THE TEMPTATIONS

THE TEMPTATIONS’ story is an extraordinary journey from the streets of Detroit to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. With their signature dance moves and unmistakable harmonies, they rose to the top of the charts creating an amazing 42 Top Ten Hits with 14 reaching number one. Just a few of their classic hits that transcends all demographics –“My Girl,” “Just My Imagination,” “Get Ready,” “Papa Was a Rolling Stone” and so many more. Otis Williams is the original and founding member of The Temptations – through the good times and the bad. He is the key to their history and their stories – how they met, their groundbreaking heights, personal and political conflicts, brotherhood, family, loyalty and more.  As the leader and collaborator, he has set the direction and tone for the Temptations through their transitions from the 60s to now. The group’s popularity is ever-increasing, as they are one of the most iconic, bestselling brands in the world today.

 

The demand for the Temptations grows as each generation discovers them. Most recently, New York Mets star player Francisco Lindor chose “My Girl” as his walk-up song. The song resonated prompting the crowd at Citi Field to sing even after he reached the plate. This resulted in the Mets inviting the Temptations to perform the National Anthem and sing for the crowd at Game 5 of the National League Championship Series. This kicked off a series of television and personal appearances that hasn’t stopped.

 

Marking the 60th anniversary of “My Girl,” the Temptations first #1 hit, The Temptations kicked off their official celebration in November in grand style atop Wonder float at the 98^th Macy’s Day Parade thrilling the crowds along the parade route as well as millions of television viewers. In between their touring schedule, they made whirlwind stops in Los Angeles and New York for national television appearances including CNN’s Thanksgiving Special, The Today Show, The View, The Sherri Shephard Show, The Motown Christmas Special, CBS Early Show, Access Hollywood, ET, and Extra. More TV appearances are scheduled throughout the year but have not been announced yet.

 

At every show, they meet multi-generational fans who tell them time after time, that The Temptations is a group that everyone can enjoy. And proving the point, “My Girl” officially hit one billion Spotify streams putting them among only 1000 other artists to reach this milestone.

 

“My Girl” celebrates several 60th anniversary chart milestones this year – No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot Rhythm & Blues, No. 1 single on the Billboard Pop charts, No. 1 on R&B chart, and #35 on the Billboard Top 200 (Pop) chart.

 

Continuing to create new music for their fans, The Temptations are working on a new project this year as their last album of newly written material, Temptations 60, was released in 2022.

 

The Temptations’ heritage, influence and contributions to, not only American culture and African American communities but also to the global music landscape are monumental. The influence that The Temptations had on mainstream and global artists, such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and others, is undeniable.

 

The smash hit musical, Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations, is based on the autobiography of Otis Williams. The musical captivated thousands of theatergoers with sold-out Broadway performances breaking house records and is currently touring throughout the U.S. It originally opened on Broadway in 2019 to critical acclaim and received 12 Tony nominations winning the Tony Award for Best Choreography and was nominated for a Grammy® Award in the “Best Musical Theater Album” category. The national touring production completed their 50+ city tour as well as their production in the West End at the Prince Edward Theatre, U.K.

 

Motown auditioned and signed the original Temptations (Otis Williams, Melvin Franklin, Paul Williams, Eddie Kendricks, and Elbridge “Al” Bryant) in May of 1961. When the legendary “Classic Five,” (Otis Williams, Melvin Franklin, Eddie Kendricks, Paul Williams and David Ruffin) released the single, “The Way You Do the Things You Do,” in 1964, which peaked at #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart and remained on the list for 11 weeks, it marked the beginning of a multitude of award-winning and chart-topping singles and albums that would be embraced by popular music audiences globally. Considered trailblazers in the 60’s, leading the way not only for themselves but for other R&B artists, and successfully reaching mainstream audiences here and abroad, The Temptations’ rise to fame was meteoric. It was on March 6, 1965 that their first million copy, bestselling single, “My Girl” hit #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. The Temptations’ role as artists, and how they used their voices to speak to the times they lived through, especially during the 60’s-one of the most turbulent decades in our nation’s history, is compelling.

 

They were among the first African American musical artists to crossover into mainstream America and appear on popular, national mainstream television programs, such as The Ed Sullivan Show, and The Hollywood Palace. The group’s star power was so striking that these top-rated, national programs, and many others, scheduled appearances for The Temptations multiple times during a single year. At the time, this was an unparalleled accomplishment for African American entertainers.

 

On December 9, 1968, Diana Ross & The Supremes and The Temptations headlined a network television special TCB (Taking Care of Business), a first for two African American music groups. According to published reports at the time, the special won its time slot, was the top-rated television variety show in 1968 and received an Emmy nomination. The original cast soundtrack album, TCB, was released a week prior to the special and reached #1 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums’ chart. In July 1969, Motown put together a major television special for the group called The Temptations Show. In November of that same year, a third national television special, G.I.T. (Gettin’ It Together) on Broadway, starring Diana Ross & The Supremes and The Temptations aired, and according to published reports won the primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Costume Design. An accompanying soundtrack album by Diana Ross & the Supremes and The Temptations was released in advance of the television special. The Temptations helped change the face of primetime television and fueled the growth in the performing arts and entertainment world for African American artists forever.

 

The Temptations, throughout the group’s evolution, have produced 53 Billboard Hot 100 singles, including four Billboard Hot 100 #1 singles: “My Girl,” “I Can’t Get Next to You,” “Just My Imagination,” and “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone.” Additionally, they released 44 Top 10 R&B chart hits, 14 of which were #1 R&B singles, including timeless classics such as “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg,” “Beauty Is Only Skin Deep,” “I Wish It Would Rain,” and songs influenced by their funk/psychedelic soul sound including “Happy People,” and “Shakey Ground.” The group also has 16 #1 R&B Chart albums. In the Spring of 2017, Billboard named The Temptations as #1 The Greatest R&B/Hip Hop Artist of All Time.

 

The Temptations are the recipients of numerous awards and honors. The group has been awarded more than 50 Gold, Platinum, and Multi-Platinum awards all combined. They have been awarded five Grammy® Awards (and have received nine Grammy® nominations), including the Recording Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Grammy® Award at the 56^th Annual Grammy® Awards (2013). The Temptations delivered Motown’s and their first-ever, GRAMMY® at the 11^th Annual Grammy® Awards in 1969 for Best Rhythm & Blues Performance by a Duo or Group, Vocal or Instrumental, for their song, “Cloud Nine.” They won their next two GRAMMYS® at the 15^th Annual Grammy® Awards in 1973 for the #1 Billboard Hot 100 Single, “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone,” which won a total of three Grammy® Awards that year: Best Rhythm & Blues Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus, awarded to The Temptations; Best Rhythm & Blues Instrumental Performance, awarded to The Temptations and Paul Riser, and Best Rhythm & Blues Song, awarded to Barrett Strong and Norman Whitfield as songwriters. The group won their fourth GRAMMY® at the 43^rd Annual Grammy® Awards in 2001 for their Top 20 R&B Chart Album, Ear-Resistible for Best Traditional Rhythm & Blues Vocal Performance. “My Girl,” what many call their magnum opus, was inducted into the Grammy® Hall of Fame in 1998, followed by “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone” a year later in 1999.

 

In 1989, The Temptations were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Blockbuster #1 chart hits “Just My Imagination,” “Papa was a Rollin’ Stone,” and “My Girl” are among the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s “500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll.” The group was also inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1999, and into the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame in 2013. They were invited back to the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame in 2017 to receive The Rhythm & Blues Male Group of the 20^th Century Award. They also received the NAACP Image Award “Hall of Fame Award” in 1992.

 

On September 14, 1994, The Temptations were given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles, California, and on June 7, 2019, given a star on The Apollo Theater’s Walk of Fame in Harlem in New York City. At the official ceremony, Otis Williams received a plaque marking the occasion on behalf of the legendary, classic five lineup.

 

The Temptations were the very first group to be awarded Favorite Soul/Rhythm & Blues Band/Duo/ Group at the 1974 inaugural American Music Awards Ceremony. In 1975, The Temptations recorded their album, A Song for You, that won the American Music Award for Best Soul/Rhythm & Blues Album, at the third annual American Music Awards ceremony in 1976. The album includes two wildly popular and bestselling #1 R&B singles, “Happy People,” (co-written by Lionel Richie) featuring the Commodores as instrumentalists, and “Shakey Ground” featuring instrumentals by Parliament-Funkadelic’s Eddie Hazel with Billy “Bass” Nelson. In August 1998, The Temptations released the album, Phoenix Rising, featuring the debut of Terry Weeks, a lead vocalist for the group then, and now, and it won the Soul Train Music Award for Best Rhythm & Blues/Soul Album by a Duo or Group at the 12^th annual Soul Train Music Awards in 1999. The single, “Stay,” from that album became a “Top 30” R&B single.

 

In 1983, Ron Tyson, one of the group’s current lead vocalists, joined The Temptations. In May of 1983, the televised anniversary special Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever, aired on NBC-TV and the extraordinary battle between The Temptations and the Four Tops led to a road tour together, famously called the “T’NT” tour. The two legendary groups still perform together today while on their respective concert tours.

 

In 1988, Otis Williams’ critically-acclaimed autobiography, Temptations, written with The New York Times bestselling author Patricia Romanowski, was published. The book went on to become the source for both the Emmy Award-Winning television miniseries, The Temptations, in 1998 and in 2019 the smash hit Broadway musical, Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations.

 

The Temptations’ journey, as seen through the lens of Otis Williams, was also a blockbuster television mini-series which aired in 1998. The mini-series, Temptations, was produced by long-time Temptations’ manager Shelly Berger, Otis Williams, and Suzanne de Passe, head of de Passe Entertainment, and was viewed by 45 million fans when it originally aired. The television mini-series went on to win an Emmy for Outstanding Direction for a Mini-series or Movie, as well as the 1999 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Television Movie or Mini-series. The mini-series is still on air or streaming every day somewhere in the world.

 

In 2006, Dr. Otis Williams received an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from Stillman College, a Historically Black College/University in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

 

In 2018, the Library of Congress announced the induction of The Temptations’ classic mega-hit, “My Girl” into the National Recording Registry. UMe released The Temptations’ studio album, All the Time, which was the group’s first new album in eight years. It featured three new, original Temptations’ songs, in addition to inspired renditions of songs from Maxwell, The Weeknd, Sam Smith, Bruno Mars and others. At the time of the album’s release, Otis Williams, said, “…Looking back, I never could have imagined where my life has taken me. I’m proud of what The Temptations have achieved, and I’m grateful for every opportunity we’ve been so fortunate to receive. The music carries me. Together, we lift our voices with love and wonder…”

 

For the 2019 holiday season, The Temptations’ released a first-of-its-kind, animated video featuring the Temptations’ “Silent Night,” one of the most popular holiday songs of all time.

 

On March 24, 2020, the audiobook edition of Otis Williams’ critically acclaimed autobiography, Temptations, was released. The audiobook includes a never-before-released introduction and a newly revised final chapter. Dr. Otis Williams narrates the new introduction and J.D. Jackson, an AudioFile Golden Voice Award winner, who also narrated Playing for Keeps: Michael Jordan and the World He Made by David Halberstam, narrates the book.

 

In June of 2020, The Temptations released, what many called a message for our times, a new, soulful version of the popular single “You’ve Got a Friend,” as a YouTube video. The group raised their voices to reflect on their 60’s struggles and pay tribute to movement for change. The group’s 60-year history spans the 20^th and 21^st centuries, and their music transcends generations. The Temptations’ story is a road map through American history. What began in Detroit, when a remarkable combination of soulful voices united, was the genesis of an epic journey that introduced multiple superstars to the world and produced some of the greatest music of our era.

 

The Temptations always look forward to serenading fans with their soulful voices, lighting up stages with their famous Temptations’ Walk and bringing joy to audiences of all ages.