballad on which he had the lead, and which probably stands out as his finest vocal performance ever as a Temptation. He had superbly taken a tune about unrequited love with simple lyrics and transformed it into something else, singing it with a romantic tenderness that had been missing from the Tempts' records since 1968 ~ and the public loved it. The song took the Tempts back to #1 on both charts and gave the fellas their first platinum single and biggest ever hit in March 1971. But by then, Eddie had already left. He had grown weary of fighting with Otis, and with the musical direction the group was taking. He had bolted from the group right in the middle of a Copacabana engagement in New York while the record was still climbing the pop and R&B charts. Not long afterward, Paul was forced to go on haitus from the Temptations because of his health (he had sickle cell anemia) and drinking problems, but his departure would not be announced until around July. It was unknown whether or not if Paul would be able to return. Paul's exit from the group only solidified Eddie's decision, and he never looked back.
Eddie all by himself, 1971.
PART 2: IN OLD TEMPTATIONS' LANE...I'M DUCKIN'
Eddie struggles, then finds success as a soloist
By the early '70s, Berry Gordy, Jr. had moved Motown's day-to-day operations out of Detroit to Los Angeles, signaling an end of an era for Motown. Some artists were left behind, while others decided to make the move out west. Eddie followed the label to the west coast to launch his solo career, although he continued to reside in Detroit.. In early March 1971, Motown released his debut single, "It's So Hard For Me To Say Goodbye" (a farewell to the Tempts, disguised as a love song) on the Tamla label to little fanfare, and it was a minor hit that spring. It was included on his first album, ALL BY MYSELF, the LP of love songs he had recorded in 1970 in secret. There were liner notes written by Otis, Melvin, Paul and Dennis all wishing Eddie well, but none of them were happy with this. Leaving the Tempts had saddened him, and he definitely had doubts if he could even make it as a soloist. Plus he was convinced that the fans were angry with him for quitting the group. "Man, they don't like me," he told a friend of his. The lyrics of "It's So Hard For Me To Say Goodbye" pretty much reflected his feelings: "I can't stay when I know it's the end." But Frank Wilson, Eddie's friend and producer for six of his Tamla/Motown LPs, helped to build the singer's confidence as a soloist by encouraging him to utilize the full range of his voice, not just the falsetto ~ something he rarely got the chance to do as a Tempt. ALL BY MYSELF had made the Top 10 R&B albums chart, but even with gems like the jazzy sensuality and seductive spoken word segments of the shimmering "Can I", the gospel and blues influenced tour-de-force, "This Used To Be The Home Of Johnnie Mae" (which Eddie sang in his natural tenor), the funk/rock feel of "Let's Go Back To Day One" and the lovely R&B/pop ballad "I Did It All for You", it didn't exactly take the music world by storm. He didn't have a signature sound just yet, other than the Motown Sound, and that may have been the reason for the lukewarm reception the LP received. Plus it was happening at a time when the Jackson 5, Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye were the Motown acts getting the most promotion. In retrospect, ALL BY MYSELF is considered to be a classic, although no one was thinking of that in 1971. People were wondering if Eddie had made the right decision by striking out on his own. Sure, he was talented, charming, handsome, and women were enchanted by him ~ but something was missing.
The back cover of the 1972 PEOPLE...HOLD ON album. Eddie makes a bold visual statement about himself and whom he makes music for. Photo by Weldon MacDougal III.
It took a while for Eddie to hit his stride as a soloist ~ about a year ~ but with the critically acclaimed concept album PEOPLE...HOLD ON, which was released as his sophomore LP in May 1972, there was a feeling that his star was on the rise. A straight R&B album, it abandoned the recognizable "Motown Sound" for good and featured the instrumental group he toured with, a solid funk band out of Washington, D.C. called the Young Senators, and also had Eddie doing some of his own background vocals, a la Marvin Gaye (which he would continue to do on future LPs). It included a soulful ballad entitled "If You Let Me" (his first single to crack the R&B Top 20, peaking at #17), which was a remake of a Jimmy Ruffin song that had flopped. Eddie's smoothed-out version became a hit, sung with the utmost sincerity and believability. For a while, it would be his signature song. It was yet another song featuring Eddie's natural voice, which he now felt more comfortable using and people really began to take notice. The upbeat dance track "Date With the Rain" was also popular, as was a bass-heavy tune called "Eddie's Love". Eddie sent a moving message to his fellow African-Americans in the outstanding title song, "My People...Hold On", complete with African tribal drums and chants, and a daring and exciting experimental track that paved the way for the huge disco movement that evolved in the mid to late '70s was featured: "Girl You Need A Change of Mind" (R&B,#13). This funk-driven jam, which had an incredible musical arrangement, was Eddie's playful and flirtatious response to the growing Women's Liberation Movement of the early 1970s. Although the single did okay as far as radio went, the album version was a huge underground #1 smash in New York City discotheques, and then it caught on elsewhere about two years before the disco craze took off. Eddie was the first Motown artist to really venture into that musical direction and be successful at it. "Change of Mind" clocked in at a then uncommon time of seven minutes and thirty seconds, and not a minute of it was wasted. In those days the average R&B singer made songs that lasted about three minutes, with the exception of maybe The Godfather of Soul, James Brown, who was known for having lengthy grooves on his albums, Isaac Hayes, Curtis Mayfield and a few other artists. Eddie's strong falsetto and tenor vocals weaved their way in, out, and around the music, and he had never sounded better. Midway through the song, the instrumental breakdown gave the musicians ~ and the dancers ~ a chance to cut loose. "Change Of Mind" had really ignited something, because the following year, 1973, he completely blew up with an edited version of an eight minute jam whose title was a catch-phrase for a generation ~ and it wasn't even meant to be released as a single.
Eddie in concert at New York City's Queens College, Queens, NY - 1973.
The next single being promoted was a Caribbean-tinged ballad called "Darling Come Back Home". Both Motown and Frank Wilson, who had written it, had high hopes for this song, which was actually very good. With Eddie pouring real emotion into every lyric, it was being pushed hard as THE tune that would make him into a superstar. But then it stalled on the R&B charts at #26, and peaked even lower on the pop charts ~ kind of a setback since "If You Let Me" and "Change of Mind" had done so well. When Eddie's third album came out in May 1973, it contained all ballads, except for one song ~ that eight minute groove that everyone was talking about. Discos started playing it and it got a great reaction from their patrons. FM radio had picked up on it, and soon it was becoming one of the most requested songs on the air. Its popularity eventually overtook that of "Darling Come Back Home". Motown had to do a rush job in editing it as a single, because it was taking off like crazy. It assured Eddie Kendricks a place in music history as a soloist ~ and in the hearts of millions of screaming women and young girls ~ as Motown's latest sex symbol, right along with Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye and the Jackson 5's Jermaine Jackson, and he finally declared his independence from the Temptations, once and for all.
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