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Eddie Kendricks is one of my all time favorite R&B vocalists. Whether he was singing ballads or up-tempo songs, solo or with The Temptations, he always caught my ear. Was just listening to "Please Don't Go Away", "Skippin' Work Today", Honey Brown, "Where Do You Go [[Baby)", "I Did It All For You" and "To You From Me" on my Eddie playlist and thought that his Motown recordings [[Frank Wilson, Leonard Caston, and Norman Harris productions)were the best. I could listen to his music all day.
my fave solo by him is "Get The Cream Off The Top".
He's definitely my favorite Motown male and in my top 5 male artists ever. I can't think of many songs that I skip or don't like from his solo catalog. He's a Friend gets stuck in my head a lot!
In the 70s, they used to play Eddie to death in the clubs....Girl You Need A Change of Mind, Date with the rain, Boogie Down, Keep on Trucking. I loved The Tempts but he was always my favorite one!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by Lulu
Eddie did a fantastic job merging the Motown Sound with the Sound of Philadelphia with the groundbreaking "He's a Friend". When regional hits were more common, I recall the entire album was deemed #1 by San Francisco club djs.
He had already made his mark in the underground black and gay clubs with "Girl You Need a Change of Mind" before hitting his commercial breakthrough with "Keep on Truckin'" in the early 70s.
It was sad to read that his relationships with Motown had become so fractured that he was one of the few artists NOT invited to participate in "Motown 25", which probably was percipitated by his keeping ties with the equally complex David Ruffin.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bokiluis
Eddie was H-O-T in the NY clubs: Paradise Garage, Loft, etc. and a darling of Larry Levan, David Mancuso, and Tom Moulton! Oui oui!
Besides being the greatest first tenor in soul music history eddie was the best dresser...the only one who came close back in the day was[clean]gene chandler.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lulu
Yes, to this day, I remember coming home from my first trip to New York with "People...Hold On" because of club play. Same with the "He's a Friend" album. It was club play more than radio that made it a San Francisco smash!
Yes, goodness! I grew up in a house that had 2 copies of the "People...Hold On" album [[ostensibly belonging to two separate siblings...or maybe Dad)! "Sweet Eddie" was magnificent; he certainly gave Smokey a run for his money in the smooth-falsetto sweepstakes. My personal fave has always been "Goin' Up in Smoke." What a jam!Quote:
Originally Posted by Bokiluis
Eddie was definitely my favorite Tempt and I really enjoyed his solo career. Hated when he left Motown though I continued to support him [[I didn't do the same with Gladys or the Tops). My favorite Eddie's solo recordings "Girl You Need A Change Of Mind", "Happy", 'Get The Cream Off The Top" and the entire B side of the Boogie Down album. The 'He's A Friend' and 'The Thin Man' were my favorite Eddie albums though.
One of my favourite tracks is "Tell Her Love Has Felt the Need".
The cool dapper eddie,the first time i saw him solo he called about five ladies up on stage and serenaded them with[can i]when it came to cool,eddie had it on lockdown.
His falsetto had him exiting at the top of his game from The Temptations with "Just My Imagination" through his first 5 solo albums his falsetto was signature. But then it began to erode. Did he smoke heavily? I don't recall seeing him with a cigarette. But then again, it was rare when you saw a Motown artist in the early days with a cigarette or a drink. They really kept tabs on that "clean cut" image.Quote:
Originally Posted by sansradio
I'm pretty sure Eddie did smoke. IIRC, lung cancer/disease was the culprit in his demise; I seem to remember reading that he'd lost a lung.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bokiluis
I remember Eddie was opening for Mary Wilson at the Premier Center in Detroit New Year's Eve. He was so cool, he came this ramp like thing slowing singing "Intimate Friends" and them were making all kinds of noised and a few grabbed at his ankles LOL! The big surprise came later towards the end of his set when this tall guy in like a gray suit wearing glasses came up and out of the audience to the stage singing. It was none other than David Ruffin! I even almost fell out it was done so smooth and slick like LOLQuote:
Originally Posted by arr&bee
In my humble opinion,eddie's best album was his second[eddie kendricks]from the cool photo of him to the cool songs.
Eddie was a chain-smoker for many years. I always figured it was open knowledge. And it was a factor in his death. Mary Wells also succumbed to cancer brought on by heavy smoking.