Post by Emerald City on Feb 6, 2008 19:37:33 GMT -5
This is an interview with Dennis from a few short years ago, though I can't pinpoint a specific date...a shout out to ((Motown Honey))
Dennis Edwards: The Temptations’ Solid Rock
BY JIM BAGLEY
Dennis Edwards was lead singer of The Temptations from 1968-77, 1980-83, and 1987-1988. For his considerable efforts, he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, along with the initial hit-making lineup of Melvin Franklin, Eddie Kendricks, David Ruffin, Otis Williams, and Paul Williams. Discoveries spoke with Mr. Edwards between concert dates for his group, The Temptations Review featuring Dennis Edwards, about his life in music.
Discoveries: Who were your early musical influences?
Dennis Edwards: I was active in the choir and listened to the gospel music of Sam Cooke and the Davis Sisters. I eventually realized I could cross over from gospel because Sam Cooke - and later, my close friend Aretha Franklin - did it so successfully.
When did you move to Detroit?
We lived in Alabama until I was about ten years old. The auto industry was booming in Detroit at that time, so my dad moved up and got established at Chrysler. He brought the family up a couple of years later. My dad was an associate minister in Alabama, but when he got to Detroit, he ended up pastoring his own church in a small storefront.
Did your recording career begin at Motown?
No. My first record was "Johnny On The Spot," which was number one in Europe. I recorded it in some guy - Willie Brown's - basement and never got any money off it. That's when I first learned there were bad things about the record business.
How did you come to the attention of Motown Records?
Bassist James Jamerson suggested that I go down and audition for Mr. [Berry] Gordy at Motown. My knees and my arms were shaking as I sang Lou Rawls’ "Love Is A Hurtin' Thing". All Mr. Gordy said was, "Talk to Mr. Cox, the guy who handles the business." Mr. Cox said, "He loves your voice. We don't have a place for you right now, but we'll put you on retainer. This was 1966.
How did you become a member of The Contours?
For about a year, I was getting a weekly salary, but not recording and I was getting frustrated. I had heard that Holland-Dozier-Holland were planning to break away and start their own label. They said they would love to have me if I could get out of my contract with Motown. So I went to Ralph Seltzer to ask for a release. Instead, he told me "we've been looking for you. One of The Contours has gotten sick and we need you to go on tour with them for eight or nine dates. You have two weeks to rehearse with the group."
At my first show, we ended up opening for The Temptations and that's when they first took notice of me. We [The Contours] had a successful tour and I ended up staying in the group and recording a couple of nice records with them, including "It's So Hard Being A Loser" [1967]. I became despondent when I found out that a couple of the guys were using. I hadn't gotten introduced to the drug world yet. Then, one night after a show in Baltimore, there was a disturbance and somebody was stabbed. They said they were going to arrest the entire group, and I ended up having to go to court the next morning to explain that I wasn't involved. When I got back home, I left the group.
How did you end up replacing David Ruffin in The Temptations?
I left The Contours, but was still on salary. The word was out that Motown was planning to cut me. I was waiting on a meeting with Ralph Seltzer to ask for my release when David Ruffin came by my house at 4 in the morning and woke me up. He said "Man, I quit the group. They're gonna tell you I was fired, but I quit the group. And they're gonna ask you to replace me. I don't want no one to replace me but you." Sure enough, The Temptations invited me to a meeting the next morning and I told them "I can't replace David Ruffin." He was a great singer, a dancer, a showman, the complete package. He was my idol. They made me an offer anyway, so I said, "Let me think it over." I agreed, under the condition that all of the guys accept me. And they did, but Eddie - who was close with David - looked me over with a fine tooth comb for the first few months.
Didn't David attempt to return to the group?
After he left, David had the bad habit of showing up on stage when we were singing "My Girl." People say that he would snatch the mic out of my hand, but that's not true. I would just hand him the mic because I respected him.
We were in Gaithersburg, Maryland, a theatre in the round. David had talked to the other Tempts and they told me they were gonna take David back. "You can stay the weekend since we have three shows and then we'll send you home with some severance pay." I was disappointed of course, but I was happy for David because I liked him. Everybody who knew David liked him.
I decided I wasn't gonna leave my room to go see the show since everyone was so excited about David being back. By quarter to 8 - the show was at 8 - one of the guys in the group came over to the hotel and said, "We need you over here right away. David didn't show up." So I do the show and about halfway through, we start to perform "My Girl" and here comes David onstage.
They had a meeting after the show and decided not to put him back in. The next night, we were playing at the Valley Forge Music Fair in Philly and sure enough, here comes David again for "My Girl" and the place goes nuts. Motown recorded his first solo album not long after that and he stopped showing up. Eventually, the fans came around and told me I was doing a great job. That was a nice way to be accepted, by winning over the people who initially didn't like you.
"Cloud Nine" (1968) was your first single as a Temptation. What inspired the use of multiple leads on this record?
I think [producer] Norman [Whitfield] had heard on the radio "Dance To The Music" by Sly and the Family Stone, which had five lead vocals on it. He then decided to use multi-leads on The Temptations. We didn't know how it would work out, since The Temptations had never done that before. Plus it was psychedelic, a different sound for the Tempts. And it was controversial. We weren't singing about drugs, but people said that we were. So, everyone took their individual leads and it made history, winning Motown their first Grammy. From then on, we and Whitfield had a great recording partnership, with "Runaway Child," "Psychedelic Shack," "I Can't Get Next To You"... hit, hit, hit. The Temptations' popularity went to another level.
Why did Eddie and Paul leave the group in 1971?
Paul started drinking ... it got so bad with Paul that we had to have oxygen on the stage and have Richard Street sing for him offstage. Richard ended up replacing him permanently [Paul died in 1973]. Then Eddie left. With David and now Paul - his best friend since they were kids - gone, he just couldn't take it anymore. He also couldn't stand that when we tried to go to Motown to get a contract with legitimate money, enough so that everybody could have a million, Otis and Melvin blocked it cause they sided with management.
With "Papa Was a Rolling Stone," Whitfield started to lengthen your singles.
Norman had me listen to the instrumental track from the beginning. By the time my part came up - "It was the third of September..." --- I was agitated yet subdued, which is what Norman wanted on the recording. "Papa" won three Grammies.
After Whitfield left Motown, The Temptations hooked up with Jeffrey Bowen for the album A Song For You (1975) which showcased your versatility.
Jeffrey spent a lot of time with just me in the studio. On the earlier Temptations' albums, the five of us were in the studio together, all of the time. It was practically a solo album. Otis got mad because there weren't a lot of background vocals on it. [The track] "A Song For You," at first I didn't think it was right for my voice. Everything I had sung in the group before that was hard and fast, but once I got into it, I thought it suited my voice perfectly. I just needed to relax on it.
What inspired the self-written and produced The Temptations Do The Temptations (1976)?
Otis wanted us to get more involved in the writing and producing of the records. I think we did a good job, but it wasn't one of our best efforts. Sometimes, you need an outside critic to tell you what doesn't quite work.
The Temptations left Motown in 1977 to go to Atlantic Records. Why didn't you go with them?
I didn't really want to leave the group, but I wanted to do a solo album and they had a policy: If you do a solo album, you're out of the group.
What happened to your solo album?
That stuff is still in the can. I guess they're waiting for me to die. I thought it contained some great work. Motown said that if I came in with a good album, they were going to give me a million dollars. They reneged on giving me the money, so I wouldn't sign the deal.
The Temptations returned to Motown in 1980.
They went to Atlantic with Louis Price replacing me, but they didn't get any hits over there. Motown said they would only take them back if I was in the group, so that brought me back in. We had the single "Power" which Berry Gordy produced. It did relatively well, but the group was never the same.
I was in a bad way, missing meetings, smoking weed, doing a little coke. By this time, I was also questioning some of the group's moves. Otis and Melvin were making all of the decisions and no one else mattered. When we did the Motown 25 show (in 1983), Ali Woodson was in the audience and I knew that he was going to be my replacement. A friend of mine told me they had been rehearsing him for a while. After Motown 25, I did a couple of more shows and then I left the act in Las Vegas. They called in Ali to do the show.
You went solo in 1984 and finally had a solo album released, Don't Look Any Further, featuring the chart-topping title track.
I met the producer Dennis Lambert who said "we have this one track... we want to get Chaka Khan to do it with you, but we can't find her. We have this girl Siedah Garrett who is already on the demo”. After I heard it, I said "well if you can't get Chaka, we can leave this girl on there. She's great." I just added my part and it was an immediate hit.
The follow-up album Coolin' Out (1985) wasn't nearly as successful.
Don't Look Any Further was one of the hottest records at the company. I went back to the brass at Motown, still looking for my million-dollar deal, but I didn't get any love from the company. Whenever you ask for money in our business, you're a bad guy. The label didn't market Coolin' Out because they were mad at me and I also think they didn't want me to be more successful than The Temptations.
You returned to The Temptations for the Together Again (1987) album and tour. What brought you back?
The economy. Plus, I was messing around with girls, I was drinking, I was drugging. I signed a deal for an advance on my royalties - giving Motown 50% of all my royalties after 1973, but I used that up. All of a sudden, they said "we need you back in the group," so I came back. That album was okay. I loved [its single] "I Wonder What She's Doing Now." We did the video for that in California during an earthquake. The roof was shaking and the lights were swinging while we filmed it.
You left The Temptations for good in 1988.
When I came back - for this, the third time - believe it or not, I was on salary. I am the lead singer, yet while they split up the money, I'm on a salary! Then, we're in Las Vegas and I wanted an advance to buy my mom a nice vase and they said, "We can't talk about it." So I left the group and went home to St. Louis. I started going to church with my momma and got off drugs and my life has been straight ever since.
Then you teamed up with David Ruffin and Eddie Kendricks.
The Temptations were selected for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989. They went in on the first ballot. I didn't think I would be included because I wasn't an original member, but I got a letter in the mail saying that they were going to induct six members of the group, including me. Wow, I was so happy! Although I did good work, had great records, took the group to new heights, I was still a replacement. For the first time, I felt like a real member of The Temptations!
Me, Eddie, and David met in the lobby of the Waldorf for the Hall of Fame induction and went downstairs to the ceremony and immediately, there was a controversy. There was one table for me, Eddie, David, Otis, and Melvin, but Otis had brought his current group to the awards and they were already sitting at our table. The director came in and made Ron [Tyson], Ali, and Richard[] get up and take a seat in the back. Otis and Melvin went and sat with their group - they wouldn't sit with us. Now we were wondering what was gonna happen when they called up the Temptations to accept the awards. Fortunately, the emcee saw that there was a problem, and he called us up individually by our names. That was a great moment, one of the highlights of my career.
After the awards, me, Eddie, and David walked down Park Avenue. When people saw the three of us together, we started stopping traffic. A promoter came up to us and said, "Why don't you guys work together?” I said "I hadn't thought about it, but it would be great." David and Eddie agreed. We went to Detroit and put together an act. We were so successful and actually better than Otis' Temptations. We were even able to talk David out of doing drugs for awhile.
In 1991, we were getting ready to do an album, but first we had a 30-day tour in England. We got something like $50,000 each for this tour and David stayed over a couple of days extra to get paid in cash. We found out later that someone had picked him up at the airport in Philly and took him straight to a crack house. He had all that money on him and stayed there about two weeks. We heard that somebody threw him out of a limo buck naked in front of a hospital where he was pronounced dead of a drug overdose…. Eddie then died of lung cancer in 1992.
Who is in your current group?
This group I have now is such a great- sounding unit. There's Mike Patillo, who's my super bass, Chris Arnold, who does all the Eddie Kendricks parts, and the dynamic David Sea who was with me in Ruffin, Kendricks, and Edwards. We recently added Ali Woodson, and with his voice and my voice, we almost generate the excitement on stage that Eddie, David, and I had.
What's the story behind your group's name?
Overseas, we were Dennis Edwards and the Temptations. We came home to Detroit and got served with papers stating I couldn't use the Temptations’ name. This lawsuit went on for about nine months. Otis must've spent close to a million and a half. I spent close to a million. The lawyers were the real winners. My manager Ben Crosby finally said, “Why don't we go with The ‘Temptations Review featuring Dennis Edwards’,” and you guys [Otis and company] can be The Temptations.” That was accepted and now, we have a legal agreement we send to promoters that if they advertise us as just The Temptations, then they are liable.
What other projects have you been working on?
We have a gospel album that was just released. It's called Look What The Lord Has Done. A few of the songs on our album are being played on gospel radio.
Also, Shirley Caesar and I did a song with Aretha called "Friends" for her upcoming album. The album is better than anything she's done in the last 20 years, but Aretha is a perfectionist, and she keeps changing stuff in her home studio. That's why it hasn't come out yet.
Do you have any remaining show business goals?
I mostly want to stay healthy and keep working. I really enjoy doing the shows. I don't think we realized 30 years ago that our music would continue to be so well-received. No matter how much time passes, people still come back for "My Girl" and "Just My Imagination."
Dennis Edwards: The Temptations’ Solid Rock
BY JIM BAGLEY
Dennis Edwards was lead singer of The Temptations from 1968-77, 1980-83, and 1987-1988. For his considerable efforts, he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, along with the initial hit-making lineup of Melvin Franklin, Eddie Kendricks, David Ruffin, Otis Williams, and Paul Williams. Discoveries spoke with Mr. Edwards between concert dates for his group, The Temptations Review featuring Dennis Edwards, about his life in music.
Discoveries: Who were your early musical influences?
Dennis Edwards: I was active in the choir and listened to the gospel music of Sam Cooke and the Davis Sisters. I eventually realized I could cross over from gospel because Sam Cooke - and later, my close friend Aretha Franklin - did it so successfully.
When did you move to Detroit?
We lived in Alabama until I was about ten years old. The auto industry was booming in Detroit at that time, so my dad moved up and got established at Chrysler. He brought the family up a couple of years later. My dad was an associate minister in Alabama, but when he got to Detroit, he ended up pastoring his own church in a small storefront.
Did your recording career begin at Motown?
No. My first record was "Johnny On The Spot," which was number one in Europe. I recorded it in some guy - Willie Brown's - basement and never got any money off it. That's when I first learned there were bad things about the record business.
How did you come to the attention of Motown Records?
Bassist James Jamerson suggested that I go down and audition for Mr. [Berry] Gordy at Motown. My knees and my arms were shaking as I sang Lou Rawls’ "Love Is A Hurtin' Thing". All Mr. Gordy said was, "Talk to Mr. Cox, the guy who handles the business." Mr. Cox said, "He loves your voice. We don't have a place for you right now, but we'll put you on retainer. This was 1966.
How did you become a member of The Contours?
For about a year, I was getting a weekly salary, but not recording and I was getting frustrated. I had heard that Holland-Dozier-Holland were planning to break away and start their own label. They said they would love to have me if I could get out of my contract with Motown. So I went to Ralph Seltzer to ask for a release. Instead, he told me "we've been looking for you. One of The Contours has gotten sick and we need you to go on tour with them for eight or nine dates. You have two weeks to rehearse with the group."
At my first show, we ended up opening for The Temptations and that's when they first took notice of me. We [The Contours] had a successful tour and I ended up staying in the group and recording a couple of nice records with them, including "It's So Hard Being A Loser" [1967]. I became despondent when I found out that a couple of the guys were using. I hadn't gotten introduced to the drug world yet. Then, one night after a show in Baltimore, there was a disturbance and somebody was stabbed. They said they were going to arrest the entire group, and I ended up having to go to court the next morning to explain that I wasn't involved. When I got back home, I left the group.
How did you end up replacing David Ruffin in The Temptations?
I left The Contours, but was still on salary. The word was out that Motown was planning to cut me. I was waiting on a meeting with Ralph Seltzer to ask for my release when David Ruffin came by my house at 4 in the morning and woke me up. He said "Man, I quit the group. They're gonna tell you I was fired, but I quit the group. And they're gonna ask you to replace me. I don't want no one to replace me but you." Sure enough, The Temptations invited me to a meeting the next morning and I told them "I can't replace David Ruffin." He was a great singer, a dancer, a showman, the complete package. He was my idol. They made me an offer anyway, so I said, "Let me think it over." I agreed, under the condition that all of the guys accept me. And they did, but Eddie - who was close with David - looked me over with a fine tooth comb for the first few months.
Didn't David attempt to return to the group?
After he left, David had the bad habit of showing up on stage when we were singing "My Girl." People say that he would snatch the mic out of my hand, but that's not true. I would just hand him the mic because I respected him.
We were in Gaithersburg, Maryland, a theatre in the round. David had talked to the other Tempts and they told me they were gonna take David back. "You can stay the weekend since we have three shows and then we'll send you home with some severance pay." I was disappointed of course, but I was happy for David because I liked him. Everybody who knew David liked him.
I decided I wasn't gonna leave my room to go see the show since everyone was so excited about David being back. By quarter to 8 - the show was at 8 - one of the guys in the group came over to the hotel and said, "We need you over here right away. David didn't show up." So I do the show and about halfway through, we start to perform "My Girl" and here comes David onstage.
They had a meeting after the show and decided not to put him back in. The next night, we were playing at the Valley Forge Music Fair in Philly and sure enough, here comes David again for "My Girl" and the place goes nuts. Motown recorded his first solo album not long after that and he stopped showing up. Eventually, the fans came around and told me I was doing a great job. That was a nice way to be accepted, by winning over the people who initially didn't like you.
"Cloud Nine" (1968) was your first single as a Temptation. What inspired the use of multiple leads on this record?
I think [producer] Norman [Whitfield] had heard on the radio "Dance To The Music" by Sly and the Family Stone, which had five lead vocals on it. He then decided to use multi-leads on The Temptations. We didn't know how it would work out, since The Temptations had never done that before. Plus it was psychedelic, a different sound for the Tempts. And it was controversial. We weren't singing about drugs, but people said that we were. So, everyone took their individual leads and it made history, winning Motown their first Grammy. From then on, we and Whitfield had a great recording partnership, with "Runaway Child," "Psychedelic Shack," "I Can't Get Next To You"... hit, hit, hit. The Temptations' popularity went to another level.
Why did Eddie and Paul leave the group in 1971?
Paul started drinking ... it got so bad with Paul that we had to have oxygen on the stage and have Richard Street sing for him offstage. Richard ended up replacing him permanently [Paul died in 1973]. Then Eddie left. With David and now Paul - his best friend since they were kids - gone, he just couldn't take it anymore. He also couldn't stand that when we tried to go to Motown to get a contract with legitimate money, enough so that everybody could have a million, Otis and Melvin blocked it cause they sided with management.
With "Papa Was a Rolling Stone," Whitfield started to lengthen your singles.
Norman had me listen to the instrumental track from the beginning. By the time my part came up - "It was the third of September..." --- I was agitated yet subdued, which is what Norman wanted on the recording. "Papa" won three Grammies.
After Whitfield left Motown, The Temptations hooked up with Jeffrey Bowen for the album A Song For You (1975) which showcased your versatility.
Jeffrey spent a lot of time with just me in the studio. On the earlier Temptations' albums, the five of us were in the studio together, all of the time. It was practically a solo album. Otis got mad because there weren't a lot of background vocals on it. [The track] "A Song For You," at first I didn't think it was right for my voice. Everything I had sung in the group before that was hard and fast, but once I got into it, I thought it suited my voice perfectly. I just needed to relax on it.
What inspired the self-written and produced The Temptations Do The Temptations (1976)?
Otis wanted us to get more involved in the writing and producing of the records. I think we did a good job, but it wasn't one of our best efforts. Sometimes, you need an outside critic to tell you what doesn't quite work.
The Temptations left Motown in 1977 to go to Atlantic Records. Why didn't you go with them?
I didn't really want to leave the group, but I wanted to do a solo album and they had a policy: If you do a solo album, you're out of the group.
What happened to your solo album?
That stuff is still in the can. I guess they're waiting for me to die. I thought it contained some great work. Motown said that if I came in with a good album, they were going to give me a million dollars. They reneged on giving me the money, so I wouldn't sign the deal.
The Temptations returned to Motown in 1980.
They went to Atlantic with Louis Price replacing me, but they didn't get any hits over there. Motown said they would only take them back if I was in the group, so that brought me back in. We had the single "Power" which Berry Gordy produced. It did relatively well, but the group was never the same.
I was in a bad way, missing meetings, smoking weed, doing a little coke. By this time, I was also questioning some of the group's moves. Otis and Melvin were making all of the decisions and no one else mattered. When we did the Motown 25 show (in 1983), Ali Woodson was in the audience and I knew that he was going to be my replacement. A friend of mine told me they had been rehearsing him for a while. After Motown 25, I did a couple of more shows and then I left the act in Las Vegas. They called in Ali to do the show.
You went solo in 1984 and finally had a solo album released, Don't Look Any Further, featuring the chart-topping title track.
I met the producer Dennis Lambert who said "we have this one track... we want to get Chaka Khan to do it with you, but we can't find her. We have this girl Siedah Garrett who is already on the demo”. After I heard it, I said "well if you can't get Chaka, we can leave this girl on there. She's great." I just added my part and it was an immediate hit.
The follow-up album Coolin' Out (1985) wasn't nearly as successful.
Don't Look Any Further was one of the hottest records at the company. I went back to the brass at Motown, still looking for my million-dollar deal, but I didn't get any love from the company. Whenever you ask for money in our business, you're a bad guy. The label didn't market Coolin' Out because they were mad at me and I also think they didn't want me to be more successful than The Temptations.
You returned to The Temptations for the Together Again (1987) album and tour. What brought you back?
The economy. Plus, I was messing around with girls, I was drinking, I was drugging. I signed a deal for an advance on my royalties - giving Motown 50% of all my royalties after 1973, but I used that up. All of a sudden, they said "we need you back in the group," so I came back. That album was okay. I loved [its single] "I Wonder What She's Doing Now." We did the video for that in California during an earthquake. The roof was shaking and the lights were swinging while we filmed it.
You left The Temptations for good in 1988.
When I came back - for this, the third time - believe it or not, I was on salary. I am the lead singer, yet while they split up the money, I'm on a salary! Then, we're in Las Vegas and I wanted an advance to buy my mom a nice vase and they said, "We can't talk about it." So I left the group and went home to St. Louis. I started going to church with my momma and got off drugs and my life has been straight ever since.
Then you teamed up with David Ruffin and Eddie Kendricks.
The Temptations were selected for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989. They went in on the first ballot. I didn't think I would be included because I wasn't an original member, but I got a letter in the mail saying that they were going to induct six members of the group, including me. Wow, I was so happy! Although I did good work, had great records, took the group to new heights, I was still a replacement. For the first time, I felt like a real member of The Temptations!
Me, Eddie, and David met in the lobby of the Waldorf for the Hall of Fame induction and went downstairs to the ceremony and immediately, there was a controversy. There was one table for me, Eddie, David, Otis, and Melvin, but Otis had brought his current group to the awards and they were already sitting at our table. The director came in and made Ron [Tyson], Ali, and Richard[] get up and take a seat in the back. Otis and Melvin went and sat with their group - they wouldn't sit with us. Now we were wondering what was gonna happen when they called up the Temptations to accept the awards. Fortunately, the emcee saw that there was a problem, and he called us up individually by our names. That was a great moment, one of the highlights of my career.
After the awards, me, Eddie, and David walked down Park Avenue. When people saw the three of us together, we started stopping traffic. A promoter came up to us and said, "Why don't you guys work together?” I said "I hadn't thought about it, but it would be great." David and Eddie agreed. We went to Detroit and put together an act. We were so successful and actually better than Otis' Temptations. We were even able to talk David out of doing drugs for awhile.
In 1991, we were getting ready to do an album, but first we had a 30-day tour in England. We got something like $50,000 each for this tour and David stayed over a couple of days extra to get paid in cash. We found out later that someone had picked him up at the airport in Philly and took him straight to a crack house. He had all that money on him and stayed there about two weeks. We heard that somebody threw him out of a limo buck naked in front of a hospital where he was pronounced dead of a drug overdose…. Eddie then died of lung cancer in 1992.
Who is in your current group?
This group I have now is such a great- sounding unit. There's Mike Patillo, who's my super bass, Chris Arnold, who does all the Eddie Kendricks parts, and the dynamic David Sea who was with me in Ruffin, Kendricks, and Edwards. We recently added Ali Woodson, and with his voice and my voice, we almost generate the excitement on stage that Eddie, David, and I had.
What's the story behind your group's name?
Overseas, we were Dennis Edwards and the Temptations. We came home to Detroit and got served with papers stating I couldn't use the Temptations’ name. This lawsuit went on for about nine months. Otis must've spent close to a million and a half. I spent close to a million. The lawyers were the real winners. My manager Ben Crosby finally said, “Why don't we go with The ‘Temptations Review featuring Dennis Edwards’,” and you guys [Otis and company] can be The Temptations.” That was accepted and now, we have a legal agreement we send to promoters that if they advertise us as just The Temptations, then they are liable.
What other projects have you been working on?
We have a gospel album that was just released. It's called Look What The Lord Has Done. A few of the songs on our album are being played on gospel radio.
Also, Shirley Caesar and I did a song with Aretha called "Friends" for her upcoming album. The album is better than anything she's done in the last 20 years, but Aretha is a perfectionist, and she keeps changing stuff in her home studio. That's why it hasn't come out yet.
Do you have any remaining show business goals?
I mostly want to stay healthy and keep working. I really enjoy doing the shows. I don't think we realized 30 years ago that our music would continue to be so well-received. No matter how much time passes, people still come back for "My Girl" and "Just My Imagination."