![]() Kendricks also sang lead on two other 1964 hits, “I’ll Be In Trouble” and “Girl (Why You Wanna Make Me Blue).” After David Ruffin, who joined the group in 1964, emerged as another powerful voice within the group on the 1965 hit “My Girl,” Kendricks and Ruffin largely split lead singing duties. Robinson became the producer on the group’s next few hits. In early 1964, producer and composer Smokey Robinson worked with the group to record “The Way You Do The Things You Do,” which reached number 11 on the pop charts. Kendricks and Williams were the main lead singers on the Temptations’ first few singles, with Kendricks singing lead on “Dream Come True,” their first R&B chart hit. The group made its recording debut in mid-1961 with “Oh, Mother of Mine” on Motown’s short-lived Miracle logo. The new quintet initially was known as the Elgins but soon changed its name to the Temptations. With the addition of Kendricks and Paul Williams (no relation to Otis), the audition was successful. Otis Williams needed two more singers to round out his new group for a Motown Records audition. Kendricks and Williams were contacted by Otis Williams who, along with Melvin Franklin and Elbridge Bryant, was an ex-member of another recently defunct group, the Distants. There they renamed themselves the Primes, but Osbourne’s departure for a solo career in Los Angeles ended the group. Their group, the Cavaliers (which included their friends Kel Osborn and Jerome Averette) moved to Cleveland in 1957 and took on manager Milton Jenkins, who brought them to Detroit. Kendrick and Williams began singing secular material around Birmingham during the mid-1950s. While living in the Tuxedo Junction section of Ensley, he met another young singer, Paul Williams, in their church choir. After lending his voice to a number of hit songs by the group, Kendricks went solo in 1971 and recorded other hits for Motown Records, including the dance floor classics “Keep On Truckin'” and “Boogie Down.”īorn December 17, 1939, in Union Springs, Bullock County, to Johnny and Lee Bell Kendrick, Eddie James Kendrick (the “s” was added to his name later) moved with his family to Birmingham, Jefferson County Kendrick had four siblings, a sister and three brothers. Eddie Kendricks (1939-1992) was the first lead tenor for the Temptations, one of the most popular rhythm and blues (R&B) vocal groups of the 1960s.
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