Artist:David Ruffin
Song:Walk Away From Love
Album:The Ultimate Collection
David Ruffin is probably best known for his days with The Temptations. He was a great singer but a cocaine addiction made him a big problem. Walk Away From Love was his biggest solo hit. He was born Jan. 18, 1941 in Whynot, MS. David and his siblings travelled with the family gospel group as children. Eventually David followed his older brother Jimmy Ruffin to Detroit to persue a music career. He joined The Temptations in 1964 and of course they had a lot of success. But his cocaine addiction caused him to be erratic and David also thought he was more important to The Temptaions than he actually was and he was fired in 1968 and replaced by Dennis Edwards. He sued Motown to get out of his contract and even started crashing Temptations concerts and embarassing the group by grabbing the mic and singing My Girl. That was worked out and he had a pretty good solo career in the 70s usually working with producer Van McCoy (The Hustle). Walk Away From Love was a top ten pop hit in 1976. He left Motown in 1977 for Warner Bros. and then reunited with former Temptation Eddie Kendrick at RCA in 1982. They also toured with Daryl Hall & John Oates in 1985 but Hall's concern about Ruffin's cocaine addiction forced an end to that. He had planned to tour with Kendrick & Dennis Edwards when David Ruffin died of a drug overdose on June 1, 1991 at age 50. This comp covers his solo career. Here's David Ruffin performing Walk Away From Love on American Bandstand in 1975.
No comments:
Post a Comment