Otis Williams is the founding, and only surviving, member of the original, legendary, super-group the Temptations. He is unlike any other musical artist in American culture.

The cultural significance of Williams’ overall life achievements, along with the success and longevity of his musical career have made him an icon of entertainment. His personal journey from Texarkana, Texas to Motown and eventual global superstardom, is chronicled in an acclaimed autobiography, written with New York Times best-selling author Patricia Romanowski, in an Emmy Award-Winning television mini-series, and now in the Tony Award-Winning Broadway Musical, “Ain’t Too Proud,” which will begin touring the country in over 50 cities for 100+ weeks, beginning in Providence, RI next July 2020.

Named the #1 R&B Artists of All-Time according to Billboard, the Temptations have sold millions of albums, won four Grammy Awards, including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, have been inducted into the Grammy, Rock and Roll, Rhythm and Blues Music, and Vocal Group Halls of Fame, and also have a star on the “Hollywood Walk of Fame.” In June of this year, the Group was inducted into the Apollo Theater’s “Walk of Fame.”  In 1969, they were the first Motown recording artists to win a Grammy Award (“Cloud Nine” won for “Best Rhythm & Blues Group Performance, Vocal or Instrumental”). They have released countless gold, platinum and multi-platinum hits, many of which are considered American classics. They have 16 #1 albums, 43 Top 10 R&B hit songs, including 14 #1 singles, and also, four Billboard Hot 100 #1 singles, including what some may call their magnum opus, “My Girl.”  In 2018, “My Girl” was entered into the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress.

The Temptations have played numerous sold-out world tours. The Group’s versatile voices, synchronized dance steps, handsome style and dazzling dress, set a new standard that became world famous and is still their distinguished trademark today.  The Temptations were also trailblazers in leading the way for other R&B groups to break into mainstream audiences. Blockbuster #1 hits like “My Girl,” “Just My Imagination,” and “Papa Was a Rolling Stone,” are included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s “500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll,” and marked the early years of what turned into a prolific career and cultural phenomenon spanning nearly six decades. They were the first to receive the American Music Award for Favorite Soul/R&B Band/Duo/Group in 1974 and they won an American Music Award in 1976 for Best R&B Album for “A Song for You,”

Next year, marks the 60^th Anniversary of the formation of the Temptations group. There will be incredible excitement around the extraordinary celebration of their legendary history and music. The Temptations are planning to tour internationally during the Anniversary year.

The Temptations continue singing their way into the hearts of fans worldwide. They are currently on tour throughout the fall of this year. They released a new album, entitled, “All the Time,” in the Spring of 2018.

Williams, also a songwriter and producer, is well-known for his fortitude, for fueling the Temptations’ enormous and ever-increasing popularity and for inspiring a new generation of musical artists.

Ron Tyson is a first tenor and lead vocalist for the Temptations, and has been with the group since February 1983.  Born February 8, 1948, in Philadelphia, PA, he was raised in Monroe, NC, where he recorded his first record at the age of 7 while singing with his grandfather’s gospel group, Southern Gospel Six.  His grandfather’s home was a place where young Ron was introduced to many famous artists like Sam Cooke and the Soulters.  In the segregated South of the 50s and 60s African-American recording artists often relied on the hospitality of local folks while touring the region because they weren’t allowed to eat at certain restaurants or stay in the upscale hotels.  Ron’s grandfather, Horace Presson Sr., who also had a radio show promoting gospel music, welcomed those artists into his home and offered them meals.  While at his grandfather’s dinner table, Ron was inspired and further drawn to music.

As he grew older, Ron discovered he had a real talent for singing and returned to Philadelphia to attend Thomas Edison, Olney and Granoff School of Music where he studied opera and guitar.  It was in Philadelphia that he found himself surrounded by world famous artists like Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes (who lived a few doors down from him), and Russell Thompkins of the Stylistics.  By 1967, at age 19, Ron was lead singer of The Ethics, a group that originated in Philadelphia.  Later changing their name to Love Committee the group released several disco and R&B hits in the 1970’s.

As his career began to take off Ron was inspired by Eugene Booker Record, lead vocalist for the Chicago based Chi-lites to become a songwriter.  Says Tyson, “I used to see his credits on various records and thought wow, this is what I want.  I want to write!  Eugene had written and produced many of the group’s hit songs, as well as songs for other artists. Without Eugene knowing it I learned what I wanted to do as a songwriter and singer from him.  I’m so glad I was able to tell him that years later.”  Tyson was also inspired as a songwriter by legendary R&B artists Bunny Sigler, and Joe Simon, who helped Ron fine tune his songwriting skills, including counting bars, and also Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff who owned and ran Philadelphia International Records.  Ron wrote or co-wrote the majority of the songs for both The Ethics and Love Committee but his writing career truly took off as he began writing and co-writing songs for a wide range of famous artists including the Dells, Gloria Gaynor, The Four Tops, Curtis Mayfield, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, The O’Jays, Blue Magic, Archie Bell & The Drells, The Trammps, and many others.  To date, Ron has written more than 200 songs.

Ron was a big Temptations fan growing up and idolized Eddie Kendricks and his style.  He feels blessed to have become a member of the group and has often referred to his Temptations career as one of the greatest things to happen to him.  Ron’s first appearance as a member of the Temptations was on the "Motown 25, Today, Yesterday, Forever" television special in 1983.  Says Tyson, “I remember practicing with choreographers Lon Fountain and Cholly Atkins at Lon’s house in advance of that show, every morning from 8:00am until noon.  We’d take a lunch break and then continue working out from 1:00pm until 4:00pm.  Coming from Philadelphia, a city of music, and growing up listening to the Temptations, and Marvin Gaye, the Four Tops, and so many others—all these people I admired—it was incredible being part of that historic show.  I remember Martha Reeves saying everyone was going to be watching me because I was the new kid on the block, taking over the role originally sung by Kendricks.  During the broadcast, as Smokey introduced us, and we walked up the four steps to the stage, I was just thinking ‘feet don’t fail me now.’  Then I heard him say ‘Ladies and Gentlemen, the Temptations and the Four Tops.’  It’s a moment I’ll always remember.”  

Now, thirty-six years later, Ron says, “The original five paved the way.  Now I feel like I’m a contributor on this end of history.  It’s a great honor and privilege to be a Temptation.  I’ve traveled a long way on a path that began at my grandfather’s house in North Carolina, took me back to Philadelphia, and then onto stages around the world.  I take great pride in helping to carry the Temptations’ legacy on into the 21^st century.” 

Terry Weeks is a lead vocalist for the Temptations, and has been a member of the group since 1997.  He was born December 23, 1963, shortly before the original five members of the group released their first big hit, “The Way You Do the Things You Do.” Terry grew up in Bessemer, AL near Birmingham listening to gospel, blue grass, and country music (which he once described as the best place, hands down, to learn group harmony).  A graduate of McAdory High School, Weeks’ first love was playing the bass but as he started trying out for, and working with, local bands he realized people were drawn more to his singing than his playing.

The original catalyst for his transition from musician to vocalist came while working at a local supermarket.  When he and a co-worker, who was part of a local group, began harmonizing as they were stocking shelves the co-worker told Weeks “You’re a singer.  You just don’t know it” and urged him to come to his group’s rehearsal.  Says Weeks, “I was just out of high school and about to start my enlistment in the Air Force but in those few months he taught me how to be a singer.  I was like a sponge, soaking it all up.  As I moved away from playing the bass and gained more confidence as I opened up my voice, people started recognizing me for my singing talent.”

Weeks would spend eight years in the Air Force, from 1982 to 1990, serving in Korea and in the U.S. at McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita, KS and Gunter Air Force Station in Montgomery, AL.  He would often sing locally around the Montgomery base, and performed in Tops in Blue, an Air Force ensemble, made up of active duty members, that toured globally performing for airmen and their families.  

Once Weeks realized he wanted to make a go of it as a professional singer he gave himself a five-year window to make it happen.  In the early 1990s Weeks, then in his late 20s, was visiting friends in Los Angeles when they encountered Otis Williams on Hollywood Boulevard.  Says Weeks, “We introduced ourselves and I sang a Donny Hathaway tune for Otis right there on the sidewalk.  He asked if I was working with anyone.  I told him I was still in the military and it would be a month before I get out.  We exchanged phone numbers but I never imagined I would hear from him.  When I got home later that day he had already left two messages on my answer machine.  I couldn’t believe it.  When I called him back he said he wanted to sign me to his production company to do studio work.  That was the beginning of my professional music career.”

While working for Williams, Weeks formed a group that signed with Motown which released their self-titled album in 1995.  Eventually the group split up and Weeks continued doing studio work for Williams.  He also worked with the Temptations during summers on the road, helping with wardrobe and security.  Watching the Temptations at work—and the other groups they were performing with such as the O’Jays and the Spinners—Weeks was once again a sponge, absorbing everything he could.  “I was in awe of these guys and saw close up the hard work needed to do what they were doing.”

Around this time Weeks was asked to fill in for Ali-Ollie Woodson who was dealing with health issues.   The one-month fill-in gig became nine-months and in 1997 Weeks was made a permanent member of the Temptations, a role he sees as a sacred trust.  “It’s a huge undertaking and I don’t take it lightly,” says Weeks who’s often told by veterans how the music of the Temptations got them through the war in Vietnam.  “I defend the legacy of the Temptations as I’d defend my own family name.  It means so much in the world of music, and culturally it helped African Americans find their own voice in the 60’s while striving to be recognized within society.  You can’t tell the story of African Americans in this country without talking about the affect this music, and the music of so many others, had on Black culture.   It’s part of the fabric of everything that was going on in the country at the time.  I feel like I’m a caretaker of it.  It’s an honor to be a part of a group, whose rich history and legacy I respect so much.” 

Willie Greene, Jr. is the Temptations’ bass vocalist and has been with the group since 2016.  Born in Birmingham, Alabama on August 28, 1955 to Maxine and Willie Greene, Sr., he grew up in South-Central Los Angeles, CA and graduated there from George Washington High School.

Greene’s desire to be an entertainer was initially sparked at age six when he saw James Brown & The Famous Flames perform on the big screen.  What sealed the deal for Greene however was when he watched The Temptations perform “The Way You Do the Things You Do” and what was then their newest song “Get Ready” on The Lloyd Thaxton Show, a syndicated pop music TV program based in Los Angeles.  Says Greene, “When I saw The Tempts, and heard Melvin [Franklin] sing in his bass voice, I knew I wanted to be a Temptation.  When my father asked me what I want to be when I grow up, I said I want to be Melvin Franklin.”

Greene—who has recorded and performed with an extraordinary array of music world luminaries including Lyle Lovett, Ry Cooder, Dolly Parton, John Fogerty, and George Harrison—first learned to perform on stage in Los Angeles singing with a quintet called The Formations and moved from there to The Fellas and then The Infallibles.  “In all the groups, I’ve been in through my career,” says Greene, “we were always trying to be The Temptations – not The OJ’s, not The Miracles – The Temptations.  They were the ones all other groups were measured against.”

In fact, before joining The Temptations Greene had performed nationally and internationally in several Temptations tribute groups including one with former Tempts Ali-Ollie Woodson, Damon Harris, and Richard Street, “That was like being in Temptations University,” says Greene.  “We’d rehearse the show three hours a day, five days a week, in Richard’s back yard.  He’s the one who taught me all The Temptations choreography.”  Another such group, which included former Temptation Barrington “Bo” Henderson, was part of the Legends in Concert show at Harrah’s Casino in Las Vegas. 

Greene is convinced what prompted Otis Williams to bring him into the group was a videotape of him performing in that Harrah’s show that Greene included in the audition package he prepared for Williams in December 2015.  Says Greene, “The day after he got the package Otis called me.  He said we reminded him of the original Temptations.  I was floored.  What a compliment.” 

Asked what stands out most in his mind about the group, Greene says “What I take from The Temptations is how humble, loving, and genuinely decent all these guys are.  They’re family to me, a loving family, and I thank God my dream from the time I was a child, to be part of the Temptations family, has come true.”