Paul Williams leaves the group early in the 1970s, replaced by Richard Street, onetime member of the Distants. Motown puts a new spin on the Temptations with a chart-topping album of duets with Diana Ross & the Supremes, then showcases both acts in the company’s first TV production, TCB (Takin’ Care of Business), a ratings hit.

The new recruit’s rough, tough vocal style is showcased in “Cloud Nine,” a psychedelic Top 10 single influenced by the rock ’n’ R&B fusion of Sly & the Family Stone, and in its follow-up, “Run Away Child, Running Wild.” Whitfield showcases the vocal skills of every Temptation, and still more crossover hits through 1970 include “I Can’t Get Next To You” (their second pop No.

After Smokey, Norman Whitfield becomes the Temptations’ primary producer, and he blesses them with a new urgency when David Ruffin – cursed by an ego which finally compels the group to fire him – is succeeded by Dennis Edwards.

The famous five’s career ignites in a flash of radio, television, concert and chart ubiquity, underpinned by hits such as “Get Ready,” “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg,” “(I Know) I’m Losing You” and “I Wish It Would Rain,” and albums like Gettin’ Ready, With A Lot O’ Soul, Wish It Would Rain and In A Mellow Mood.

“If you’re singing that song,” says Melvin Franklin, “and you have the kind of voices like the Temptations, it’s easy to believe it will make it”. Another Robinson tune, it is also the first lead vocal on a single by David Ruffin, the replacement for Al Bryant in late ’63.

The Temptations crack open the pop best-sellers with 1964’s “The Way You Do The Things You Do,” produced and co-written by Smokey Robinson, but their popularity truly explodes the following year with “My Girl,” No.Their debut release, with Eddie on lead, is written and produced by Berry Gordy: “Dream Come True,” which is also the first release on the Gordy label, touches the R&B charts, momentarily. Soon, these five come together as the Temptations, signing with Motown Records in 1961. The Temptations are born in the late 1950s out of two Detroit-based vocal harmony combines: the Primes, a trio which includes Eddie Kendricks and Paul Williams, and the Distants, a quintet whose members include Otis Williams, Melvin Franklin and Elbridge “Al” Bryant.

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