The Real David Ruffin Story

[Music] david ruffin born january 18th 1941 in wyand mississippi 15 miles from meridian mississippi he was the third born son of elias eli ruffin a baptist minister bendiphilia ruffin his siblings were quincy b ruffin reid ameruffin and jimmy lee ruffin ruffin also had another sister regime who died in infancy david ruffin's parents were both natives of mississippi his father eli worked as a truck driver at numerous lumber mills and his mother ophelia worked out of their home eli's parents had moved from alabama to mississippi because of the harsh circumstances of living after the american civil war [Music] prior to living in alabama david ruffin's great grandparents john ruffin and clara ruffin had moved from birdie county north carolina john ruffin was a civil war veteran fighting with the 14th united states colored heavy artillery regiment bruffen's father was strict and at times violently abusive ruffin's mother died ten months after his birth in 1941 and his father married airline as schoolteacher in 1942 as a young child ruffin along with his other siblings older brothers quincy and jimmy and sister riedemay traveled with their father and their stepmother as hay family gospel group opening shows for mahalia jackson and the five blind boys of mississippi among other [Music] ruffins sang in the choir at mount salem methodist church talent shows and wherever else he could in 1955 at the age of 14 he left home under the guardianship of the minister eddie bush and went to memphis tennessee with the purpose of pursuing the [Music] ministry some say that david only wanted to get away from his abusive father david looked at eddie bush as a father [Music] at 15 ruffin went to hot springs arkansas with a jazz musician phineas newborn senior there they played at the 50 grand ballroom and casino billed as little david bush ruffin continued to sing at talent shows worked with horses at a jockey club and eventually became a member of the dixie [Music] nightingales he also sang with the soul stirs briefly after the departure of johnny taylor it was in ruffin's travels as a teenager that he met such later popular personalities as elvis presley little richard frankie lymon bobby womack the staple singers swan silvertones and the dixie hummingbirds [Music] after some of his singing idols such as sam cooke and jackie wilson had left gospel music and gone secular ruffin also turned in that direction eddie bush and his wife dorothy helen took the then 16 year old ruffin to detroit michigan where his brother jimmy was pursuing a career in music while simultaneously working at the ford motor company [Music] after moving to detroit with the bushes ruffin recorded his first released record with the songs you and i 1958 believe me 1958 these songs were recorded at vega records and released under the name little david bush using the last name of his guardian ruffin would later recall how he initially recorded a different kind of music strongly influenced by the smoother pop and rnb of the time when he first recorded in detroit for vega in 1957 ruffin met barry gordy jr then a songwriter with ambitions of running his own label ruffin lived with gordy's father a contractor and belt pops gordy do construction work on the building that would become hitsville usa the headquarters for gordy's tambler records later motown records label ruffin's brother jimmy would eventually be signed to tamla's miracle records label is an artist ruffin also worked alongside another ambitious singer marvin gaye as an apprentice at banner records a chess distributed label run by gordy's sister gwen gordy fuqua and his songwriting partner billy davis [Music] ruffin created music as both the vocalist and drummer in the voice masters the do-wop style combo and eventually started recording at anna records and recorded the song i'm in love in one of these days in 1961 with the voice masters a group which included future motown producer lamont dozie ruffin did sign to anna records as a solo artist but his work in that time was unsuccessful he didn't put out any hints ruffin eventually met an up-and-coming local group by the name of the temptations his older brother jimmy went on a motortown review tour with the temptations and he told david that they needed someone to sing tenor in their group david shared his interest in joining the group with otis williams who lived very close to ruffin in detroit during the temptations first two years with motown they only scored one charting single dream come true which hit number 22 on the r and b charts the b side to the single isn't she pretty featured all five members trading lead vocals but despite its commercial success the singles still failed to make the us billboard hot 100 pop singles charts just as the group's other six singles released during this period their lack of national success caused member eldridge brian to become restless he had a regular day job as a milkman which he preferred to constantly performing and recording with a group [Music] by 1963 bryant had become sometimes volatile and unpredictable to deal with and he also had a heavy drinking problem one mid-1963 backstage altercation between bryant and paul williams resulted in brian smashing a beer bottle across paul's face and landed him in the hospital [Music] in january 1964 ruffin became a member of the temptations after founding member elbridge al bryant was fired from the group ruffin's first recording session with the group was january 9 1964 though both david and jimmy were considered david was given the edge thanks to his performance skills these were displayed when he joined the temptations on stage during the label's new year's eve party in 1963. after joining the temptations the bespectacled ruffin initially sang backgrounds while the role of lead singer mostly alternated between eddie kendricks and paul williams he did sing a few lead parts both on stage and in the studio during his first year with the group but his leads on these studio tracks would not be released for over a year as they were not considered good enough to showcase his vocals [Music] smokey robinson who produced and co-wrote most of the temptations material at this point so ruffin during this period as a sleeping giant in the group with a unique voice that was mellow yet gruff robinson thought that if he could write just the perfect song for ruffin's voice then he could have a smash hit the song was to be something that ruffin could belt out yet something that was also melodic and sweet when robinson achieved his goal the song my girl was recorded in november 1964 and released a month later it became the group's first number one single in 1965. [Music] my girl subsequently became the temptation signature song and elevated rough into the role of lead singer and frontman the follow-ups to my girl were also extremely successful singles and included them roughing led hits its growing 1965 since i lost my baby 1965 my baby 1965 ain't too proud to beg 1966 beauty is only skin deep 1966. i know i'm losing view 1966 all i need 1967 loneliness made me realize it's you that i need 1967 i wish it would rain 1967 and i could never love another after loving you 1968. the tall 6-3 ruffin's passionate and dramatic performances endeared him to the temptations audiences and fans according to otis williams ruffin playfully nicknamed brought by the group was a natural comedian and a hard-working singer when he first joined the group bruffen's most notable non-vocal contribution to the temptations was the masterminding of their trademark four-headed microphone stand this enabled the other members to sing and do their dances without having to crowd around one microphone while the lead singer would sing into a separate microphone by 1967 however difficulties with ruffin became an issue for the group he became addicted to cocaine and began missing rehearsals and performances refusing to travel with the other temptations ruffin and his then girlfriend hammy terrell traveled in a custom limo with the image of his trademark black grind glasses painted on the door after the supremes had their name changed to diana ross and the supremes in early 1967 ruffin felt that he should become the focal point of the temptations just as diana ross was for her group and began demanding that the group name be changed to david ruffin and the temptations this led to a number of disagreements between ruffin and the groupsta actor leader otis will david knew that he was the best singer in the group could nobody i mean nobody blow like david ruffin his voice was powerful women have had orgasms just by listening to him sing david was a ladies man he allegedly slept with hundreds of women around this time david was addicted to cocaine he needed it so much that he began traveling with his supplier the drugs and alcohol began getting the best of david he began partying every night in addition to the group's problems with ruffin's ego he began inquiring into the temptations financial records demanding an accounting of the group's money this caused friction between ruffin and gordy [Music] amacina winifred montgomery aka tammy terrell was born april 29 1945 in philadelphia perel's career began as a teenager first recording for scepter wand records before spending nearly nine months as a member of james brown's review recording for brown's try me fable after a period attending college terrell recorded briefly for checker records before signing with motown in 1965. in early 1967 motown hired terrell to sing duets with marvin gaye who had achieved duet success with mary wells and kim weston as well as having recorded duets with [Music] omaha after escaping an abusive relationship with james brown tammy began a volleyball relationship with david ruffin in 1966 david surprised her with a marriage proposal however when she announced there engagement on stage davis became upset tammy was devastated once she discovered that he had a wife three children and another girlfriend in detroit [Music] david drug use and infidelity led to them having public fights it was claimed to david that tammy in the head with a hammer earl van dyke leader of motown's funk brothers band recalled seeing david beat up tammy at the motown hitsville usa headquarters david was a very abusive man he once hit tammy in the face with his motorcycle helmet leading to the end of their relationship in 1967 [Music] amy went on to record classic duets with marvin gaye but she unfortunately died from a brain tumor at the age of 24 in 1970 [Music] in june 1968 the temptations agreed the trophen had finally crossed the line when he mr june cleveland ohio date with the temptations in order to attend a performance by his new girlfriend barbara gail martin dean martin's daughter ruffin was fired on june 27th and replaced with dennis edwards a former member of the entourage who had been a friend of ruffin and the group as a whole beforehand though ruffin himself personally encouraged edwards to take his place ruffin began turning up unannounced to temptations concerts during edward's first few dates with the group when the group started to perform a roughing era song such as my girl lorraine too proud the bag ruffin would suddenly walk onto the stage take the microphone from edwards hands and steal the show embarrassing the group but entertaining the fans david and the group leader otis williams even gotten into a fistfight a few times [Music] according to edwards the adulation and ruffins please convince the other four temptations to give ruffin a second chance but when he arrived late to what was to be his return show with a group in gaithersburg maryland the temptations decided to keep edwards and drop considerations of rehiring ruffin [Music] in october 1968 ruffin filed suit against motown records seeking a release from the label and an accounting of his money motown counter sued to keep the singer from leaving the label and eventually the case was settled the settlement required ruffin to remain with motown to finish out his initial contract ruffin joined motown as a solo artist and always had a separate contract from the other temptations which some felt caused a lot of the infighting within the group [Music] ruffin's first solo single was a song originally intended for the temptations my whole world ended the moment you left me the single from the album also entitled my whole world ended was released in 1969 and reached the us pop in rnb top 10. this was followed by the 1969 album feeling good a third album titled david was recorded in 1970-71 but was shelved by motown and did not see commercial release until 2004 in 1970 ruffin recorded an album with his brother jimmy i am my brother's keeper for which they had minor hits with when my love hand comes tumbling down and your love was worth waiting for [Music] this next official release for motown did not arrive until 1973 when david ruffin was released while his solo career initially showed promise ruffin went into decline reportedly in part because of his cocaine addiction and the lack of support from motown his final top 10 hit was walk away from love in 1975 produced by van mccoy which reached number nine on the pop charts it was also ruffin's only entry into the uk charts as a solo artist and was a hit there as well making it into the top 10 peaking at number 10 in early 1976. the single sold over 1 million copies and was awarded a gold disc by the riaa in february 1976 [Music] after leaving motown in 1977 ruffin recorded for warner bros records releasing the albums so soon we change 1979 and gentlemen ruffin 1980. he later signed with rca records accompanied by former temptations colleague eddie kendricks who chose to rekindle their friendship when kendricks himself started experiencing problems with the temptations [Music] in 1982 ruffin and eddie kendricks rejoined the temptations for the recording of their album reunion and a tour to promote the album the album included the rnb hit standing on the top with rick james the reunion tour was short-lived however as ruffin started to this shows as a result of his cocaine addiction leading the group to be fined thousands of dollars bodus williams fired ruffin from the group for the second and final time along with hendricks whose voice was weakened due to heavy smoking by christmas 1982. [Music] ruffin started touring with kendricks who dropped the s from his last name at this time as a duo act in 1985. that year long time temptations fans haul and oats teamed up with ruffin and kendrick to perform at the reopening of the apollo theater in new york their performance was released as a successful live album and single around this time david was addicted to crack cocaine he started off freebasing with other celebrities crack became david's drug of choice after being inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame with the temptations in 1989 for bruffen kendrick and dennis edwards began touring and recording as rough and kendrick edwards former leads of the temptations in 1991 they completed a successful month-long tour of england which grossed nearly three hundred thousand dollars after completing the successful month-long tour of england with kendricks and edwards david decides to go and celebrate instead of going straight home david went to a nearby crack house to get high [Music] ruffin and a man named william now split 20 vials of crack cocaine hours before ruffin collapsed in the crack house although the cause of death was ruled an accident ruffins family and friends suspected foul play claiming that a money belt containing forty thousand dollars was missing from his body bruffen was taken to the hospital by a limousine and was escorted to the waiting area by his driver who informed the attendance of his identity david ruffin died on june 1st 1991 from a drug overdose of crack cocaine he was 50 years old [Music] ruffin had many admirers among his fellow artists nobody could sing like david ruffin said his close friend and colleague martha reeves of martha and the vandela's fame his contemporary label mate and long-time acquaintance marvin gaye was particularly impressed with the virility of ruffin's voice gay said ruffin's work made me remember that when a lot of women listen to music they want to feel the power of a real man beryl hall said his voice had a certain glorious anguish that spoke to people on many emotional levels ruffin himself said i don't know what kind of voice i have i really don't it's just about the feeling i get for the song broad stewart said i wish it would rain jumped out of the speakers and ravished my soul stewart would later become friends with ruffin his voice was so powerful like a foghorn on the queen mary stewart told rolling stone magazine in 2005 in 2013 david ruffin was inducted twice into the rhythm and blues music hall of fame at cleveland state university he is inducted as a solo artist and member of the temptations bruffen is also inducted into the mississippi musician's hall of fame [Music] he'll always be remembered as the greatest temptation and as motown greatest singer his voice have brought tears to many people eyes many call his voice the voice of god he inspired great musicians such as michael jackson prince babyface among others we felt his pain through his voice david ruffin will always be the greatest singer of all time thank you for watching see you next time [Music] you

Channel: Drugstore Films

Views: 460,387

Rating: 4.7649889 out of 5

Keywords: David Ruffin, Temptations, Motown, Eddie Kendrick, Tammi Terrell, Barry Gordy, Drugs, Motor city, Documentary, Michael Jackson, James brown

Id: hr2J1XLDJOs

Length: 24min 15sec (1455 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 02 2020