![]() Even the singers who clearly came out of church choirs and could add an edge when the opportunity arose could also still turn it off. Many of the preferred singers on black radio had pristine, clean voices. ![]() After some back and forth, Edwards became the permanent lead singer and, before the year was out, had his first hit with the group, fronting “Cloud Nine” and giving audiences the rare opportunity to embrace a classic group with a new sound. In 1968, Edwards got the job, and his first performance became infamous when Ruffin crashed a stage in Pennsylvania during “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” (to the delight of the audience). Originally a member of a Temptations opening act, the Contours, it was Ruffin who told Edwards that the Temptations were looking for a replacement. But when you grow up absorbing Edwards’s voice through a string of hits from their psychedelic soul era, you learn that he had a more permanent effect than Ruffin, and more than most that touched those nostalgic airwaves.Īs a member of one of music’s most timeless groups, Edwards’s career was far from linear. You weren’t around to see them perform and you know little to nothing about the way they live their lives, so what makes people stand out, more than anything, are those distinctive voices.Įdwards wasn’t even the most famous lead singer of the Temptations. ![]() And even though you may not know what an artist looks like, you know the difference between the Temptations and the Four Tops, the O’Jays and the Isley Brothers, Gladys and Diana and Aretha. The more you learn, the more hip you get to understanding an era. Growing up listening to black radio - because your black parent would tolerate only her black music in her car - you develop a knowledge of soul music that came before you were born. But for those who grew up on it, the voice of Dennis Edwards - who died Friday at the age of 74 - remains one of the most distinctive, passionate, and urgent in the history of music. If anything, soul feels more like an oral history - either you were exposed to it or it’s as if it never happened. Old-school R&B unfortunately doesn’t have the history of being passed down from generation to generation in the mainstream that rock music does.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |