We’re coming up on the 20th anniversary of the death of David Ruffin. I affirmed and proposed that perhaps he could do a show about one of the most influential voices in contemporary music history. Ruffin who was a solo singer before joining Motown’s mighty The Temptations, came on the national and international scene as lead singer on their first Pop hit “My Girl.”
To bring attention to the occasion, I wrote an article titled “Will Radio Honor Singer David Ruffin On June 1st” (which is on the internet), challenging radio stations to showcase Ruffin’s talent. Fans are urged to call their local radio stations on June 1st and make requests for Ruffin’s music. Jim Saphin of the U.K. produced a You Tube video featuring a tribute song I wrote shortly after my friend Ruffin died called “Soul Man (A Song For David)” which is already getting a lot of attention.
Ruffin was lead vocal on other Temptations’ hits like “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg”, “(I Know) I’m Losing You”, “Beauty’s Only Skin Deep”, and “I Wish It Would Rain.” There are classic photos on the internet of Ruffin on stage with singer Rod Stewart singing “Losing You”, the song which Stewart had covered on one of his own albums. An interesting true story: when Ruffin left Motown in the late 70’s and signed with Warner Brothers, he and I were together one night at a Detroit nightclub and when Stewart’s song “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy” came on the jukebox, Ruffin said, “they should have given me that song!” It would have been interesting to hear his interpretation of it as Ruffin was still at the height of his vocal performance.
After his departure from the Temptations, Ruffin charted only two Top Ten hits: “My Whole World Ended”, and “Walk Away From Love”, although many other songs he had recorded during that period would most likely have top-charted had they been released. Unfortunately, they were vaulted until almost 40 years later. One can only imagine now how frustrated he must have been (“Loving You Has Been So Wonderful” written by Stevie Wonder is a prime example). I was very happy for him when I went by his house one day and announced that I had just heard the debut release of “Walk Away From Love” on Detroit’s radio station WGPR. When he heard the news he lit up like a boy on Christmas morning! Ruffin was back!
