David Ruffin (1941-1991) was an American R&B singer. He was the tenor and lead singer of The Temptations from 1964 to 1968. He is the lead singer of such hit songs as:
1964: My Girl
1966: I’m Losing You
1967: I Wish it Would Rain
1968: Ain’t Too Proud to Beg
1969: My Whole World Ended
1975: Walk Away From Love
He did all of them on the Motown record label and all but the last two with the Temptations.
He had a rough voice and wore glasses with thick, dark rims, which became something of a trademark for him. He used to go with Tammi Terrell, the one who sang so many songs with Marvin Gaye.
He was fired from the Temptations in 1968. His cocaine habit made it hard for him to show up to work on time and he became so full of himself that he would refuse to ride in the bus with the others and wanted the Temptations to be named “David Ruffin and the Temptations”. Not only was he hard to work with, but he also asked uncomfortable questions about where all the money was going. Dennis Edwards took his place.
In the 1970s he sang on his own, but still for Motown since he was under contract to them. He had some hits, but his cocaine habit and the lack of support from Motown made it hard.
He left Motown in 1977 and continued to record and perform right up to the end of his life. In the 1980s he performed again with the Temptations and then separately with Eddie Kendricks, also a one-time singer of the Temptations, and later with both Kendricks and Dennis Edwards.
At Live Aid in 1985 he performed with Eddie Kendricks and two fans named Hall & Oates. Although a hero to Daryl Hall, Hall had a little patience for Ruffin’s drug habit.
It was crack cocaine that killed Ruffin in the end, at age 50.
Ruffin was born in Whynot, Mississippi, not far from Meridian. He never knew his mother: she died when he was still a baby. He was the son of a strict Baptist minister, growing up singing gospel music. In 1955 at age 14 he left home and headed for Memphis. There he joined the gospel scene. He knew the Staple Singers and the Womack brothers. Ruffin himself became part of Dixie Nightingales – not to be confused with the much more famous Dixie Hummingbirds.
Two years later he moved on and came to Detroit, where his brother Jimmy was a singer. There Ruffin started singing for a record label owned by a sister of Berry Gordy. It would later become part of Motown.
In 1964 he joined the Temptations: their tenor had just been fired and Ruffin was a good performer on stage, so they hired him.
At first he was meant to be a backing singer with Eddie Kendricks as lead, but then in 1964 Smokey Robinson wrote a song just for his voice: “My Girl”. It was a huge hit and the rest is history.
See also:
Tue 14 Oct 2008 at 13:49:02
I am compelled to change the subject briefly to direct readers to this Hitch piece:
http://www.slate.com/id/2202163/
I have found myself frequently in disagreement with Hitch. He is challenging, ornery, pugnacious as hell and not afraid to put his neck on the chopping block. This time, I agree with him on many of his points.
As to David Ruffin, there is no discounting his contribution to the world of great R&B performances. And he wasn’t an idiot savant like Snoop Dog. He came by his chops and his stage presence and his delivery the hard way, through years and years of the gospel circuit. The world these days is sorely lacking becuase of the dearth of singers like this.
At that same time, and not to discount the role played in his tragic trajectory by his own personal demons, Ruffin’s story is the story of Motown and Berry Gordy writ large. Berry was, if anything, eager to chew up and spit out his talent. The B side of Gordy’s slick stage productions was a rat’s nest of adultery, drug use, violence and intimidation, graft, and other forms of dirty dealing. Berry was a pimp in the truest form, and the talented artists who were his product generally suffered the worse for the association with him. David Ruffin perhaps being Exhibit A.
Tue 14 Oct 2008 at 14:30:13
I read Christopher Hitchens’s column last night. I mostly agree with it too. I just posted part of it and the link. Thanks for reminding me about it.
Thu 16 Oct 2008 at 14:34:21
So that’s David Ruffin. The guy that played him in the Temptation (I think his name is Leon something. One of my favorite actors) looked way better then the real one. I love that movie.
Abagond, I’m loving your web blogs man. Keep it up!
Fri 17 Oct 2008 at 17:35:46
Thanks.
You do not remember Leon’s last name (Robinson) because his stage name is just that – Leon:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Robinson
Hollywood made David Ruffin better looking, but they also gave him a sadder death – something Ruffin’s family did not like!
Wed 19 Nov 2008 at 19:34:13
How can you say that Leon looks better than David Ruffin when he (Leon) looks like David’s twin. Have you ever seen earlier photos of David? I suggest you review them,then make your verdict. David and Leon looks just alike. When I saw the Temptations movie, if I just hadn’t known any better I would have sworn that David had been reincarnate through Leon. I love the both of them. I grew up with every song/album the Tempts made. I was eight years old and I would look at David so admirably, not a school girl crush, just in my heart I knew he was a very sweet individual and a christian. So when you start comparing people ask yourself How do I look?
Resprctfully,
Cora
Sat 4 Apr 2009 at 19:24:13
it’s funny how a person is depicted in a movie and in the name of it’s a true story every detail is believed. Leon is a good actor, but who wrote the script and from who’s notes. There is much to be desired about David Ruffin. While the movie did not say, he had a separate contract, he was close friends the big family. What the movie did not stress was JEALOUSY, because David was the MAN. Somebody was Jealousy. As a kid I knew something was wrong when David left. It funny how mean, nasty, ole Jealous people sleep at night. Seems nothing’s new in the music industry. I wish somebody would tell the truth. Why did Eddie and Dennis leave. Why is it you can find other group members following David with the balls to lead classics. comments: u r wrong, just can’t be done, ’cause Ruff was the MAN. There will never be another!!!
Sat 4 Apr 2009 at 19:27:36
Will respond to all posts at this site only.
Mon 22 Jun 2009 at 19:07:55
Excellent writing, Blanc2, and precisely reflective of my feelings about Gordy. I really love the way you expressed so much so succinctly, yet expressively in the paragraph about Berry & Ruffin. I might suggest that Flo Ballard was Gordy’s Exhibit A, and Ruffin the B.
I really wish someone would make a follow-up to Otis’s Temptations movie, with a sensitive, in-depth follow-up to the stories of Ruffin & Kendricks. I had hoped for such in the Street Gold video, but it is a charming collection of footage, not particularly revealing except what one may infer by close observation.