Post by FastNFancy on Aug 27, 2003 22:05:38 GMT -5
Wednesday, August 27, 2003
Motown fans will be on 'Cloud Nine' with revue
By Susan Whitall / The Detroit News
Dennis Edwards
About the event
What: Dennis Edwards and the Temptations Revue
When: 7 p.m. Monday
Where: Michigan State Fair
Cost: Free with fair admission
Is it possible to be old school and cutting edge? As the front man of the Temptations Revue, Dennis Edwards looks like classic Motown royalty, dressed in spangles and sequins, doing all the Tempts routines with his revue.
But because he's singing edgy, socially conscious songs like "Cloud Nine," "Papa Was a Rolling Stone" and "Ball of Confusion" -- songs that he sang lead on originally -- both the message in the music and the experimental sounds still seem fresh.
" 'Ball of Confusion,' and 'Stop the War,' if those songs don't go with the times, I don't know what does," says Edwards by phone from his home in St. Louis. "It is amazing and a tribute to (songwriter/producers) Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong that those songs still sound new."
Dennis Edwards and the Temptations Revue closes out the Michigan State Fair on Labor Day.
Edwards was discovered singing seven days a week at Maul's Lounge in Detroit in the '60s by the great Motown bassist James Jamerson. Jamerson arranged an audition for the young singer at Motown, and Berry Gordy put him on retainer while he figured out what to do with him.
That disturbed the ambitious Edwards.
"I thought, 'Wow, he's holding me back.' Later on I realized, 'Hey, they're paying me money!' " Edwards says with a laugh.
When one of the Contours got sick, Edwards finally got his slot when he was asked to fill in with them on a Temptations tour. On tour he and Ruffin became particularly good friends, ironic considering that Edwards ended up replacing Ruffin in the Tempts lineup when he left for a solo career.
"I was the last person in the world who wanted the initial Temptations unit to break up," says Edwards. "The night before they called me to be in the group, I sat up all night long. I said, 'David, you're not leaving the Temptations!' I was a little mixed at first. I loved David, but it was an opportunity."
Edwards' first vocal lead with the Temptations, "Cloud Nine," was a hit out of the box. With its angry wah-wah guitar riff, Edwards' gritty voice and the Temptations' exquisitely-done backing vocals -- "The childhood part of my life wasn't very pretty, see ... I was born and raised in the slums of the city ..." -- it won the group its first Grammy.
When Edwards sings "I needed somethin' to ease my troubled mind," it was a huge jolt of social realism for Motown, which had mostly been an oasis of romanticism during the turbulent '60s.
It's amazing in retrospect that the Whitfield/Strong songs were released, considering that they had to go through the rigorous Motown quality control system.
"You had to go before 'the board,' " remembers Edwards. "(Gordy) had a crazy one, a straight one, a white collar one, all on this board. In order for your record to go out, you had to pass all of them, which was rare! One record would be wild and the wild guy would say 'great,' but then the straight guy would say 'no!' "
Edwards has resolved the court battles with Otis Williams' Temptations about the use of the Temptations name.
"In big fights like that nobody wins but the lawyers," says Edwards. "I'm a part of the Temptation history and Otis is a part and nobody can take that from us. It's unfortunate that we couldn't get together and make music together. But he's got a great group and I've got a great group."
As much of a fan as Edwards is of the Temptations, he was surprised -- and pleased -- when he was inducted along with them into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 along with Ruffin, Kendricks, Otis Williams, Melvin Franklin and Paul Williams.
"When they were nominated I called Eddie and said congratulations. I called David, I even talked to Otis. I was so happy for them," says Edwards. "All of a sudden I got a letter, they'd nominated six Temptations and I went into the Hall of Fame along with Eddie, David, Paul, Otis and Melvin. It was the highlight of my whole career. For them to nominate me, for me to walk across that stage with them was huge, because I love these guys."
Motown fans will be on 'Cloud Nine' with revue
By Susan Whitall / The Detroit News
Dennis Edwards
About the event
What: Dennis Edwards and the Temptations Revue
When: 7 p.m. Monday
Where: Michigan State Fair
Cost: Free with fair admission
Is it possible to be old school and cutting edge? As the front man of the Temptations Revue, Dennis Edwards looks like classic Motown royalty, dressed in spangles and sequins, doing all the Tempts routines with his revue.
But because he's singing edgy, socially conscious songs like "Cloud Nine," "Papa Was a Rolling Stone" and "Ball of Confusion" -- songs that he sang lead on originally -- both the message in the music and the experimental sounds still seem fresh.
" 'Ball of Confusion,' and 'Stop the War,' if those songs don't go with the times, I don't know what does," says Edwards by phone from his home in St. Louis. "It is amazing and a tribute to (songwriter/producers) Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong that those songs still sound new."
Dennis Edwards and the Temptations Revue closes out the Michigan State Fair on Labor Day.
Edwards was discovered singing seven days a week at Maul's Lounge in Detroit in the '60s by the great Motown bassist James Jamerson. Jamerson arranged an audition for the young singer at Motown, and Berry Gordy put him on retainer while he figured out what to do with him.
That disturbed the ambitious Edwards.
"I thought, 'Wow, he's holding me back.' Later on I realized, 'Hey, they're paying me money!' " Edwards says with a laugh.
When one of the Contours got sick, Edwards finally got his slot when he was asked to fill in with them on a Temptations tour. On tour he and Ruffin became particularly good friends, ironic considering that Edwards ended up replacing Ruffin in the Tempts lineup when he left for a solo career.
"I was the last person in the world who wanted the initial Temptations unit to break up," says Edwards. "The night before they called me to be in the group, I sat up all night long. I said, 'David, you're not leaving the Temptations!' I was a little mixed at first. I loved David, but it was an opportunity."
Edwards' first vocal lead with the Temptations, "Cloud Nine," was a hit out of the box. With its angry wah-wah guitar riff, Edwards' gritty voice and the Temptations' exquisitely-done backing vocals -- "The childhood part of my life wasn't very pretty, see ... I was born and raised in the slums of the city ..." -- it won the group its first Grammy.
When Edwards sings "I needed somethin' to ease my troubled mind," it was a huge jolt of social realism for Motown, which had mostly been an oasis of romanticism during the turbulent '60s.
It's amazing in retrospect that the Whitfield/Strong songs were released, considering that they had to go through the rigorous Motown quality control system.
"You had to go before 'the board,' " remembers Edwards. "(Gordy) had a crazy one, a straight one, a white collar one, all on this board. In order for your record to go out, you had to pass all of them, which was rare! One record would be wild and the wild guy would say 'great,' but then the straight guy would say 'no!' "
Edwards has resolved the court battles with Otis Williams' Temptations about the use of the Temptations name.
"In big fights like that nobody wins but the lawyers," says Edwards. "I'm a part of the Temptation history and Otis is a part and nobody can take that from us. It's unfortunate that we couldn't get together and make music together. But he's got a great group and I've got a great group."
As much of a fan as Edwards is of the Temptations, he was surprised -- and pleased -- when he was inducted along with them into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 along with Ruffin, Kendricks, Otis Williams, Melvin Franklin and Paul Williams.
"When they were nominated I called Eddie and said congratulations. I called David, I even talked to Otis. I was so happy for them," says Edwards. "All of a sudden I got a letter, they'd nominated six Temptations and I went into the Hall of Fame along with Eddie, David, Paul, Otis and Melvin. It was the highlight of my whole career. For them to nominate me, for me to walk across that stage with them was huge, because I love these guys."