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The Emperors of Soul. Recognizable to a man, this unique blend of voices and blade-sharp choreography (“The Temptation Walk”!) is one of the defining legacies of Motown Records. The group has thirty-seven Top 40 hits to their credit, including fifteen Top 10 tunes and a quartet which soared to No. 1. On the R&B charts? They have fifteen No. 1 singles and seventeen No. 1 albums. The titles alone summon memories beyond measure: “The Way You Do The Things You Do,” “My Girl,” “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg,” “I Wish It Would Rain,” “Cloud Nine,” “Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me),” “Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone.” For always, the Temptations are sunshine on a cloudy day.

FAST FACTS: 

  • Motown Milestone: The group’s Greatest Hits reaches its Top 5 peak on February 11, 1967 during an extraordinary Top 10 run (of 15 weeks!) on the Billboard.
  • First hit: “The Way You Do The Things You Do”
  • Biggest hit: “My Girl”
  • Top album: All Directions
  • Career highlight: A vocal-group “brand” and reputation which has lasted for more than half a century…and counting.

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The Temptations

Vocal group

For the Record…

Selected discography

Sources

The Temptations, one of the few groups to survive from the days when the sound of the Motown record company ruled the airwaves, have maintained their popularity through more than two decades of changing styles in popular music. Commenting on the group in the Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll, Joe McEwen and Jim Miller wrote: “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 Sixties soul: they could outdress, outdance, and outsing any competition in sight.” Today, the “Tempts” continue to project this dynamic yet elegant image in both their recordings and their live performances.

The group came together in Detroit in 1961, when Eddie Kendricks and Paul Williams, of the Primes, joined forces with Otis Williams, Al Bryant, and Melvin Franklin of the Distants. Both the Primes and the Distants were popular in Detroit, but neither had had a national hit. The five men originally christened the new group the Elgins, after a high-quality watch. Upon learning that the name was already taken, they settled for calling

For the Record…

Originally formed in Detroit, Michigan, in 1961 as the Elgins; name changed to the Temptations, 1961; original group consisted of Otis Williams (born October 30, 1949, in Texarkana, Texas), Melvin Franklin (born October 12, 1942, in Montgomery, Alabama), Paul Williams (born July 1, 1939, in Birmingham, Alabama; died August 17, 1973, in Detroit, Michigan, of a self-inflicted gunshot wound), Edward James Kendricks (born December 17, 1939, in Birmingham, Alabama), and Elbridge Bryant . Paul Williams was replaced in 1971 by Richard Street (born October 5, 1942, in Detroit, Michigan). Eddie Kendricks was replaced in 1971 by Ricky Owens; Owens was replaced in 1971 by

The Temptations

American rhythm and blues group

For the earlier vocal group of "Barbara" fame, see The Temptations (New York vocal group).

The Temptations is an American vocal group formed in Detroit, Michigan in 1960 as The Elgins, known for their string of successful singles and albums with Motown from the 1960s to the mid-1970s. The group's work with producer Norman Whitfield, beginning with the Top 10 hit single "Cloud Nine" in October 1968, pioneered psychedelic soul, and was significant in the evolution of R&B and soul music. The group members were known for their choreography, distinct harmonies, and dress style. Having sold tens of millions of albums, the Temptations are among the most successful groups in popular music.

Featuring five male vocalists and dancers (save for brief periods with fewer or more members), the group's founding members came from two rival Detroit vocal groups: Otis Williams, Elbridge "Al" Bryant, and Melvin Franklin of (Otis Williams &) The Distants, and Eddie Kendricks and Paul Williams of The Primes. In 1964, Bryant was replaced by David Ruffin, who was the lead vocalist on a number of the group's biggest hits, including "My Girl" (1964), "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" (1966), and "I Wish It Would Rain" (1967). Ruffin was replaced in 1968 by Dennis Edwards, with whom the group continued to record hit records such as "Cloud Nine" (1968), "I Can't Get Next to You" (1969), and "Ball of Confusion (That's What the World Is Today)" (1970). Kendricks and Paul Williams both left the group in 1971, with subsequent members including Richard Street, Damon Harris, Glenn Leonard, Ron Tyson, and Ali-Ollie Woodson, the last of whom was the lead singer on late-period hit "Treat Her Like a Lady" in 1984 and the theme song for the children's movement program Kids in Motion in 1987.

Over the course of their career, the Temptations released four Billboard Hot 100

The Last Temptation

“Now are you ready to go back?” a tuxedoed band leader asked the crowd at Staten Island’s St. George Theatre on a rainy night in May. “I’m talking about all the way back … allow me to introduce the one and only vocal group voted number one of all time!”

The next hour was a brisk and blasting tour through the back catalog of the Temptations, one of Motown’s most famous ensembles. The group performed sharply choreographed dances near the front of the stage, spinning and twirling with military precision; behind them, a 10-piece horn section tooted and trilled with overwhelming power. The Temptations pushed the tempo to squeeze in as many hits as possible — refusing to luxuriate even on opulent, laid-back singles like “Just My Imagination” — and the mostly aging crowd bopped with vigor, rejuvenated by the swinging classics of their youth.

At one point, one of the Temptations went fishing for compliments. “Is anyone out there tired yet?” he asked. The crowd screamed, “No!” But semi-jokingly, 76-year-old Otis Williams, the lone surviving original Temptation, raised his hand. He’s been the ensemble’s primary force of cohesion for decades, and nearly 60 years into his life as a Temptation, his goal remains miraculously unchanged: Keep the group together. It’s no wonder he’s feeling weary. 

The Temptations are currently experiencing yet another moment of resurgence. They performed 88 shows last year and have another 75 lined up already in 2018. In May, they released a new album, All the Time, on which they take on modern hits like the Weeknd’s “Earned It.” And there is a Temptations musical, Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations, which opens in L.A. on August 21st before it heads to Broadway.

Of course, the group that’s currently on the road is not your parents’

  • The Temptations is an American vocal
  • Dr. Otis Clayborn Williams, founding member