The Temptations are a popular American singing group from Detroit, Michigan, who worked with Motown Records in the 1960s and 1970s to record a number of hit singles and albums.
The group’s collaboration with producer Norman Whitfield helped establish psychedelic soul and had a huge impact on the development of R&B and soul music, starting with the Top 10 smash single “Cloud Nine” in October 1968.
The band’s members are renowned for their distinctive harmonies, dancing, and fashion sense. The Temptations are among the most popular music groups, with tens of millions of recordings sold.
Who shot himself in the Temptations?
Paul Williams left the Temptations in May after his doctor announced a few weeks later that he was unable to perform due to medical issues.
Williams was officially replaced by Richard Street, though he continued to advise and choreograph for the group when he could and receive his normal one-fifth of group revenue (Street was paid on salary for the first eighteen months of his career).
When Williams was well enough to record again in 1973, he cut two sides for his first solo single. However, the Wayne County coroner decided that Williams’ death, which occurred in Detroit on August 17, 1973, from a gunshot wound at the age of 34, was a suicide.
