RICHARD STREET lead singer of THE
TEMPTATIONS '71-'95
HIT SINGLES INCLUDE
"Ball of Confusion"
Can't Get Next To You
My Girl
"Papa Was A Rolling Stone"
"The Way You Do The Things You Do"
Three time Grammy Award, Two time American Music Award
winner …. “RICHARD STREET lead singer of THE TEMPTATIONS
‘71-’95”
Richard Street’s passion for The Temptations goes back to its origins in
1955 as a member of the Detroit doo-wop group The Distants, which included
long time Temptation, Otis Williams, as well as Richard’s cousin, the
late Melvin Franklin who was The Temptations legendary bass singer until
his untimely death in 1995. Richard left The Distants in 1959 to form The
Monitors and the other members eventually went on to record for the newly
formed Motown record label as The Temptations.
But Richard always kept a hand in the band. Motown president Berry Gordy
hired him in 1963 as a sort of quality control producer at the label,
asking him to listen to new recordings and occasionally lend his tenor
voice to sweeten a vocal track.
By 1969 The Temptations’ silky harmonies had made them the top R&B
vocal group in the world with a string of pop chart toppers such as "My
Girl", "(I Know) I’m Losing You", "Ain’t
Too Proud To Beg" and "Beauty's Only Skin Deep". But by
then, the wheels in the group were beginning to work loose.
A year prior to that, then lead singer David Ruffin, unhappy with the
groups’ sound, left for a solo career and was replaced by former
Contours lead vocalist, Dennis Edwards. In 1971 Eddie Kendricks also left
for a solo career. Soon after, the group’s distinctive tenor vocalist
Paul Williams, suffering the effects of alcohol abuse, was forced to quit
and Richard Street was chosen as his replacement, giving the Temptations
its first member to have actually been born in Detroit.
The arrival of Richard together with Dennis Edwards signaled a notable
musical shift in direction and the next few years would find The
Temptations tackling topics in the news -- the Vietnam War and urban
poverty -- with songs such as "Take A Look Around",
"Ball Of Confusion" and the landmark "Papa Was A Rolling
Stone", which earned the group three Grammy Awards.
Richard performed many hundreds of shows with The Temptations in over 20
years as a member of the group, visited dozens of countries worldwide, and
along with other members past and present, was there when the group was
inducted into the Rock-n-Roll Hall Of Fame in 1989. In his upcoming book,
Ball Of Confusion, Richard chronicles his years with the group.
Today, Richard presents his own show, with enthusiastic vigor, which
includes the legendary music of The Temptations along with other classic hit songs that document
the golden years of the Motown sound.
