Speaker 1: Course Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. This classic
Speaker 1: episode was produced by the team at Pandora.
Speaker 2: What up, y'all is Laiyah from Team Supreme. Okay, So
Speaker 2: it's June, and you know it is Black Music Month. Now,
Speaker 2: this month and its cause was started by my godmother,
Speaker 2: Dianna Williams, the legendary Kenny Gamble, and the great and
Speaker 2: right back in nineteen seventy nine after being invited to
Speaker 2: the White House along with the Black Music Association. Now,
Speaker 2: the Black Music Association was a group of black folks
Speaker 2: that were the best of the best of the music industry.
Speaker 2: I'm talking record execs, I'm talking radio people, I'm talking artists.
Speaker 2: I'm talking to everybody from Clarence Avon and Frankie Crocker
Speaker 2: to Percy Sutton, everybody in the middle right. So they
Speaker 2: all get invited to this big party on the White
Speaker 2: House lawn June seventh, nineteen seventy nine. And before the
Speaker 2: performances started, President Carter said many things addressing and reminding
Speaker 2: people of the importance of Black Music Month, and one
Speaker 2: of the things he said was end quote in many ways,
Speaker 2: the feeling of our own black citizens throughout the history
Speaker 2: of our country has been accurately expressed in the music,
Speaker 2: and it presents a kind of history of our nation
Speaker 2: when you go back and see the evolution of black
Speaker 2: music word. So, we've spoken a lot about Black Music
Speaker 2: Month on Questlove Supreme, and this June we are running
Speaker 2: a different episode from the QLs archives every single day
Speaker 2: in the name, spirit and cause of Black Music Month.
Speaker 2: Here is the one and only Otis Williams as you
Speaker 2: have never heard him from the Temptations.
Speaker 1: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to a special Quest Love Supreme.
Speaker 1: I'm your host Quest Love Jenkins, and with me today
Speaker 1: is Boss Phil, Sugar Steve and it's li Eah Team Supreme.
Speaker 1: Today we are celebrating a legacy. For the past six decades.
Speaker 1: Yes was the glue that held together one of the
Speaker 1: most tightest elegant music dynasties in the history of modern
Speaker 1: Western music. Their brand, a sophisticated pop and soul with
Speaker 1: such gems as my Girl, the way you Do Things
Speaker 1: you do in at Proud to Big just the name
Speaker 1: of a few was just as crucial to the Civil
Speaker 1: Rights era as lived every voice to sing.
Speaker 3: There isn't a vocal group or band act of today
Speaker 3: or in the past, who has not been influenced by them,
Speaker 3: from their macline vocal harmony structure, to their choreography, to
Speaker 3: their outfits, to their songs of love that have stood
Speaker 3: the test of.
Speaker 1: Time, to their political anthems. Just as relevant twenty eighteen
Speaker 1: as it was in nineteen sixty eight, music would not
Speaker 1: be what it is today without the Temptations, and the
Speaker 1: Temptations would not be the everlasting institution it is without
Speaker 1: the one and only heartbeat of the Temptations. Lady and gentleman,
Speaker 1: please welcome our guests, Sir Otus Williams to quest of.
Speaker 4: Thank you, rattle that off real good.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm gonna do something a little different than
Speaker 1: I normally do on the show. Well, I want to
Speaker 1: ask you. Normally I want to go back to the beginning,
Speaker 1: but I want to ask you what keeps you going well?
Speaker 4: Of couse, on the real side, it's love. What I do.
Speaker 4: You know, when you stop and think about this world
Speaker 4: that we live in, and now all the people that
Speaker 4: inhabit this world, it's a small microcosm of us that
Speaker 4: are getting that to get a chance to do what
Speaker 4: we'd like to do for a long time, you know,
Speaker 4: and God has blessed me to be able to ride
Speaker 4: the hell off the horse. So I'm enjoying this yere.
Speaker 4: You know, it's a labor of love. And when you
Speaker 4: can bring happiness to the world over in by way
Speaker 4: of music, you know, music have been able to do
Speaker 4: some things that politicians haven't been able to do. So
Speaker 4: I love what I do and I'm thankful to God
Speaker 4: for you know, still being able to do it the
Speaker 4: fifty eight years.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's impressive as as someone that's at the epicenter
Speaker 1: of a group of people and not controlling them per se.
Speaker 1: But I know the headaches, the daily headaches that it
Speaker 1: takes to manage different band attitudes and whatever it be
Speaker 1: it uh you're trying to put it. I'm just saying
Speaker 1: that I admire you so much. And you know, I've
Speaker 1: read I've read your book when when I was like seventeen,
Speaker 1: your your your autobiography that came out, and like, like,
Speaker 1: I know that being the glue of an institution is
Speaker 1: one of the hardest things. Like where you wake up
Speaker 1: daily or weekly trying to figure out what can I
Speaker 1: get through this day without sure drama? And you know,
Speaker 1: I know that you've gone through like members of the
Speaker 1: group and yeah, arguments like yeah, all that is it?
Speaker 1: Is it worth it that? That's really my my my question.
Speaker 1: Is it worth it that?
Speaker 4: Well? You know, look, I look at it. First of all,
Speaker 4: you're dealing with people. When you understand that you're dealing
Speaker 4: with people, then you have to really understand that a
Speaker 4: lot of you know, things come along with that, and uh,
Speaker 4: it's worth it, you know because when we're on stage
Speaker 4: and we here and see people with tears in their eyes.
Speaker 4: And I'm not talking about ladies, I'm talking about grown men,
Speaker 4: you know. And we were on one night a few
Speaker 4: weeks ago and my robe bandager said, Dougie, his name
Speaker 4: is Dougie, we called him Douge. He said, oh, you
Speaker 4: have got to see this little three year old boy
Speaker 4: playing with his car and he said, do do do
Speaker 4: do do do dud Uh he's three years old. So
Speaker 4: when you see from three years old all the way
Speaker 4: up to almost one hundred, it's worth it. You know.
Speaker 4: You just have to put up with, uh, you know,
Speaker 4: the shenanigans and the moods and the what have you
Speaker 4: with people, you know, but God has helped me to
Speaker 4: make it through. They said Barry Gordy and a lot
Speaker 4: of the heavyweights at Motown and thereabout have said, oh,
Speaker 4: you are the glue that holds the Temptations together. And
Speaker 4: I figured that day, if my shoulders are big enough
Speaker 4: and strong enough to do it, then it's well worth
Speaker 4: the wait, because when I'm at home and I walk
Speaker 4: around my house and look at all of all the
Speaker 4: things that I've achieved, it's worth there. You know, it
Speaker 4: would be like me crying with a lot of bread
Speaker 4: on the moms. So I really can't complain.
Speaker 1: Okay, I gotta I gotta take that into accountant. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I really like this guy.
Speaker 4: You would.
Speaker 1: So in the days of the Elgins, before you became
Speaker 1: a temptation. First of all, how did you guys? What
Speaker 1: was the transformation from the Elgins to the Temptations.
Speaker 4: Well, even before the Elegins, my group was called ODIs Williams.
Speaker 4: In the distance. We were with a little small they
Speaker 4: were called Northern Records, and the lady that ran the label,
Speaker 4: Johnny Maye Matthews, she recalled Listen. We had a nice
Speaker 4: little regional hit called come On, and they did very well,
Speaker 4: so much so that she sold the masters to Warwick Records,
Speaker 4: and so one day she came from New York back
Speaker 4: to Detroit and she just taking out all these hundred dollars.
Speaker 4: You don't select them, these hundred dollar bills. And that
Speaker 4: was about this, about seventeen eighteen years old, and she said, well,
Speaker 4: you guys, your record's gonna be here all over America.
Speaker 4: I sold into Warwick Records and now they can hear
Speaker 4: it all over the world. And I said, oh that's good.
Speaker 4: Did we get some roll with this further? Cause I
Speaker 4: wrote the first uh, the regional hit. And she looked
Speaker 4: at me with the jaunt's eye. She said, you ain't
Speaker 4: getting none of this money. This is my money. Now.
Speaker 4: We were doing record hops backgun those days, and record
Speaker 4: hops is well as you go around to the disc
Speaker 4: jockeys record hops and so they can continue to play records.
Speaker 4: So Smoking Smoking Miracle, Smoking Robinson and the Miracles were
Speaker 4: very hot at the time, and mister Gordon was with them,
Speaker 4: so we could see them from the stage. And as
Speaker 4: they were coming in, we came and mister Gordon said,
Speaker 4: I like your group, your record. If you should leave
Speaker 4: where you are, come see me. And I did you know,
Speaker 4: cause Johnny Mae had said we were gonna get any
Speaker 4: of that money. So I called mister Gordon and he said,
Speaker 4: come on over here, and UH see Mickey Stevens. It
Speaker 4: was A and R man. So Johnny Mae kept the
Speaker 4: name that uh ODIs Swilliams in the distance. So I guess,
Speaker 4: being young and whatever, I said, well keep the name.
Speaker 4: We young, We'll start all over again. So when we
Speaker 4: got over to uh Motown, we stood out in front
Speaker 4: of a building called uh the uh Legal Department of Motown,
Speaker 4: and a guy name was Bill Mitchell. He said, so,
Speaker 4: what are we gonna call you guys? And we stood
Speaker 4: there and we stood there. He said, what about the temptation?
Speaker 4: I said, I like that. And at the time, David
Speaker 4: Ruffing wasn't in the group, but Al Bryant, Eddie Kendricks,
Speaker 4: Paul Williams, and Melvin Franklin myself, uh we were the
Speaker 4: no name group at the time. So I said, I
Speaker 4: like that, and I asked Paul, I'd rather I asked
Speaker 4: all the guys, but Paul Williams said oldis a name
Speaker 4: is whatever we make it. So temptations. So Bill hollered
Speaker 4: back up to legal department put on the contract to temptations.
Speaker 4: And so in nineteen sixty one. All the way up
Speaker 4: till now we have been known as the Temptation.
Speaker 5: The movie totally got that wrong. They over dramatized the
Speaker 5: whole thing.
Speaker 2: They said, y'all was sitting outside for like eight hours
Speaker 2: trying to figure out outside of Hitsville, and then you
Speaker 2: come in and then mister Gordy says, well, what's your name?
Speaker 5: Because I can't have.
Speaker 2: Y'all be whatever y'all said y'all was, and y'all but
Speaker 2: like we got to make it sexy.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, they're deire dramatized.
Speaker 4: You know what I learned when I say, because I'm
Speaker 4: being honest with you, I have yet to sit and
Speaker 4: watch that mini series.
Speaker 1: Seriously, right, I understand that, but I'm just worried because
Speaker 1: now they just they show it so much.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, Well, what I learned a little bit that
Speaker 4: I saw the scene where as Melvin Franklin and myself
Speaker 4: had to go to the David Refference apartment. Now, the
Speaker 4: guy that played me what is this named Charles Malik D. B.
Speaker 4: Woodside who played Melvin and naturally the Leon. So I'm
Speaker 4: standing in the shadows in the way they're getting the
Speaker 4: lighting and everything all fixed up. So Allen Archis, the
Speaker 4: director said, all right, action camera.
Speaker 1: I rolled them.
Speaker 4: The girl came up with the class well BAP and
Speaker 4: the two brothers that played me. One of myself knocked
Speaker 4: on the door and leone opened the door. And when
Speaker 4: they started to deliver their lives, I said, oh no,
Speaker 4: I can't watch this. Now. We're talking about the year
Speaker 4: in nineteen ninety eight, but when that incident happened, it
Speaker 4: was nineteen sixty six, so it lets you know that
Speaker 4: there was still a lot of stuff done underneath. So
Speaker 4: one day we're in New York where my players getting
Speaker 4: ready to open up, I mean in DC at the
Speaker 4: Kennedy Center, and Smoker heard that I hadn't seen the movie.
Speaker 4: He said. He calls me, oh, oh, you mean you
Speaker 4: haven't seen the movie. I said, now, Smoker, I don't
Speaker 4: want to cry. You need to watch a movie. I said, well,
Speaker 4: I'll get round to watch it. I said, well, let
Speaker 4: me ask you something, Smoker. Have you watched it? Oh,
Speaker 4: I'll watch it, I said, did you cry?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 4: I cried, So you need to get your box of
Speaker 4: clean axes and sit down and watch it. I have
Speaker 4: yet to watch it. But when I saw it up
Speaker 4: in Berkeley. I sat there and the move I mean,
Speaker 4: the play is very touching. It's gonna be seen that
Speaker 4: you need to take a clean EXE.
Speaker 2: So wait, what's the difference, cause there's an actual there's
Speaker 2: a play versus the shut Rushes, the mini series that
Speaker 2: we saw.
Speaker 4: Well, the play is very touching. Yeah, in the sense
Speaker 4: of you get another kind of feeling in person. Mm
Speaker 4: and uh so as I'm sitting there watching it, the
Speaker 4: people that's sitting around me, they would watch the play
Speaker 4: and they would do like to.
Speaker 1: See 'em get a glance at you.
Speaker 4: Yeah, they wanna see if I'm crying and true enough
Speaker 4: tears well enough in my eyes because there's a scene
Speaker 4: whereas uh uh the white folks are shooting at us
Speaker 4: down south and uh oh yeah, no, we went through
Speaker 4: all that, you know, so uh yes, it's been very real.
Speaker 4: But you know, I I'm very glad that, you know,
Speaker 4: I was able to put it in paper. Now from
Speaker 4: that to it'll start next month in DC and uh
Speaker 4: it'll be there for five weeks and then they'll go
Speaker 4: to LA and then from LA uh to Toronto and
Speaker 4: then hopefully Broadway. And they're just waiting for the right
Speaker 4: theater and the name of it is Ain't Too Proud?
Speaker 4: The Life and Times of the Temptations.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I got to meet the people that produced that.
Speaker 1: Hight I mean that wrote the screen.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, yeah yeah Detroit girl.
Speaker 1: She's yeah, it's it's it's amazing.
Speaker 2: And do you at least do like have anything to
Speaker 2: do with the casting, either the mini series or the
Speaker 2: play for the person who plays you?
Speaker 5: Do you care?
Speaker 4: Do you well? At first I wanted Lead to play
Speaker 4: me because Leo and I we're pretty close. You know.
Speaker 4: When we got to greenlight that it was going to
Speaker 4: be done on NBC, I told us, say, a man,
Speaker 4: they're going to do the Temps life story. I would
Speaker 4: love for you to play me. He said, oh, oh,
Speaker 4: this man. You know you my man, I'd be glad
Speaker 4: to play you. So the Temps we went to Paris.
Speaker 4: That did one night or so. By the time we
Speaker 4: came back from Paris, my manager Shelley said, well, got
Speaker 4: the green light, we're gonna do it, and uh, but
Speaker 4: I got to tell you good news and bad news.
Speaker 4: I said, Okay, what's that let's say He said, well, Lee,
Speaker 4: it's gonna be in the miniseries. That's all good. So
Speaker 4: what's the band news. He's gonna play David Ruffing? What David?
Speaker 4: I meant what Leon did while we were over in Paris.
Speaker 4: Leon went at the past that we used to wear
Speaker 4: back then and called the content on tight all the
Speaker 4: way down. He went and got his hair, you know,
Speaker 4: like David used to wear in the glasses.
Speaker 5: Wow.
Speaker 4: Yeah. And when he walked into the casting with all
Speaker 4: the powers to be that was sitting there Susane in
Speaker 4: the passing them say you play David Ruffing. That's how
Speaker 4: he got the role.
Speaker 1: It's weird that you haven't seen it because one of
Speaker 1: the most iconic lines from it that's become an internet
Speaker 1: meme is you know I've been getting that class everywhere.
Speaker 4: Yeah, but I said, yeah, but look at me now
Speaker 4: I'm still here.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So when you guys started at motown's explain to
Speaker 1: our listeners the idea of the charm school, Uh oh wow?
Speaker 1: Going through Well, first of all, just the idea of
Speaker 1: what was the idea behind wanting to present that and
Speaker 1: and uh sophisticated sure look to America as a po
Speaker 1: what was it before and why was that such a
Speaker 1: revolutionary move?
Speaker 4: Well, I I think you know talent a lot of
Speaker 4: times need to be cultivated. You know, you gonna have
Speaker 4: all the talent in the world, but it's one thing
Speaker 4: to know how to present yourself when you are, uh,
Speaker 4: you know, really out on front Street. And I have
Speaker 4: to give those accolades to uh. A lot of people
Speaker 4: say Barry Gordon. No, I have to give a credit
Speaker 4: to Harvey fu Kuah. Yeah, Harvey a few Quah was
Speaker 4: from the Moonglows and he knew Charlie Adkins and so
Speaker 4: in the process of Motown really becoming the iconic label
Speaker 4: it is known for today, evidently h uh Harvey must
Speaker 4: have met but Barry and said, you know, we need
Speaker 4: to groom these uh talented kids, and so uh Barry
Speaker 4: felt as though it would be a good idea, and
Speaker 4: they opened up a uh artist development right across the
Speaker 4: street from uh Hitsville. We had to be there when
Speaker 4: uh it was time for us to rehearse from ten
Speaker 4: in the morning toil five to six o'clock in the evening.
Speaker 4: And it was headed by the late Great Charlie Atkins,
Speaker 4: uh the late Great Maurice King who was our vocal coach,
Speaker 4: and Charlie was our choreographer. Johnny Allen who would be
Speaker 4: at the piano and you know, keeping us everything, uh
Speaker 4: you know a theoretical musically uh correct and uh they
Speaker 4: sat down and they would tell us how to really
Speaker 4: carry ourselves. You know, it's one thing to have all
Speaker 4: the talent in the world. But if that's one thing
Speaker 4: I hate, and I'm always trying to be cognizant of it.
Speaker 4: I hate for artists get on. Uh you know do
Speaker 4: INVI well them now do dudes? And you know, don't
Speaker 4: talk correctly. They said, you guys need to know how
Speaker 4: to talk. You know, of course the world to be
Speaker 4: watching you. And they told this thing like four things.
Speaker 4: Maurice King said, don't get involved with you can never
Speaker 4: tell nobody about how they spend their money, religion, Uh,
Speaker 4: who they make love to? And it's the four when
Speaker 4: night politics that I said, politics that so and We've
Speaker 4: had that occasion to come up and I I'm so
Speaker 4: glad that I had that kind of knowledge being taught
Speaker 4: at Motown, you know. So. But they really, you know,
Speaker 4: put a lot into us because they were grooming us
Speaker 4: to go come to the Copa Cabana in the smart rooms.
Speaker 4: So we would have to rehearse from ten in the
Speaker 4: morning to six in the evening and it paid off
Speaker 4: because you know, I look at a lot of the
Speaker 4: earlier films and I can see where the proper presentation
Speaker 4: and how to carry ourselves and how to present ourselves
Speaker 4: in the sense of speaking interviews and what have you.
Speaker 4: So it is one of the only company I believe
Speaker 4: that will that they ever had, that that will never
Speaker 4: ever be another Motown.
Speaker 1: So would you guys, I know that, at least in
Speaker 1: the sixties, to play the Coopa was like the dream, Yes,
Speaker 1: but similar to how Sam Cook would do it, Like
Speaker 1: if you were playing the Black Venue, then he did
Speaker 1: the sure enough get down, yeah, you know, sweat off
Speaker 1: my brow right right right, rebel rousing show. But if
Speaker 1: at the Copa, then shooting time. So would you guys
Speaker 1: have dual shows depending on who the audience was. No,
Speaker 1: so even Mellow Mood Temptations would play the Apollo to
Speaker 1: that after.
Speaker 4: We open up at the Copa, because we hold all
Speaker 4: the existing records at the Copa, we went to the
Speaker 4: Apollo and we opened up with Hello, Young Lovers, I
Speaker 4: really love yes.
Speaker 1: And it worked it yes, yes, So it was almost
Speaker 1: like a job. Well, I saw Michael Jackson's I D card,
Speaker 1: So you guys would have to have these ID cards
Speaker 1: at Motown or or at Hitsville.
Speaker 4: Not really so they so they gave them out, but
Speaker 4: you know, yeah, and then we they knew who we were.
Speaker 4: You know, if we wanted to walk through whatever department does,
Speaker 4: what's happening and temp y'all back in town? You know,
Speaker 4: so it would was nowhere real who you Yeah? Right?
Speaker 1: So how many hours a day would you guys? Uh
Speaker 1: RaSE verse? And how how did Charlie find that much
Speaker 1: time to devote to each of the acts because he
Speaker 1: was he literally was doing everyone from the sixties and
Speaker 1: the seventies, Yeah, and coming up with these ideas like
Speaker 1: what was his creative process too?
Speaker 4: You know? I tell you when I first became away
Speaker 4: of Charlie's uh choreography, the Cadillacs and Detroit where they
Speaker 4: came to Detroit. Man, Now you know Radio City is
Speaker 4: the largest indoor theater in America. Fox did in Detroit
Speaker 4: is the second to see five thousand people going crazy
Speaker 4: over with five guys are going on the stage. And
Speaker 4: I said, that's what I want to do. Now. I
Speaker 4: was about sixteen years old. So one day I met
Speaker 4: one of the cadillacts outside of the Fox, and I
Speaker 4: asked him how did they do all that? Who told
Speaker 4: him that? And he said, well, young brother, you know,
Speaker 4: if you should ever want to do what we're doing,
Speaker 4: look for a young man named Charlie Atkins. Nineteen sixty four,
Speaker 4: we were at the Howard Theater were Gladys Knight and
Speaker 4: a big act. I run out of acts and Charlie
Speaker 4: was there and I said, oh my goodness, that's Charlie
Speaker 4: Atkins and sat and talked with him, and he showed me.
Speaker 4: I still remember the first move. He said, if I
Speaker 4: had you guys, don't the way you do the things
Speaker 4: you do, I'll show you what I would do. And
Speaker 4: he got them, did move and opened his arms and
Speaker 4: there I said, man, But Paul Williams was our choreographer
Speaker 4: of the temps. But they would work it out systematically,
Speaker 4: you know, for the hours they would have, like our
Speaker 4: attempts you all would have from like one o'clock to four,
Speaker 4: and then from four to five the supremes would come in,
Speaker 4: you know. So they had it systematically worked out where
Speaker 4: he would give all the acts that needed to come
Speaker 4: into Motown for that sending amount of time to do it.
Speaker 4: But we had to be there damn there every day.
Speaker 4: I mean it was like being in school. So it
Speaker 4: was worth Oh yeah, it worked.
Speaker 1: So touring with the with the Hitsville Review described to
Speaker 1: our listeners the difference between below the Mason Dixon Line
Speaker 1: touring down south as opposed to doing a show of
Speaker 1: Los Angeles or or was it the same?
Speaker 4: Just no, no, it was different.
Speaker 1: So did you dread? Did you guys dread going down south?
Speaker 4: Not really, because we knew we had fans that wanted
Speaker 4: to see us because our record was breaking out all
Speaker 4: over the you know, America. But you can feel a
Speaker 4: different kind of when chill factor when you got down
Speaker 4: in certain parts of the South. Like I'm from Texas
Speaker 4: and so we were on a Henry Wynn tour who
Speaker 4: was the own of the Royal Peacock in Atlanta, Georgia,
Speaker 4: so he would always have these big rock and roll shows.
Speaker 4: So we got off the bus in Texas and we
Speaker 4: wanted to eat, get something neat, And when we walked
Speaker 4: into this restaurant, white guy said, oh, we don't serve
Speaker 4: and he used the N word and we said we
Speaker 4: don't eat him. You know, we had to find a
Speaker 4: place that we could go and uh, you know that
Speaker 4: would feed us. You know.
Speaker 1: So did you guys use that travel guide? Yeah, with
Speaker 1: green book, Yeah, the Green book, the travel guy that
Speaker 1: lets black artists and black travelers down south know what
Speaker 1: restaurants are, say or what.
Speaker 4: Now, we never did. We just it was a different
Speaker 4: kind of network, you know, because we would find out
Speaker 4: where to go. There were people that, like say and
Speaker 4: said in his book, that would house us as black artists,
Speaker 4: you know, because a lot of hotels wouldn't take us,
Speaker 4: you know, because we were black. So there were certain
Speaker 4: homes and places down there that would, you know, let
Speaker 4: us stay and feed us and what have you.
Speaker 1: Plus you had you also had white people on the
Speaker 1: bus as well. So if it was a case of
Speaker 1: getting to go order of dissions without you guys having
Speaker 1: to go in.
Speaker 4: Like not on our bus. Real all blackness really yeah?
Speaker 4: Wow yeah, yep, Yeah, that's what we were saying.
Speaker 5: I needed a guide or something.
Speaker 4: Yeah. Well we had the best guy in the world.
Speaker 5: God amen.
Speaker 4: He wrote us through all that.
Speaker 1: What was the what was the city the one city
Speaker 1: or state that you dreaded going to, at least in
Speaker 1: that period in the in the mid sixties early sixties.
Speaker 4: Wow, I don't get in trouble. But Mississippi was Mississippi.
Speaker 5: God damn that was here, y'all.
Speaker 4: I mean yeah, but uh, we were in Columbia, South Carolina,
Speaker 4: nineteen sixty four and place was rocking. They had a
Speaker 4: rope right down the center of the auditorium, Blacks on
Speaker 4: one side, whites on the other. So we were singing
Speaker 4: and saying, man, this ship ain't cool, you know, and
Speaker 4: say Okay. We came back, same venue, same city next year.
Speaker 4: That next year there was no rope, black and white
Speaker 4: sitting side by side, booty banging, high fiving and having fun.
Speaker 4: If it wasn't for the sweat that we were sweating,
Speaker 4: you would have seen five guys on stage crying the
Speaker 4: power of.
Speaker 1: Music, were y'all?
Speaker 2: Then after that moment, because they showed up in the
Speaker 2: in the series too. But after that moment, did it change?
Speaker 5: Uh in the.
Speaker 2: Sense of groupies as well, because it was it now
Speaker 2: safe to have like groupies of all colors.
Speaker 5: Like did you see the difference in that?
Speaker 4: Well, what the group is back there?
Speaker 5: I mean, how did that work?
Speaker 4: Like when the uh, you have to be very cautious,
Speaker 4: cautious do that? You know? Uh, we always pretty much
Speaker 4: stayed within our color line, you know, because so we
Speaker 4: knew how if you did that, like Chuck Berry said,
Speaker 4: he did that, he hain't got no, we wasn't getting there.
Speaker 4: No no, no, no no no. I am not going
Speaker 4: to the gray Ball Hotel. You know, so.
Speaker 5: Nice Gray Bard damn.
Speaker 4: Oh, I love it. I've been told you you should
Speaker 4: do an older sism because that's the way my head done.
Speaker 4: Excuse me, what the hell is a ring? Hey, Shelley,
Speaker 4: I'll call you back. It's my manager. I'll call you back.
Speaker 4: Jail shall we still okay? Yeah, see you later, gone.
Speaker 5: See you later, taking.
Speaker 1: Shall He's been the temptatious manager since the beginning correct,
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty six. That's well, that's amazing.
Speaker 4: Yeah, he's getting ready to be eighty years old.
Speaker 1: And still going strong, still sharpens.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, he'll be uh at the play. He's coming
Speaker 4: here because the stage temptations they are already rehearsing now okay,
Speaker 4: and I just talked with a couple of them. So
Speaker 4: he's coming in to sit and watch that and make
Speaker 4: sure everything is going correct.
Speaker 1: It's amazing. So when you when you guys uh got
Speaker 1: to the late sixties and was easing into your Psychedelic phase. Sure,
Speaker 1: I guess it starts with the Cloud nine record. Well,
Speaker 1: first of all, the addition of is that when Dennis
Speaker 1: made his debut with the group.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, uh, Cloud and Iron came about gambling. Huff
Speaker 4: was a friend of mine. Him and I were talking
Speaker 4: Warwick Hotel right up the road. So as him and
Speaker 4: I were talking, uh, we heard this boom boom boom too,
Speaker 4: So it stopped. We stopped and said, uh, who the
Speaker 4: hell is that you know with that? Cause it was
Speaker 4: so different. So we listened and the guy said I
Speaker 4: was Sliding the Family Stone. So went back to Detroit.
Speaker 4: Now Norman Woodfield had recorded Ain't too Proud to Bey,
Speaker 4: Please Return your Love? I wish you would range. So
Speaker 4: we were doing the ballots and what have you. So
Speaker 4: when we came back to Detroit, Norman and I we
Speaker 4: grew up together because he played tambourine on my first
Speaker 4: hit with John Mae Matthews. So I asked you, Norman,
Speaker 4: I said, Norman, have you heard this group called Slide
Speaker 4: the Family Stone? And Norman was very cocky. No, man,
Speaker 4: I ain't hurt. No damn Slide. I said, well you
Speaker 4: should check them out, man, because they're doing something that
Speaker 4: we should probably uh check out because we were letting
Speaker 4: uh David go with the time so normal, no, no, none,
Speaker 4: you know, he did all that A Wolf and the Ghetto.
Speaker 4: So we went out of town, came back in. He
Speaker 4: had recorded the track to Cloud nine. I said, oh, alright,
Speaker 4: now he used it N word O man, let's go
Speaker 4: ahead and record this year. And we went in and recorded.
Speaker 4: Now we were spoiled because most cases when we would
Speaker 4: record any of our records, like the Way You Do Things,
Speaker 4: you do My Girl and what have you, or it
Speaker 4: just run up the charts and just graw from R
Speaker 4: and B right on to pop. So when they released
Speaker 4: Cloud nine, uh, it was spooky, you know, because we
Speaker 4: had gotten so used to having hits jump right on
Speaker 4: the charts right away. So about a week and a half,
Speaker 4: two weeks all but almost three we're gonna say, oh
Speaker 4: my god, Yeah, I said, oh damn we did. We
Speaker 4: didn't dropped on this one motown call. He said, well
Speaker 4: they finally took off, you know. And I guess our
Speaker 4: fans were saying, what the hell did the Temptations do?
Speaker 4: This is so different cause we were just coming off
Speaker 4: for hire to please return your love yeah, and uh
Speaker 4: so you know, Skyrocket and we got the first Grammy
Speaker 4: for the Tams in Motown and that was nineteen sixty eight,
Speaker 4: and that was Dennis's first big hit with the Tams.
Speaker 1: Time Out. Yes, Motown's first Grammy in nineteen sixty eight. Yes,
Speaker 1: so they weren't the Grammys. Weren't that? I mean the
Speaker 1: number one record?
Speaker 4: Like what the fuck? That's what you gotta figure it,
Speaker 4: That's all right, gets old.
Speaker 1: You gotta figure out, like records like South Pacific and
Speaker 1: the Mind of Bob Newheart was like number one, Like
Speaker 1: those records were number one in the sixties, like the Beatles.
Speaker 1: The Beatles don't have a Grammy. Yeah, I don't think that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the Beatles on Wow. So it's just like, yeah, early
Speaker 1: seventies when like, yeah, semi inclusive, you know. Yeah, but yeah,
Speaker 1: that's that's that is crazy to know that. But with Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm glad you brought that up because I always wanted
Speaker 1: to know one. Were you guys even aware or at
Speaker 1: least Norman? I think it was more to Norman than
Speaker 1: less to you guys. But were you guys even aware
Speaker 1: of sly Stones kind of casual flip off on high
Speaker 1: Fun the Summertime to you guys, oh.
Speaker 4: Somewhat yeah, like what did you guys?
Speaker 1: Do you guys know the story about it? Okay? So
Speaker 1: Roses parts of Hot Fun and Summerstime was basically Sly like,
Speaker 1: I we invented the breakdown, the boo boo breakdown and
Speaker 1: you know, like just bucking a little shot. I never
Speaker 1: knew that. But it was aimed at Norman. But did
Speaker 1: he did he ever respond? Did he ever meet Sly
Speaker 1: or do you know?
Speaker 4: Not that I know of, I don't know if he
Speaker 4: ever met Baker. So no, I don't. He never mentioned
Speaker 4: it to me.
Speaker 1: Okay, Okay, Now I've always been curious about that because
Speaker 1: I think Sly like finally revealed it, like maybe fifteen
Speaker 1: years ago. But as far as h Norman Whitfield's productions
Speaker 1: and the heavy militancy, militant message of the group far
Speaker 1: away from wanting to be at the copa And you know,
Speaker 1: how did you guys manage to convince Barry Gordy that
Speaker 1: that's the direction of the group. Like a song like
Speaker 1: Run Charlie Run, which speaks of white flight in the
Speaker 1: most explicit terms possible, like how was how did Barry.
Speaker 4: Take that, you know what quest We were having so
Speaker 4: many hit records with Norman that when we made the
Speaker 4: transition from the Ballots and you know, straight up on
Speaker 4: b on Win to Cloud nine, Norman told me one day,
Speaker 4: he said, you know otis baringhim. Don't even bother us
Speaker 4: anymore about quantity control. Because every Friday they would have
Speaker 4: what they call call it the control everything that was
Speaker 4: recorded during the week. They would sit down at the
Speaker 4: end of the week and listen at and say, yeah, nay,
Speaker 4: what a man, I think this needs to be a
Speaker 4: little more heavy bassed and not too much too much
Speaker 4: of that. You know, they do all that kind of critiquing,
Speaker 4: and so Norman would be part of that. You know,
Speaker 4: he would be in there because he was one of
Speaker 4: the producers. But you know, we were having so many
Speaker 4: hit records with the Norman and that they didn't never
Speaker 4: bother us about whatever we would come up with. Because
Speaker 4: when Norman came up with that song run Charlie, run, huh,
Speaker 4: the niggas will come And I said, Norman, you got
Speaker 4: to be kidding. Yeah, But that was Norman. He was
Speaker 4: that kind of creative person outside of the box.
Speaker 1: Were you guys at all confused about his like, I
Speaker 1: know that he was trying to as a producer, present
Speaker 1: the cinematic scope of you know, have a lot of
Speaker 1: drama and his music, so songs like Masterpiece will let
Speaker 1: six seven minutes go by before the vocals even start,
Speaker 1: which which is unprecedented. I mean now it's standard standard,
Speaker 1: but back then it was like I didn't even know
Speaker 1: that Masterpiece had lyrics that like, I just assumed that
Speaker 1: the whole thing was an instrumental.
Speaker 4: I'll tell you some questions. It's very interesting that you
Speaker 4: should bring that up, because that was the song that
Speaker 4: made me say, oh, we gotta leave Norman. One. We
Speaker 4: were over in our straight on that Belgium, so they
Speaker 4: sent me a breakdown of what was happening, excuse me,
Speaker 4: and the article said that Norman would field singers. We
Speaker 4: all of us, Wow, wait, the Norman would feel singers.
Speaker 4: And it was about Masterpiece. Boy. I mean, I was
Speaker 4: so damn mad I called and said what. So when
Speaker 4: we got back to Detroit, I told Bear, I said,
Speaker 4: we gotta let Norman go because when you listen at
Speaker 4: me the piece, it's just only a little small segment
Speaker 4: of us singing and everything else was all this said,
Speaker 4: beautifully elongated strange horns and doom doom, doom doom all
Speaker 4: that I know. Uh, Mary said yes, yeah, you're right
Speaker 4: because we had such a great run with Norman. But
Speaker 4: you know when they started calling us the Norman Whitfield singers,
Speaker 4: I said, no, no, we didn't work all these years.
Speaker 4: It's hard to lose our identity. Yeah, just that quick.
Speaker 4: And but that's the song that made me call and
Speaker 4: said we gotta go and Berry uh there again was
Speaker 4: always there for Melvin and myself. And that was the
Speaker 4: song that was the uh changing thing from us leaving
Speaker 4: Norman after about eight or nine years of being with
Speaker 4: Norman what hits?
Speaker 1: But what was his theory for making these songs thirteen
Speaker 1: fourteen minutes.
Speaker 4: Look well normal? Is? You know? He was very innovative.
Speaker 4: He always wanted to be different from Smokey and uh
Speaker 4: Holland Dosja Holland and u Astro and Simpson. So he
Speaker 4: definitely always kind of after please Return your Love and
Speaker 4: when we ventured over to uh Cloud nine, he always
Speaker 4: started to think out of the box. So, like I said,
Speaker 4: the Run Charlie Run and uh uh the Cloud Nines
Speaker 4: and the Message from a Black Man that was just
Speaker 4: his way of expressing, uh hisself, of wanting to be different,
Speaker 4: and uh he just uh started thinking that way and
Speaker 4: he we could not get him to come back to
Speaker 4: the sweet Ballance. The only way we got him to
Speaker 4: do just uh my uh just my imagination. Well, I said, Norman,
Speaker 4: we out there, we hear what our found, our fans
Speaker 4: want us to do. You got to come on and
Speaker 4: get off of that side. Yeah, yeah, yeah, man. You
Speaker 4: know to know Norman very cocky, very gootistical, wonderful friend
Speaker 4: of mine. But you have to know how to deal
Speaker 4: with Norman. So he recorded Just My Imagination and that
Speaker 4: was the last record Eddie Kendricks did with us. And
Speaker 4: I so uh saw us on Ed Sullivan and we
Speaker 4: were singing just My Imagination, and I looked at it.
Speaker 4: I said, boy, I wonder if the world can look
Speaker 4: at uh our face and say, those guys don't look
Speaker 4: to be too happy. Mm oh, next time you see it.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 4: Of course they showed it the other night and we're
Speaker 4: sitting there singing on a little box and you know,
Speaker 4: looking just straight ahead, no emotion in your other than sadness,
Speaker 4: and uh but you know that's the way it goes
Speaker 4: sometimes when you're dealing with very uh talented people. I
Speaker 4: was asking how.
Speaker 1: Hard was it to to lose Eddie Kendricks as a
Speaker 1: singer because his I mean with at least with uh
Speaker 1: uh Dennis right and in his raspy baritone fitting but
Speaker 1: Eddie's falsetto is such a.
Speaker 4: Smooth Oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: Was it hard to lose?
Speaker 4: And uh yeah, it was right. It was rough to
Speaker 4: lose uh Eddie because he was such a such a talent,
Speaker 4: you know, far as singing, and he's been no excuse me,
Speaker 4: not that as one of the best tennis group wise.
Speaker 4: Uh yeah, yeah, in the business, you know. But uh,
Speaker 4: I'm often asked about otis when you need to find somebody,
Speaker 4: what do you look for? I look for I don't
Speaker 4: look for talent first, so see that's the look I
Speaker 4: always would get. You don't what I look ahead and heart.
Speaker 4: You can have all the talent in the world. Excuse me,
Speaker 4: if your asshole of a person you're going to negate
Speaker 4: the talent, that's it.
Speaker 1: I can vouch for that. Actually personally, I actually have
Speaker 1: all the talent in the world.
Speaker 4: It's it's unfortunately but accurate.
Speaker 1: When you when you first of all, how how are
Speaker 1: the the exits and enteres. I mean, I'm sure everyone
Speaker 1: in their mind would like to think like everything was
Speaker 1: amicable and you know, guys, I just get my one
Speaker 1: month notice, Like how how how are they executed? And
Speaker 1: how fast do you have to find? Like what was
Speaker 1: the network? Like at least with the Internet, I can
Speaker 1: go on in search and search I got a drummer instantly.
Speaker 4: Yeah, but no, it wasn't like that well for us.
Speaker 4: We were at the Copa and at the time Paul
Speaker 4: Williams then they said it was meming Frank with myself
Speaker 4: and Eddie. Eddie and myself got into an argument. So
Speaker 4: we were doing two shows at the Copa and we
Speaker 4: stayed right around the corner, uh the sharing Netherlands. Uh,
Speaker 4: So I went back to the hotel until uh it
Speaker 4: was time to come back to do the second show.
Speaker 4: We ended up doing the show with four. Eddie just said,
Speaker 4: kissed the monkey on the boss spot, I'm gone and
Speaker 4: we had to do the show at the Copa with four,
Speaker 4: so it was no fellas. Uh after the show, I'm
Speaker 4: gonna leave, Eddie said, yeah, I had to deal with
Speaker 4: that kind of stuff. Oh, I mean I can go
Speaker 4: down in my home that is a friend of mine
Speaker 4: that did a beautiful portrait of twenty two different members. Uh,
Speaker 4: I got to ask her to do oh yeah nice
Speaker 4: twenty four whoa yeah, And I was standing in my
Speaker 4: living room and look from al all the way up
Speaker 4: until till now. But I got a add Willie and
Speaker 4: Larry they.
Speaker 2: Would be Was there ever a moment where you were like, okay,
Speaker 2: just I can't lose melt Like. Was there a person
Speaker 2: like I just can't lose Melvin, I just can't lose it.
Speaker 4: Just we Yeah, well I didn't want to lose mel.
Speaker 5: Well, right because in my mind, I'm like, who replaces Melvion?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, well you got lucky with Ray Davis, like
Speaker 1: if someone had to replace Melvin. Right when I found
Speaker 1: out that Ray Davis was replacement, I was like, oh
Speaker 1: my god, that's that's like because he always wanted to
Speaker 1: be to you know what I mean. So the fact
Speaker 1: that you got him.
Speaker 4: It was a short lived thing with Ray because he
Speaker 4: did for lovers only right, just one project, right, And
Speaker 4: I would always send whomever would join the group to
Speaker 4: the doctor. We said, you have to be checked out
Speaker 4: because we have been told that we are athletes that
Speaker 4: just sing, you know, because there are times were on
Speaker 4: the stage. We have to be on stage for hour
Speaker 4: and hair, you know, doing all that stuff you built
Speaker 4: up be in good shape. So Ray went to our doctor.
Speaker 4: So I always go and get mind your physical for
Speaker 4: what we're doing. So doctor Heygary said, well, old said,
Speaker 4: I got some bad news to tell you. You need
Speaker 4: to look for another bass singer. I said, really, don
Speaker 4: He said, he's not gonna be hit too long. Oh man,
Speaker 4: cancer and our raid didn't smoke, it didn't smoke, and
Speaker 4: true enough we had to let him go because of
Speaker 4: health reasons. Wow. Yeah. But the guy that we have now,
Speaker 4: Willy Green, and you know, people said you oldest have
Speaker 4: found someone almost the equivalents of Melvin England. Yea, yeah,
Speaker 4: Willie is a cold piece of work.
Speaker 2: You mentioned. You know, this whole thing is physical. You
Speaker 2: have to go to the doctors. How do you ODIs
Speaker 2: preserve your knees? I mean y'all performed on hard bottom shoes, yes,
Speaker 2: for decades.
Speaker 4: Well this year, right, kne Now, I've had surgery on
Speaker 4: both knees, you know, from years of dancing, you know,
Speaker 4: and then rehearsing, you know.
Speaker 5: Cause can you wear sneakers? Well, now still the hard Yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I can. Well pretty much. The only thing that
Speaker 4: bother is like going up and coming downstairs. But other
Speaker 4: than that, when it's time to hit the stage, kiss
Speaker 4: the monkey on the balls, I'm there.
Speaker 1: So that's the ass right Wait, speaking of stage, Yeah,
Speaker 1: who invented the Temptations microphone stand? You know what?
Speaker 4: I have to give credit to David Ruffin when they
Speaker 4: were rehearsing us for the Coca Cabato and you know,
Speaker 4: Charlie Atkins Nonfontaine. So we around rehearsing and we had
Speaker 4: a moment just to sit and kick it. So David said, man,
Speaker 4: you know, if we really wanted to be different, you
Speaker 4: know what we should do. We should get a microphone
Speaker 4: that with four heads on it and we can stand
Speaker 4: around that. And so we just you know, kibbish and whatever.
Speaker 4: And uh Lanefontaine, who was helping us, uh do uriciography.
Speaker 4: Uh he said, oh, I know somebody can do that.
Speaker 4: I said really, he said yeah. I said, well, we
Speaker 4: drew up a thing with the pole and the fourheaded
Speaker 4: mic nne knew somebody at the Star Trek back then,
Speaker 4: somebody connected with Star Trek wow fixed the microphone up
Speaker 4: for us and I gave it to the Rock and
Speaker 4: Roll Hall of Fame nineteen ninety one. And the reason
Speaker 4: we stopped using it because it was unique for us
Speaker 4: moving right there in that spot. But we wanted to
Speaker 4: open up. We couldn't open up because the mic was
Speaker 4: just right there, and you know, so after a while
Speaker 4: we said, man, the mic is great and it has
Speaker 4: more on off his novelty and what have you. So
Speaker 4: we stopped using it and wanted to be spread out
Speaker 4: all more on stage.
Speaker 1: I always wanted to know. When I was twenty something,
Speaker 1: I had a particular light stand that was sort of
Speaker 1: like a boom mic that had two lights on it, right,
Speaker 1: but it would always fall over, and I always wondered
Speaker 1: how sturdy that microphone stand was. Like if you if
Speaker 1: one guy were to a and throw off the balance
Speaker 1: of it, has that microphone and stand ever fallen over?
Speaker 1: It never on.
Speaker 4: People did a great job of balancing it out with
Speaker 4: the four hits on it, and they hit the support
Speaker 4: system on the each mic that if I should move
Speaker 4: my mind it would until the.
Speaker 5: Others star trek.
Speaker 1: That's yeah, that's uh yeah, okay, it must be sturdy.
Speaker 1: I know that. In the mid seventies kind of a
Speaker 1: little bit after the song for you House Party Area era.
Speaker 1: You guys went to Atlantic. Mm hmmm, well I bear
Speaker 1: it back. I forget that album before it, but.
Speaker 4: Between was the first album with Atlantic.
Speaker 1: Look, but my question is, uh, how hard was it
Speaker 1: to leave Moti Weave an institution like Motown? And I
Speaker 1: know that, you know, the four Tops went to ABC
Speaker 1: for a second and some artist, the Jackson's went to
Speaker 1: C So everyone was sort of making it.
Speaker 4: I'll tell you something that's very and they didn't show
Speaker 4: this in the over. We still had time on our contract,
Speaker 4: you know. Barry said he got tired of running Motown
Speaker 4: on a day to day basis. It was beginning to
Speaker 4: weigh him down. So he started hiring like Abner who
Speaker 4: used to be with VJ Records. Then Abnue left and
Speaker 4: he had this guy named Barney Ellis that was running it.
Speaker 4: So we had a meeting, uh with Barney Ellis, h
Speaker 4: ral Selson, the attorney Shelley susaner Paz and attempts. So
Speaker 4: mister Ellis, I guess he was pissed off because we
Speaker 4: had the jackson in us had the same attorney aide
Speaker 4: summons A noted entertainment attorney, and he had engineered a
Speaker 4: hell of a contract for the Jackson's to sign with Epic.
Speaker 4: And so when we had the meeting with mister Ellis,
Speaker 4: it was a wind chi effect in the room. So
Speaker 4: he said he took his list. B Am. Soon as
Speaker 4: y'all get rid of mister Summers, the better things to
Speaker 4: be for you guys around here. The room would hush.
Speaker 4: I said, said, what soon as you get rid of
Speaker 4: mister Summers, things to be a lot better for you
Speaker 4: guys around here. I said, oh, no, we're not getting
Speaker 4: rid of our attorneys because you guys got somebody people
Speaker 4: around here that we don't like. But I bet you
Speaker 4: won't find them because we don't like them. So he
Speaker 4: pointed down at the end of the table to ralh Selston.
Speaker 4: He said, if Abe Summons called, don't you answer his call?
Speaker 4: I said, oh, Susanne said there Shelley sat there the group.
Speaker 4: So I said, well, I guess that's the end of
Speaker 4: the meeting. So we left. Marvin Gaye had to come
Speaker 4: in and have the same meeting with this guy. Susie
Speaker 4: I Ketta, who was our project manager. She called me.
Speaker 4: She said, oldest Marvin just left the meeting. Cried, I said, well,
Speaker 4: why do Barry have this guy running his axe off
Speaker 4: like this? So Barry was in a La Costa on
Speaker 4: vacation and he called me in and he said, oldis
Speaker 4: I am so sorry that that went down? Uh, what
Speaker 4: can we do to erectify it? I said, we want
Speaker 4: to leave Barry silence on the phone. He said, well,
Speaker 4: what kind of money can we get? I said, it's
Speaker 4: not about money, it's about respect. Now we don't wanna
Speaker 4: be here. So he was very sad in hear that.
Speaker 4: He said, all right, we'll work it out and we'll
Speaker 4: we'll get past this. And they worked it out. We
Speaker 4: left Motown and signed with uh uh, we're almost signed
Speaker 4: with CBS. But it was predicated on gambling hoof presenting
Speaker 4: uh producing us but yeah, whoa yeah, Now, well Kenny
Speaker 4: and I go back to doing the early sixties. Yeah yeah,
Speaker 4: oh yeah, I mean cause CBS was getting ready to
Speaker 4: get up out for a ton of money for us,
Speaker 4: you know. But Kenny told me, he said, oh this
Speaker 4: after I do the Jackson's cause he did, uh the Jackson,
Speaker 4: enjoy yourself, He said, no, I wanna concentrate on my
Speaker 4: own acts. He said, yeah, you know, I've always wanted
Speaker 4: to produced attempts, but uh, I'm just gonna concentrate on
Speaker 4: my axe. And I said, I'll be damn. I said, well, Kenny,
Speaker 4: I can't argue with you because if if this is
Speaker 4: what you wanna do, yeah, you gotta do what you
Speaker 4: have to do. And so Jerry Greenberg, who was the
Speaker 4: president of Atlantic Records, made a a wonderful offer, and
Speaker 4: so Ape Summons worked it out, and so we went
Speaker 4: to Atlantic Records.
Speaker 1: But then you guys have messed with I'm at urgan
Speaker 1: at all, Like I mean, was he oh, well, you
Speaker 1: know it was glad that Okay, so it wasn't hands
Speaker 1: on and.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, oh yeah, he really wanted to snap. But
Speaker 4: Jerry Greenbery was the president of BAT at the time.
Speaker 1: So you're saying the leadership of Motown in the mid
Speaker 1: seventies sort of caused sourness something.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, truth be told, shame the Devil.
Speaker 1: Yeah, wow, I'm learning all these.
Speaker 5: Truth the Devil a monkey on.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm learning.
Speaker 5: All I'm glad to know because I was. It's funny.
Speaker 5: I was in watching that series.
Speaker 2: I was like, so it's always been Sunshine and Roses
Speaker 2: with mister Gordy and the temptation that just was an
Speaker 2: odd well, you.
Speaker 4: Know for mister Gordon and us. Yeah, we've we pretty
Speaker 4: much always haven't had a wonderful long yeah, no relationship
Speaker 4: even today.
Speaker 2: And even in that part where you know you and
Speaker 2: they introduced Shelley. It's an interesting practice back then and
Speaker 2: I don't think, I guess it's not his practice now
Speaker 2: in the music industry where he introduced you guys to
Speaker 2: your manager right back then, right back then.
Speaker 4: At the beginning esther Gordy Barry's oldest sister was our manager.
Speaker 4: But I feel I guess he felt, yeah.
Speaker 6: He was all up in mister yeah my family, Yeah yeah,
Speaker 6: yeah yeah, but uh, I guess he felt as though
Speaker 6: he needed somebody that they could get us on their
Speaker 6: Sullivan's show when exposed us to Yeah, because he got
Speaker 6: us away from ABC Records and we signed with William
Speaker 6: Morris and that was a big bullhur behind us leaving
Speaker 6: ABC because she let well, like I said it.
Speaker 4: With some things that went down then. I won't go
Speaker 4: into too deep, but I've had a very interesting career settle.
Speaker 1: You guys return in eighty with uh power power Yeah right,
Speaker 1: and he so he he Barry Gordy produced that himself.
Speaker 4: For yes, he did. Barry sat on Power because we
Speaker 4: were at Atlantic and elvan de Barge. Excuse me, was
Speaker 4: the the bars were still there and uh he said,
Speaker 4: I knew you guys was coming back. I said, really,
Speaker 4: Bear he said, oh yeah, he said, I know. It
Speaker 4: was just amount of time, he said. I had worked
Speaker 4: there on this song Power, he said, but I did
Speaker 4: not have a group over here that could pull it off,
Speaker 4: like I knew the tenth Wood because he loved Melvin's power,
Speaker 4: that base. He loved Melvin's base.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's seven minutes in a row man, that's right, right, Okay,
Speaker 1: how many tastes did that? Like? Was that a lot
Speaker 1: of cutting and face thing or he just just straight
Speaker 1: straight through? Wow?
Speaker 4: Straight through?
Speaker 1: That's hard. Yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah, he got behind that might close his eyes and
Speaker 4: he would bowl his fists and he was there just
Speaker 4: like a metronome right in that pocket. And uh, Barris,
Speaker 4: I knew you guys were coming back, And uh we
Speaker 4: did Power two hundred thousand immediately right out the gate.
Speaker 4: It was a riot down in Florida. The stations across
Speaker 4: the country got off of it bigcause they didn't want
Speaker 4: the lyrics that were so powerful in power.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah, they didn't want to incense it to go any further.
Speaker 4: And we were hot, you know, broken because the record
Speaker 4: was moving, it was going, but that incident down in
Speaker 4: Florida made made the dis job gets back up off
Speaker 4: of it because you know it was tenuous times even
Speaker 4: at that time.
Speaker 1: So was it your idea?
Speaker 4: Uh?
Speaker 1: I guess in eighty two, and I guess to commemorate
Speaker 1: the by that point, I don't know if it was
Speaker 1: twenty years or thirty, I don't know how long. When
Speaker 1: did you guys? You guys officially started in sixty or
Speaker 1: sixty two?
Speaker 4: What motown?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 4: Sixty one. I have a contract in my home that
Speaker 4: my mother signed.
Speaker 1: Okay sixty one, So okay, so eighty two when the
Speaker 1: reunion alum happens, that's to commemorate the twentieth Whose idea
Speaker 1: was it?
Speaker 4: To broker the our fan base? I have a saying
Speaker 4: that I have since uh and been saying quite often
Speaker 4: a few people around me and say, oldest, I see
Speaker 4: what you mean when you said the world loves us,
Speaker 4: but we did not love ourself. We would let matter
Speaker 4: what shouldn't matter, drugs. I mean, I'm just under the
Speaker 4: way it is drugs.
Speaker 1: So it was. The reunion was sort of bittersweet. Yeah
Speaker 1: when if you guys tour behind that record or yes,
Speaker 1: yeah standing on the top. Yeah, we returned. Our first
Speaker 1: date was in Detroit, Michigan, at the Fisher Theater. David
Speaker 1: Ruffin came and he said, oldest, I promise you, I
Speaker 1: won't be doing all that crazy shit that I was
Speaker 1: doing before. I just want to get back in the group.
Speaker 1: I promise you I'm straight. Because for the I was
Speaker 1: the last man the whole lot, because I was saying,
Speaker 1: come on, bruh, let's do this yere. You know the
Speaker 1: fans want you were the last old day. I felt
Speaker 1: like it was your idea, like back.
Speaker 4: Here, cause I knew what they were doing, even when
Speaker 4: I had my my own set of temptations. Okay, yeah,
Speaker 4: cause I would see here there from time to time,
Speaker 4: and Paul he was already gone because Paul had passed,
Speaker 4: uh what seventy and seventy one? That about. But I
Speaker 4: knew what David was doing, I knew what Eddie was doing.
Speaker 4: And you know, and I I'm not sitting here denigrating
Speaker 4: these guys, cause I love him still. But you know,
Speaker 4: like I said, tell the truth, shame the devil. So
Speaker 4: even Kenny Gamma. We went to Philly and Kenny has
Speaker 4: always wanted to produce the TEMs, and uh Jimmy Bishop
Speaker 4: was the spearhead of trying to get it together. But
Speaker 4: I guess for whatever reason, Jimmy Bishop bowed out.
Speaker 2: Wow, Jimmy Bishop, that's like legendary name and uh the
Speaker 2: Philadelphia r Yeah.
Speaker 4: So uh anyway, we uh persevered and uh I said, alright, Melvin,
Speaker 4: let's do this. So we got together and we started
Speaker 4: arson and we got a very good show together. First day.
Speaker 4: Well we're broken in down and uh place in Texas
Speaker 4: to you know, the customary thing for us go off
Speaker 4: and break the act in off the beaten paths, so
Speaker 4: when we get on the shown of how visible road,
Speaker 4: we'd be tight. So when we cat got to Detroit
Speaker 4: Fisher Theater, people wrapped around the building and like I said,
Speaker 4: I'm not trying to integrate anybody. But time we got there,
Speaker 4: Ruffing was roughing. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Do you think that was a fear of his? Like
Speaker 1: what do you what's your assessment of not being able
Speaker 1: to let those demons demons go. I've at least in
Speaker 1: my particular field. I know that cats that that all
Speaker 1: they have to do is just step up to the
Speaker 1: plate and do what they gotta do. And but he
Speaker 1: had a.
Speaker 4: Crazy he's right, Yeah, yeah, it was kind of.
Speaker 1: But I always just wondered, like him not being able
Speaker 1: to get it together. I mean, obviously that stems from
Speaker 1: a fear. I don't know if that's survivor's guilt. I
Speaker 1: don't know if that's you know, like.
Speaker 4: Of course, you know how everybody can handle success. Success
Speaker 4: can be a strong athe for Djak, you know, And
Speaker 4: it's all I mean on the real set. There have
Speaker 4: been so many different parties for us throughout our career
Speaker 4: that we were in Detroit and I had to go
Speaker 4: off to myself and pinch myself. So I don't believe
Speaker 4: this year shit is really happening. I mean, all kind
Speaker 4: of doors was opening up to us. I mean all
Speaker 4: kinds of adulation, you know, women, you know, all kinds
Speaker 4: of things. You know that if you're not strong from within,
Speaker 4: oh yeah, it can go yeah, you know so, but
Speaker 4: we all handle success differently.
Speaker 2: But you also you always you mentioned like your mom
Speaker 2: signed your first contract.
Speaker 5: He had a foundation.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I know briefly in the series they mentioned
Speaker 2: like David he said, he was like raised by a
Speaker 2: pimp and like he had all so in that foundation,
Speaker 2: and a lot of y'all had some good like even Melvin
Speaker 2: you can tell had like the foundation.
Speaker 5: His mother was yeah yeah.
Speaker 4: But the Ruffian did.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 4: He had had a very sordid life, you know, in
Speaker 4: the sense of uh yeah, uh little They called him
Speaker 4: at first little David Bush yeah, because he was er
Speaker 4: uh living with this guy named uh Eddie Bush, and
Speaker 4: so he took David under his arm wings and called
Speaker 4: him a little David Bush. And David had about six
Speaker 4: or seven singles before uh he joined the Thames and uh.
Speaker 4: I would see him at various record houses. And the
Speaker 4: brother was a cold piece of work, though I mean
Speaker 4: in the good sense. I mean David Ruffings throw that
Speaker 4: microphone up, spin around, dropped to his knees, and as
Speaker 4: the microphone came was coming down, he'd grab it and
Speaker 4: going into his act. So one day he said, oh this,
Speaker 4: I wanna sing with your group. And I was surprised
Speaker 4: cause I said, wait, wait, say back that train up,
Speaker 4: say it again, and he said, I wanna say it
Speaker 4: with your group. I said, boy, if you were to
Speaker 4: join us, we'd really be something else certain and he
Speaker 4: knew that we had a very strong reputation in Detroit
Speaker 4: as far as the group and doing what we do.
Speaker 4: And uh, so he joined the group in nineteen well
Speaker 4: sixty three when he started hanging with us. So it
Speaker 4: was six you know at the time. Because their Eddie, Paul, Melvin, Uh,
Speaker 4: David and and no Al and then David and we
Speaker 4: used to close the show would shout and uh, we're
Speaker 4: at this place called Chapis Lounge. And as we closed,
Speaker 4: they kept calling with us to come back. So we
Speaker 4: went back two more times and the third time, Uh
Speaker 4: they kept calling and uh, Al said, Man, we gotta
Speaker 4: go back. They keep calling us. So Paul said, man,
Speaker 4: what we gonna do. We can't keep going back there
Speaker 4: closing with shout. We've done it two times, you know,
Speaker 4: we gotta let it go. Al was drained and uh
Speaker 4: when Paul said no, we can't go back, Al said,
Speaker 4: and malf I'll hit you with this ball, right. And
Speaker 4: I was the only one that could could listen that
Speaker 4: I Al would listen to. I was just a little
Speaker 4: bit off time because when I I could read Al's eyes,
Speaker 4: his eyes eyes would get that kind of focused thing,
Speaker 4: I said, And by the time I tried to grab
Speaker 4: his arm right across Paul's note. I came out the
Speaker 4: club and leaned up against the door, came out of
Speaker 4: the dressingroom leaning up against the door, and Eddie, Melvin
Speaker 4: and Davis never was wrong, was wrong. They saw the
Speaker 4: look that I had on my face. I said, Al
Speaker 4: just opened up Paul's face. But check this out. Took
Speaker 4: Paul to the hospital. I said, well, you had to
Speaker 4: let Al go. I mean, Paul, were gonna have to
Speaker 4: let Al go. And no, no, don't don't do that.
Speaker 4: I feel we got we getting ready to make it.
Speaker 4: So I'm not gonna have that kind of fighting. And
Speaker 4: I said, we can have disagreements. I just thought his
Speaker 4: eyes was gone cause he hit him. Until the day
Speaker 4: Paul died, he had a scar right across the bridge's nose.
Speaker 4: M So we were at the Fox, and you know,
Speaker 4: like I said, Paul was the one that started us
Speaker 4: to be noted piocography. So Paul and Melbourne did this
Speaker 4: in moved where they would jump down and do the
Speaker 4: see boo the place that the Fox went crazy. So
Speaker 4: I said, hey, hell, come on, man, let's get a
Speaker 4: piece of action and all said, now, no, we're gonna
Speaker 4: stay back here with the pretty boys. And that's when
Speaker 4: I said, gotta let him go. Yep, gotta let him go.
Speaker 4: And when he came off, I said, you gotta go.
Speaker 4: Man entered David Ruffin and that's when the how the tempts,
Speaker 4: you know, the noted tempts became, Uh well, we are.
Speaker 1: Was there any interaction with uh EX members while they
Speaker 1: were on their solo ten years, like did you guys
Speaker 1: feel like a certain way about keep on trucking or
Speaker 1: or any of David ruff and stuff in the soul
Speaker 1: period or even oh.
Speaker 4: Well, I was happy to see that David and Eddie
Speaker 4: were able to still do you know, because very talented guys.
Speaker 4: Now My Whole World Ended? That was originally written for
Speaker 4: the Thames, okay, but Norman Whitfield, not Norman uh Harvey
Speaker 4: Fuqaha and Johnny Bristol. They could never get it to
Speaker 4: us because Norman Whitfield was a string of hits, stringer hits.
Speaker 4: So when David left, they put it on David. And
Speaker 4: that's the originals that's doing the background on My Whole
Speaker 4: World Ended? And uh well, Eddie, you know I knew
Speaker 4: Eddie would always be successful because he was such a
Speaker 4: unique uh talent saying wise, So Frank Wilson when he
Speaker 4: did tr uh keep on truck in and book it down,
Speaker 4: you know Edie was very, very uh success successful.
Speaker 1: Who in in your career as far as production is concerned,
Speaker 1: You guys worked with everyone from uh the Corporation to
Speaker 1: Normal Whitfield to Rick Change, Rick James il McKay, Yeah,
Speaker 1: Wind the Fire and all his cats, even what Benny
Speaker 1: Madeena even worked on the Reunion record. You ever seen
Speaker 1: his name there?
Speaker 5: Who?
Speaker 1: What is your what is your preferred? Not effective as
Speaker 1: far as who brought us the most hits? But who
Speaker 1: was your favorite producer to work with? As far as
Speaker 1: like who really understood the group? Who was pleasant to
Speaker 1: work with?
Speaker 4: I would have to say Smoke it first, Okay, Smoking
Speaker 4: being group singer. Smoking was always organized when he would
Speaker 4: bring us whatever song, the way you do the things
Speaker 4: you do my girls, since I lost my baby, he
Speaker 4: left the background harmonies up to us. He would show
Speaker 4: us the basic part of the song. But Smoking was
Speaker 4: always organized, easy to you know, work for record because
Speaker 4: when we did My Girl, how that came about? He
Speaker 4: came and saw us at the twenty grand, a noted
Speaker 4: club in Detroit, and after the show he came back.
Speaker 4: He was marveling on how great we were, and he
Speaker 4: looked at us and and then he looked at David.
Speaker 4: He said, I have a song for you and show
Speaker 4: us being young dum full of you know what, and
Speaker 4: he said, man, bring it on. We can sing anything.
Speaker 4: And we came here to the Pollow and we uh
Speaker 4: smoking him oh headline. We were co stars and field
Speaker 4: access on that. So in between the shows we would
Speaker 4: uh rehearse with Smoking and went back to Detroit after
Speaker 4: rehearsing with him for My Girl, and he put the
Speaker 4: background and the leason, and when Paul Riser came and
Speaker 4: added the strings and horns, Smoker was sitting at the console,
Speaker 4: you know, working the the boys, and uh, I said, Smoking,
Speaker 4: I don't know how big a record this is gonna become,
Speaker 4: but I think we got one on our hands. The
Speaker 4: record was recorded that fall of sixty four. They released
Speaker 4: it December twenty eighth, uh nineteen sixty four. We were
Speaker 4: at the Apollo February nineteen sixty five. Barry sent us
Speaker 4: at congratulating us. It's number one sold over me and Records.
Speaker 4: The Beatles sent us a telegram congratulating us, and I
Speaker 4: still have those uh telegrams at home now. But I
Speaker 4: always think back then, I said, I knew this song
Speaker 4: was gonna be something. I knew the song was good
Speaker 4: if at the you know, with the essence of us.
Speaker 4: But when Paul Riser added the stringer and the horns,
Speaker 4: it gave it a whole nother daylight and true enough,
Speaker 4: when we do that song today, it's like people growing
Speaker 4: up out of the ground like trees. They just started
Speaker 4: to stand up, and we made the mistake. Like years ago,
Speaker 4: record did what it was gonna do. So Paul was
Speaker 4: in charge of the rundown. He said, well, we can
Speaker 4: take my girl out of this. It did what it's
Speaker 4: gonna do. So we took it out and we did
Speaker 4: the show quest y'all. They call us every name except
Speaker 4: the child of God, so we will that is, I
Speaker 4: tell the guys even today, I said, there are some
Speaker 4: certain songs we can never ever take out. My girl,
Speaker 4: Uh just my matching nation. Ain't too proud to be.
Speaker 4: Can't get next to you. Papa was a rolling stone
Speaker 4: losing you now treat it like a lady. So like
Speaker 4: we have a new record album out now, and so
Speaker 4: I'm tasked with and I'm going to do because we
Speaker 4: only have a four hours show. Man, how long is.
Speaker 1: The average hour and a half to pack all this
Speaker 1: hour and a half? I mean that's with with banter
Speaker 1: in between and non met Just one.
Speaker 5: Hook, right, like, just go to one hook and then
Speaker 5: go to the next song.
Speaker 4: Well we got yeah, No, we work it our way.
Speaker 4: We well, like, ain't you proud? We do all of
Speaker 4: Ain't you proud? We do all of my girl and
Speaker 4: the what you do?
Speaker 2: Uh?
Speaker 4: Fortunately, you know, we try not to never cheat our
Speaker 4: fans because they paid their money to see the show.
Speaker 4: So but uh yeah, you know hour and a half.
Speaker 4: You know, we try and insert as much as we
Speaker 4: can so they can say, can still jumping around you
Speaker 4: after all? These just switched, That's what they're saying now,
Speaker 4: because we just did a big show in uh outside
Speaker 4: of Maryland, and it was packed there and I have
Speaker 4: been getting calls by man and the most amazing thing,
Speaker 4: he said, but the seold is still up there, keeping
Speaker 4: up with the rest of I said, I'm keeping up
Speaker 4: with them.
Speaker 1: Right, yo?
Speaker 5: What do you say that?
Speaker 2: Like the young artists who you know there are some
Speaker 2: artists who maybe two albums that are tired of doing
Speaker 2: their song that was the big hit in it.
Speaker 4: Any time you have fans that's been their heart earned
Speaker 4: money to come see you, and you're gonna tell I'm tired. Oh,
Speaker 4: we don't want to do that. Uh, then you should
Speaker 4: leave it alone.
Speaker 5: I want to do all my new stuff.
Speaker 4: They should leave the get out the business.
Speaker 5: That's what we think to when we're in the audience.
Speaker 4: But you know, see, yeah, well I'm an artist and
Speaker 4: I'm telling them that's the attitude you have. Get out
Speaker 4: of the business. Paper spend their hard earned money in
Speaker 4: the c these songs and you don't want to do them.
Speaker 5: Because you're tired tired of doing them.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I want to use the N word to please.
Speaker 1: How uh of the groups that you guys have inspired,
Speaker 1: especially the seventies onslaught of groups everyone from Blue Magic
Speaker 1: to boy Man Dynamics is period as well. I was
Speaker 1: sticking in the seventies, but I mean even even well,
Speaker 1: I mean well, yeah, just as at least no, no, no,
Speaker 1: hang on, because the thing is is that I feel
Speaker 1: like when it's twenty years down the line and it's
Speaker 1: someone young, then you're more willing to accept, like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I influenced them. Okay, get where you go. But how
Speaker 1: did you guys feel like with the onslought of all
Speaker 1: the seventies groups that are based on you guys, And
Speaker 1: I mean, like all those groups the choice for the champments, Yeah, enchantment,
Speaker 1: like just all those groups that have the same breakdown
Speaker 1: a falsetto guy, I have a bathroom. Guy, did you
Speaker 1: guys feel a certain way or you know?
Speaker 4: Of course we took it as a compliment, you know,
Speaker 4: and when you sit, I mean I gave it all
Speaker 4: the way today. Hey, when I watched Bruno Mars when
Speaker 4: he had he did the Super Bowl over a couple
Speaker 4: of years ago, I saw three important elements in his
Speaker 4: show James Brown, Michael Jackson and the temptation. Now he's
Speaker 4: here in the twenty first century, so our influence reached
Speaker 4: from now all the way back then runs the gamut.
Speaker 4: And when I have, uh I see somebody that's doing us,
Speaker 4: I said, Okay, I I liked him cause the Tempters
Speaker 4: influenced them. Ye know, so you can't do nothing but
Speaker 4: take it as a uh a compliment.
Speaker 1: You guys covered Bruno on the New Record, right.
Speaker 4: Uh yeah, we did one of his homes.
Speaker 1: Yeah uh huh And remember the time, right, uh yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah, remember yeah. Uh well remember the time I tell
Speaker 4: you when I got the list and they said, we'll
Speaker 4: just pick out what you want uh to do for
Speaker 4: the new album. Uh. Mike had invited me down to
Speaker 4: the studio when he was recording. Remember the time, and
Speaker 4: him and I were in the uh his uh trailer
Speaker 4: talking you know, and uh when they said Mike were
Speaker 4: ready for you, but him and I were sitting in
Speaker 4: his trailer talking about days of Yo because uh and
Speaker 4: Tay will what brought back to mind because we were
Speaker 4: talking about we were in Chicago and uh Jesse Jackson
Speaker 4: had uh yeah, and they hit the ten of us
Speaker 4: on stage. So uh when I guess the girl said,
Speaker 4: oh oh they getting ready to come off the stage.
Speaker 4: All these women and girls start coming to get on
Speaker 4: the stage. So one of the security guys, what are
Speaker 4: we gonna do to protect these guys? There's ten of them.
Speaker 4: Somebody said get a U haul truck. They got a
Speaker 4: U haul truck. They put the ten of us in
Speaker 4: there with security and uh, it was pitch black. And
Speaker 4: then but Mike said, where's ODIs, Where's ODIs and somebody
Speaker 4: cut the light on inside the truck and I said, Mike, Mike,
Speaker 4: I'm right here. I never will forget the look that
Speaker 4: he had in his eyes of love now min you.
Speaker 4: He didn't ask about his brothers, he didn't ask about
Speaker 4: the other towns. Where's oldest? And I said, I might
Speaker 4: hear Mike come right here? And he looked up there
Speaker 4: and he had the damn this little I love you
Speaker 4: looking so But I was there the uh uh taping
Speaker 4: of remembering the time. So when I saw it, I said,
Speaker 4: oh no, we gotta do remember the time because it
Speaker 4: gave me that kind of remembrance that's so cool.
Speaker 1: In your in your entire catalog, if you could just
Speaker 1: what what to you is your three personal quintessential favorites
Speaker 1: and in the Temptations catalog right out the gate, my girl,
Speaker 1: So even though you performed it every day of your life, and.
Speaker 4: That's you, that one uh I had saying too proud
Speaker 4: to beg because Norman brought that track to my house
Speaker 4: because we all lived in Detroit, and I said, man,
Speaker 4: the track is oh you know, so ain't too proud?
Speaker 4: It would be the second one. You know. I'm a
Speaker 4: big temptation fan. I could go a lot longer than three,
Speaker 4: but you only pick three. Just my imagination.
Speaker 1: What okay, what one under the radar song that I
Speaker 1: was going to ask that? Yeah, never really made it,
Speaker 1: like a favorite of yours. That didn't make it, like
Speaker 1: when you think that deserves a second look, that didn't
Speaker 1: get a shot the first time.
Speaker 4: Now, this is one I really enjoy listening at. And
Speaker 4: it was a guy that worked at Motown named Steve McKeeva.
Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, okay.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, he said, oldest that elevated eyes. I said, really,
Speaker 4: I said, I've always liked.
Speaker 1: That elevator eyes. That's a whole I work at thirty Rocks.
Speaker 1: That's hr we get sent to the principal office for elevator.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, Well, young lady she since passed. She was
Speaker 4: a forensic psychologist and her and I were talking and
Speaker 4: she said, oldis have you ever heard of the term
Speaker 4: elevated eyes? I said, hell, oh no, I never heard
Speaker 4: of that. And she said, well, if you are working
Speaker 4: in the blue collar field and a young lady walk
Speaker 4: by and you be to my baby, you show oh
Speaker 4: excuse me and go and continue where she can go
Speaker 4: to the human resources h Yes, exactly your job.
Speaker 1: Wow, we're not alone. There was something that we just
Speaker 1: made up.
Speaker 4: But what made me really say, oh, okay, you're not
Speaker 4: the only one. Uh. Oprah had a forensic psychologists on
Speaker 4: our show and I asked her the same thing. She said, no,
Speaker 4: I've never I said, well, I don't feel like boo
Speaker 4: to fool any if over he heard, you know, and uh,
Speaker 4: I said, you know what, Kathy, I'm al write a
Speaker 4: song called Elevated Eyes, and uh, young lady wrote me,
Speaker 4: text me and she said, older, you need to do
Speaker 4: something with that Elevated Eyes. So that would be one
Speaker 4: that I would really and it would kind of be
Speaker 4: apropos what's what's happening with the me too? Thing? Because
Speaker 4: this song tells about her? You really, you know, you
Speaker 4: can see the young lady, but you don't trespass. You
Speaker 4: just let her know. She looks nice and peripheral. Yeah, uh,
Speaker 4: but you know you have to watch that. But that one.
Speaker 4: I told her, I'm gonna still work that out and
Speaker 4: find somebody to do it because the lyrics and the track,
Speaker 4: you know, it's tight.
Speaker 5: Now's the time, Yeah it is.
Speaker 1: I see my last question, how come you didn't sing more?
Speaker 4: You know?
Speaker 1: What prominently on the lead?
Speaker 4: Because your on point, because I was the lead singer
Speaker 4: at when we were the Distance. Okay, because Billy my
Speaker 4: valet he went on the internet and found Open your
Speaker 4: Heart and what else did it? It was another song that
Speaker 4: I did. But my thinking was when we got to
Speaker 4: Motown and you know, because it wasn't like, uh, I
Speaker 4: couldn't sing lead on it. I just say, man, I
Speaker 4: don't give ever care who sing as long as we
Speaker 4: make this money. And it wasn't like, oh wait, wait, bro,
Speaker 4: you're getting paid more because she sang lead. Oh hell no,
Speaker 4: I want to sing lead. So it wasn't that kind
Speaker 4: of thing.
Speaker 5: Oh, everybody got the same I was wondering about that.
Speaker 4: No excuse me, No, no, everybody got the same pay.
Speaker 2: But then that's weird because since you were found a member,
Speaker 2: and then so Melvin. But regardless, it's a new guy whatever,
Speaker 2: we all the same.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's where it was at that. Yeah. And uh
Speaker 4: but Tom Bell. We did an album with Tom Bell
Speaker 4: and he recorded us and I was just hormming something
Speaker 4: and Tom stopped. He said, you the one I should
Speaker 4: be recording. I said, really, why you said that? He said,
Speaker 4: I like your voice. I said, oops, too late. You know,
Speaker 4: we had, you know, finished recording. But my attitude has
Speaker 4: always been like, hey man, I just wanted us to
Speaker 4: make it, and you know my ego didn't get hung
Speaker 4: up on the thing. Well I got the sing lead,
Speaker 4: I'm the group leader. I found this shit stuff. You know. No,
Speaker 4: it wasn't that with me. Let us all make money
Speaker 4: and be successful, and uh that's it, you know. But uh,
Speaker 4: I guess I never did really make any real bones
Speaker 4: about it.
Speaker 2: Just did you make What about the writing process because
Speaker 2: you said earlier on you wrote some songs for the stations,
Speaker 2: but did it continue on?
Speaker 5: Because it sounds like I'm okay, okay yeah.
Speaker 4: On our this album Temptations all the time I did
Speaker 4: along with two other guys waiting on you Elevate Eyes,
Speaker 4: Treaeau like the Lady. Yeah yeah, so no, I love
Speaker 4: writing when I can, you know, give a chance to
Speaker 4: do it. So yeah, that's my other thing of doing it.
Speaker 1: Well, I know you have another three hundred years in you, So.
Speaker 4: I love you Quz. Yeah. Yeah, I'm all. Like I said,
Speaker 4: I'm gonna ride the health the horse. When I get
Speaker 4: off the horse, it'll be ball.
Speaker 1: And that's how we have to end it. Thank you
Speaker 1: very much. We're coming on Quest Love Supreme. Thank you,
Speaker 1: thank you for you have love Boss Bill Sugar Steve.
Speaker 1: It's like yeah, particular and unpaid Bill. This is Quest
Speaker 1: Love of Quest Love Supreme. We will see you on
Speaker 1: the next go round. Thank you. Quest Love Supreme is
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