Temps ask david to return...true or false?

[arr&bee]

I've read from more than one sourch that in the mid to late seventies david was asked to return to the group but turned them down,i find it hard to believe,who knows if it's any truth to it?

[BayouMotownMan]

I've read from more than one sourch that in the mid to late seventies david was asked to return to the group but turned them down,i find it hard to believe,who knows if it's any truth to it?

I find that very hard to believe. I would however believe that it was the other way around.

[marv2]

I've read from more than one sourch that in the mid to late seventies david was asked to return to the group but turned them down,i find it hard to believe,who knows if it's any truth to it?

I remember hearing a rumor [[out in the street) that they asked, but it was earlier than that according the rumor.....

[BayouMotownMan]

Motown had a stable full of male vocalists the Tempts could chose from. By the mid 70s the Temptations achieved massive success without David for me to believe they'd consider repeating those problems. Otis Williams just wouldn't have allowed it. G.C. Cameron would have been a good contender [[he was used much later) not to mention male singers not signed to Motown.

[marv2]

Motown had a stable full of male vocalists the Tempts could chose from. By the mid 70s the Temptations achieved massive success without David for me to believe they'd consider repeating those problems. Otis Williams just wouldn't have allowed it. G.C. Cameron would have been a good contender [[he was used much later) not to mention male singers not signed to Motown.

You have to understand this. It did not matter how much great success the group was having, an individual member could and would be fired at anytime. That is the way it was. They were having huge success WITH David Ruffin in the sixties, still they fired his ass!

[robb_k]

I'm sure i remember David having come back humbly in the mid '70s, and asked the Temptations to take him back, and Otis said "No!". I really doubt that otis would have asked David to come back.

[RossHolloway]

Dennis Edwards said in an interview that shortly after he had joined the group in 1968, they had invited David back into the group, but when he failed to show up for a performance they gave up on David and Dennis was in for good.

[reese]

I read that during the late 70s, Gamble and Huff attempted a reunion of the Tempts which would have included David and Eddie. They couldn't pull it together, and the eventual reunion didn't happen until years later.

But aside from the reunion, after all of the trouble in the 60s, it doesn't make sense to me that the Tempts would ask David back as a regular member. They were doing very well without him.

[soulster]

Dennis Edwards said in an interview that shortly after he had joined the group in 1968, they had invited David back into the group, but when he failed to show up for a performance they gave up on David and Dennis was in for good.

And, isn't that about the time Kendricks and Ruffin got tight, and Kendricks started making it known that he wanted to leave?

[RossHolloway]

And, isn't that about the time Kendricks and Ruffin got tight, and Kendricks started making it known that he wanted to leave?

I'm not sure of all the dynamics that were in play at that time. I seem to remember that Kendricks and Ruffin were pretty close while in the group together, but wasn't it Paul's dismissal that sealed the deal for Eddie to leave?

[captainjames]

I believe you are right about Paul but I think it was a combination of Paul and David and the iron fist !!

[edafan]

thank god for Otis

He and Melvin knew that they had to keep performing to make a buck. A lot of artists thought that just making records would make them money.

also Otis and Melvin got rights to produce their songs upon return to Motown. Curtis Mayfield on one hand and Otis and Melvin on the other took them from indentured servitude to respect and a little more money.

Still other musicians made little money.

At least they had the guts to stand up to the power figures.

edafan

[RossHolloway]

Here's a great interview with Dennis Edwards. It's long but definitely worth the watch.

[soulster]

also Otis and Melvin got rights to produce their songs upon return to Motown. Curtis Mayfield on one hand and Otis and Melvin on the other took them from indentured servitude to respect and a little more money.

Uh...huh??? Where does Curtis Mayfield fit into all of this? He was the leader of The Impressions, and ran a small empire way back before the Temps ever signed with Motown. Otis and Mel may have had control of the group, but Motown, and their producers still had control over all of them. Mayfield was producing and writing long before that. And, in the 70s, the Impressions were still under Mayfield's guidance without him even being a part of the group.

Still other musicians made little money.

At least they had the guts to stand up to the power figures.

Show me where the Tempts ever stood up to Gordy or Whitfield.

[edafan]

Curtis Mayfield won the right to control his recordings. I believe he started CURTOM record company. Otis And Melvin were not going back to Motown unless they were treated better than before.

edafan

[soulster]

Curtis Mayfield won the right to control his recordings. I believe he started CURTOM record company. Otis And Melvin were not going back to Motown unless they were treated better than before.

edafan

That's my point. Curtis Mayfield still had more control.

[radionixon]

Don't forget David [[and Eddie!) both actually did rejoin the Temptations briefly in 1982.



Maybe a few years too late, but interesting as a hint of what might have happened anyway. Even though it all went to pot shortly afterwards, I still love that photo.

[edafan]

Don't forget David [[and Eddie!) both actually did rejoin the Temptations briefly in 1982.



Maybe a few years too late, but interesting as a hint of what might have happened anyway. Even though it all went to pot shortly afterwards, I still love that photo.

I love that photo also.

Richard Street belongs in the Temptations RRHOF.

Last year I wrote to them about it. I never heard back from them.

And we all know why various members left. It's about the benjamins.


Then various members/ex-members found out that they could make money
as tribute groups. Even when the trio of David Eddie Dennis went out, they sometimes tried new material, but the audience wanted the good old stuff. Now Dennis' group is the closest to the original classic six because he is one of the classic six. Otis's official Temptations group is O K. But I still credit Otis as the business man. Look at other groups. While they had as much talent, without an Otis/clone as a business man they did not have the longevity.
One great later song I love is Magic with Melvin and Ali-Ollie Woodson. It didn't get the push to be a top record but it comes close to matching the early stuff.

Otis and Dennis now still make money. Thank God for that.

In the very early days of the internet, 1990, I got an email from
Damon Harris, RIP. He started a website, about Postate cancer. I took his articles about the
6 different treatment options to my doctor. He said it was great information. Then he asked me if I got that cancer, which one would I choose? I said, cut them out and take testosterone shots, and he said " Right! "
also I met Otis in 2002 and the others when Bo was the lead singer.
edafan

[arr&bee]

Folks maynot realize that paul stayed in the group until his doctors told him he couldn't perform,eddie was gone before paul.

[edafan]

Folks maynot realize that paul stayed in the group until his doctors told him he couldn't perform,eddie was gone before paul.

I agree. Richard Street was singing Paul's parts from the wings off stage.


edafan

[thomas96]

Don't forget David [[and Eddie!) both actually did rejoin the Temptations briefly in 1982.



Maybe a few years too late, but interesting as a hint of what might have happened anyway. Even though it all went to pot shortly afterwards, I still love that photo.

Wasn't that done by Suzanne De Passe? Ended up not working out at all, mainly because of David.