At 83, Otis Williams Reveals Why They ACTUALLY Fired David Ruffin

Otis Williams and David Ruffin were supposed to be part of the same dream. One helped to build the Temptations from the ground up. The other walked in with a voice so powerful it changed the group forever. On stage, they looked perfect. The suits were sharp. The steps were smooth. The harmonies sounded untouchable.

But behind that Mottown polish, something was starting to crack. David became the voice everyone waited for. Otis became the man trying to keep the whole thing from falling apart. And somewhere between fame, pride, money, women, and missed chances, the brotherhood turned into a battle. Join us as we look inside Otis Williams, David Ruffin, the Temptations, and the real drama behind the firing Mottown fans still argue about today.

Okay. My question is to Otis. Why was David Ruffin fired from the Temptations? Well, you see, when we first started out, we made a vow that we would not uh success can act as a very strong aphrodisiac, you know, and when you are a group, you have to move and think as one unit. Well, all the headlines said I was fired, you know, but I don’t see how you could fire someone out of a group of before the fame, Otis had already learned laws.

By the time the Temptation signed to Mottown in March 1961, Otis Williams had already been chasing music for years. He was not the loudest voice. He was not the flashy frontman, but he had something just as important. He knew how to gather people, keep moving, and hold a group together when everything around it started changing.

That skill would later become the reason the temptation survived so many storms. But before the sharp suits, clean steps, and Mottown fame, Otis was just a boy from Tex Arcana, Texas. He was born Otis Miles Jr. on October 30th, 1941 to Otis Miles and Hazel Louise Williams. His parents separated not long after his birth.

While he was still very young, his mother remarried and moved to Detroit, Michigan, leaving Otis to be raised by both of his grandmothers in Tex Arcana. So before he ever had to hold a legendary group together, he had already learned what change felt like. When Otis was 10, Hazel brought him to Detroit, where he lived with her and his stepfather.

That move changed everything. Detroit was not just another city. For a young man with music in his blood, it became the place where a dream could finally start. As a teenager, Otis became drawn to singing. He took his mother’s maiden name, Williams, as his stage name. That small choice mattered. Otis Miles Jr.

became Otis Williams. And slowly he started building the sound that would carry him for decades. Before the Temptations had that famous name, Otis tried different groups. There was Otis Williams and the Siberians. Then came the El Domingos. Then the Distance. Each group was a step even when the success was small.

In 1959, The Distance had a local hit called Come On with lead vocals by Richard Street. Otis helped write it with producer Johnny May Matthews and manager Milton Jenkins was also involved. It was not a worldwide smash, but it proved something was there. Still, the next recordings did not land the same way.

Then Barry Gordy of Mottown Records made an offer, and that offer split the path. Peeweee Crawford and Richard Street left the distance while Otis Williams, Al Bryant, and Melvin Franklin moved forward. Soon Edd.i.e Kendricks and Paul Williams from the Primes joined them. Together, they became the Elgens.

But when they learned another group already had that name, they became the Temptations. That name would soon mean smooth harmonies, careful moves, and some of the most loved soul music ever recorded. But at the start, it was just a group of young men trying to make it. And Otis was there from the first real chapter.

His early life makes the later story easier to understand. He was used to change before music ever changed his life. He knew how to adjust, how to keep moving, and how to make a home out of whatever was in front of him. Mottown turns five young men into a machine. Once the Temptations became part of Mottown, they slowly turned into something bigger than a singing group.

They became a full package. The voices mattered, but so did the suits, the steps, the timing, and the way they moved like one body with five different souls. Mottown knew how to polish talent, and the Temptations had the kind of talent that could not stay hidden for long. Formed in Detroit in 1961, they grew into one of Mottown’s strongest acts through the 1960s and into the mid 1970s.

Their songs helped shape soul music for a whole generation. They sold tens of millions of albums, won four Grammy awards, and earned nine nominations. But the numbers only tell part of it. The real power was in the sound. One voice could be smooth. Another could be deep. Another could rise high and sweet.

Together, they sounded rich, warm, and complete. Their biggest songs included My Girl and I Know I’m Losing You. But the Temptations were never frozen in one perfect moment. The group kept changing, and somehow it kept surviving. Over the years, voices came and went, including David Ruffin, Dennis Edwards, Richard Street, Damon Harris, Ron Tyson, Ali Ali Woodson, Theo Peoples, Ray Davis, and GC Cameron.

That long list tells its own story. The Temptations were a dream, but they were also a machine that had to keep running, even when the men in sighted were tired, angry, or fighting for space. Otis Williams became the longest serving member, but he was rarely the man out front. He sang tenor and baritone, mostly standing as a steady baritone in the middle.

His job was not always to take the spotlight. His job was to keep the group together. Still, he had rare lead moments, including Don’t Send Me Away, I Ain’t Got Nothing, Check Yourself, and live vocals on This Guy’s in love with you. He also added spoken parts to songs like I’m Going to Make You Love Me, Masterpiece, and For Your Love.

But even when Otis was not the main voice, he was still the center of control. The public saw the shine. Otis saw the pressure behind it and very soon one voice would arrive that made them bigger than ever but also harder to control and that voice would change the whole story for good.

Then David Ruffin walked in and changed everything. David Ruffin came from a very different beginning. He was born Davis Eli Ruffin on January 18, 1941 in why not Mississippi, a small rural community near Meridian. He was the third son of Elias Ruffin a Baptist minister and Oilia Ruffin. His siblings included Quincy, Rita May, Jimmy Lee Ruffin, and another sister, Rosine, who d.i.ed as a baby.

David’s roots ran deep in Mississippi, though his family story stretched back through Alabama and North Carolina. His great-grandfather, John Ruffin, had served in the Civil War with the 14th United States Colored Heavy Artillery Regiment. But David’s own childhood was marked by pain early. His mother d.i.ed from childbirth complications when he was only 10 months old.

His father later married Erlene, a school teacher, in 1942. David’s father was strict and at times violently abusive. Still, music was around him. As a child, David traveled with his father, stepmother, and siblings as a family gospel group. They opened shows for major gospel acts like Mahalia Jackson and the Five Blind Boys of Mississippi.

David sang in church, talent shows, and anywhere he could get a chance. At 14, he left home under the care of a minister, Edd.i.e Bush, and went to Memphis with plans connected to ministry. But the stage kept calling. At 15, he went to Hot Springs, Arkansas with jazz musician Phineas Newborn Senior. He performed at the 50 Grand Ballroom and Casino, worked with horses at a jockey club, sang in talent shows, joined the Dixie Night and Gales, and briefly sang with the Soul Stirers after Johnny Taylor left. Like idols such as

Sam Cook and Jackie Wilson, David moved from gospel towards secular music. At 16, Edd.i.e Bush and his wife brought him to Detroit, where his brother Jimmy was chasing music while working at Ford. In Detroit, David recorded early songs under the name Little David Bush. He met Barry Gordy Jr. in 1957.

Lived with Gord’s father and helped with construction on the building that became Hitsville, USA. He also worked at Anna Records where Marvin Gay was around, too. Gord’s sister, Gwen Gordy Fuqua, later remembered that David was polite. But what struck her most was how he rehearsed like he was already on stage. That detail says a lot.

Before fame, David already carried himself like the lights were on. He recorded with the voice masters, played drums, sang, and tried solo work, though early success did not come. Then his brother Jimmy told him the Temptations needed a tenor. David showed interest to Otis Williams, who lived close to him in Detroit.

In January 1964, after Al Bryant was fired, David Ruffen joined the Temptations. Both David and Jimmy had been considered, but David’s performance at a 1963 New Year’s Eve party gave him the edge. At first, he sang mostly background. Edd.i.e Kendricks and Paul Williams still carried many leads, but Smokeoky Robinson saw something hiding there.

He called David a sleeping giant with a voice that was both mellow and gruff. All Smokeoky needed was the right song. Then came My Girl. David’s early life also explains why his voice carried so much feeling. He had known church music, hard travel, family pain, and the pressure of trying to make something of himself while still very young.

When he sang, it did not sound empty. It sounded lived in. And once the right song found him, there was no putting David Ruffin back in the background. The moment the magic started turning dangerous, My Girl was recorded in November 1964 and released one month later. In 1965, it became the Temptation’s first number one single.

More than that, it became their signature song. It lifted David Ruffin from background singer to lead voice and frontman. That is where the magic got dangerous. David had a voice that could sound wounded, proud, romantic, and desperate all at once. He stood 6′ 3 in tall, wore those trademark black rim glasses, and performed with the kind of drama fans could not ignore.

Otis Williams later described him as a natural comedian and a hardworking singer when he first joined. The group even gave him the playful nickname Rough, and David did more than sing. His most famous non-vocal idea was the foreheaded microphone stand. That stand let the other members sing and dance without crowding around one microphone while the lead singer could use a separate one.

It became part of the group’s look. After my girl, the hits kept coming. David led. It’s growing since I lost my baby. My baby ain’t too proud to beg. Beauty is only skin deep. I know I’m losing you. All I need. Loneliness made me realize it’s you that I need. I wish it would rain and I could never love another after loving you.

He also shared lead vocals with Edd.i.e Kendricks on you’re my everything. For fans, this was the golden rush. For the group, it was more complicated. The temptations were built as a unit, but David’s voice started pulling attention toward one man. That kind of spotlight can feed a person and it can also change him. By 1967, problems with David became harder to ignore.

He had begun using cocaine and started missing rehearsals and performances. He also refused to travel with the other Temptations. Instead, he traveled with his then girlfriend, Mottown singer Tammy Terrell, in a custom limousine. The limo even had the image of his black rimmed glasses painted on the door. I guess you heard about the limousine with the glasses and everyone else was riding the station wagon.

So I guess that wasn’t too appropriate, but they could have rolled with me if they wanted. Around the same time, Mottown changed the Supremes to Diana Ross and the Supremes. David believed he deserved similar treatment. He wanted the group renamed David Ruffin and the Temptations. You should be the Wasn’t it though David Ruffin wanted it? David Ruffin and the Temptations.

Yes, he did. He didn’t get away with it by but Diana. In some accounts, the demand also included Edd.i.e Kendricks in the name. Either way, the message was clear. David no longer wanted to be just one of five that brought him into conflict with Otis Williams, who was the group’s main organizer and steady leader to become a Were you kind of the godfather of the group? You were the one cuz you were the founder.

I mean, were you the one that cracked the whip? May Matthews put that yoke on my back a long time ago. It wasn’t anything that I said, “Hey, I’m going to be the leader.” It was a thing when she would call a meeting, I would always be there like 5 minutes or so earlier. And so she, I guess, recognized that quality and she said, “Hey, I like it.

” David also started asking questions about the group’s money and wanted an accounting of their financial records. That created friction with Barry Gordy and Mottown. Mottown partly allowed an outside accounting firm, but the firm did not get full access to the books from the group’s manager, International Talent Management, a Mottown subsidiary.

So, the tension was not just about ego. It was also about money, power, and trust. And once those things begin to crack, even the best harmonies can start to sound shaky. His relationship with Tammy Terrell added another layer to the trouble around him. It was public, intense, and later remembered as painful.

Tammy learned after an on-stage engagement announcement that David was already married, and the relationship became more violent as his drug use worsened. By then, the problem was no longer just backstage gossip. David’s private chaos was starting to threaten the whole group. Why did the group finally cut David loose? Before David Ruffin was even part of the group, the Temptations had already faced one painful firing.

Original member Al Bryant had been struggling with heavy drinking and a bad attitude as the group’s profile grew. Otis Williams later explained in his book Temptations that Al had become difficult on top of the drinking. In mid 1963, Al attacked Paul Williams with a beer bottle after a show, but Paul convinced the others not to fire him.

In the final break came at Mottown’s 1963 Christmas party when Al caused another scene. The group decided they had had enough. Al was fired and David Ruffin soon took his place. Years later, after a show at Detroit’s Coobo Hall in 1968, the group saw Al again. Otis remembered him looking worn down with long unruly hair, dark circles under his eyes, and skin that looked ashen.

He also remembered a deep sadness in Al’s words. Al Bryant d.i.ed in 1975 at 36 from cerosis of the liver. That earlier story showed how painful a dismissal could be, but David’s firing would become even more public. In June 1968, the group reached its limit after David missed a June 22nd Cleveland performance so he could attend a show by his new girlfriend, Barbara Gail Martin, Dean Martin’s daughter.

The other four drew up legal papers and officially fired him on June 27th, 1968. Dennis Edwards, formerly of the Contours and already known to Edd.i.e Kendricks and Otis, was hired the next day. At first, David accepted it. At that time things just could not be smoothed out and u there will come a day that I would tell the whole story certain little things you know sometime uh people want to travel one certain way someone else wants to travel another way and even encouraged Dennis but once Dennis made his official debut with

the group at Valley Forge on July 7th David appeared at the show jumped on stage took the microphone from Dennis during Ain’t Too Proud to beg sang lead and disappeared as quickly as he game. Fans loved it. The group did not. David repeated the stunt several times during the July tour, sneaking in even after Extra Security was hired.

Dennis later told a story that the crowd reaction and David’s please almost convinced the group to bring him back. Otis Williams and road manager Don Foster later pushed back against that version. According to Dennis, the group was ready to rehire David in Gaithersburg, Maryland, but David arrived late to what would have been his return show.

After that, they kept Dennis and stopped considering it. Otis has always said David’s firing was permanent. After that, David turned his focus to Mottown. In October 1968, he sued the label for release and an accounting of his money. Mottown counter sued and the case was settled.

David had to remain with Mottown as a solo artist to finish his contract. His first solo single, My Whole World Ended, The Moment You Left Me, came in 1969, followed by the album Feeling Good. But inside the Temptations, the wound was still fresh. David was gone, but the pressure he left behind did not disappear.

In fact, the next cracks were already forming platis. So, we made a vow, but it’s one thing to hold true to that vow once you know you start to make huge amounts of money and doors open up to you that once would never. How much pain could the temptation survive? After David Ruffin was fired, Edd.i.e Kendricks became more distant from the group.

Edd.i.e had one of the most loved falsetto voices in soul music, but he was unhappy with the way things were moving. He preferred the earlier ballads and did not feel comfortable with the psychedelic soul sound that came with producer Norman Whitfield. That new sound had started with Cloud9 in October 1968 and became important in the growth of R and B and soul music.

But success did not mean peace. Edd.i.e often fought with Otis Williams and Melvin Franklin and some arguments became physical. He also rebuilt his friendship with David Ruffin who encouraged him to go solo. Edd.i.e felt he no longer had a voice in how Otis handled the group. He also believed Mottown’s financial handling was unfair.

In 1970, he pushed for the temptations to go on strike with no shows and no recordings until Barry Gordy and Mottown gave them full financial answers through independent accountants. Otis and Melvin strongly opposed the idea. The conflict grew until a November 1970 Copa Cabana engagement when Edd.i.e walked out between shows and did not return.

He and Otis agreed Edd.i.e would leave. Before The Exit became official, Edd.i.e and Paul Williams recorded lead vocals for Just My Imagination: Running Away with Me. Released in January 1971, it climbed to number one. But by the time it reached the top, Edd.i.e had already arranged his release and signed a solo deal with Mottown’s Tambler label. The timing was almost cruel.

One of Edd.i.e’s sweetest moments with the group became his goodbye. At the same time, Paul Williams was falling apart in a different way. Paul had cickle cell disease, and the stress of touring made everything harder. personal issues added more weight. By the late 1960s, he had developed a serious drinking problem, even though he had once avoided alcohol and warned the others about ruining their health.

Otis later connected part of Paul’s pain to an affair with Winnie Brown, a hair stylist for the Supremes. Paul had married young and had five children, and Otis wrote that he was torn between his family and Winnie. But Otis also admitted it was hard to point to one clear cause. In 1998, he told Desiree News it was painful to watch a man go from drinking milk to drinking two or three fifths of kvoasier a day.

As Paul’s health declined, he traveled with oxygen tanks. The group tried to drain his alcohol stashes. Richard Street, a former distant and lead singer of the Monitors, was hired in late 1969 as backup. Sometimes Paul danced and lip-synced while Richard sang offstage behind a curtain.

In May 1971, doctors said Paul could no longer perform and he left. He still received 1/5if of the group’s revenue and helped when he could as an adviser and choreographer. In 1973, he recorded two sides for a possible solo single. But on August 17th, 1973, Paul d.i.ed in Detroit at 34 from a gunshot wound ruled a suicide by the Wayne County Coroner.

The polished image was still there, but behind it, the classic lineup was disappearing piece by piece. Around this same period, the Temptations also had to keep working. While the aud.i.ence expected perfection every night, fans saw the smiles and the steps. They did not always see the oxygen tanks, the arguments, the fear, or the sick member trying to look strong under stage lights.

And after David, Edd.i.e, and Paul, survival was no longer just about music. It became Otis Williams’ burden. How Otis Williams survived what broke everyone else. David Ruffen kept trying after the Temptations, but the road was never smooth. In 1970, he recorded I am my brother’s keeper with his brother Jimmy, and they had minor hits with When My Love Hand Comes Tumbling Down and Your Love was Worth Waiting For.

His solo career first looked promising, but the same problems kept following him. His drug use grew heavier and the support he needed from Mottown never fully came. He left Motown in 1977, recorded for Warner Brother, and later signed with the RCA. The voice was still there, but the stability around it was not.

Then in 1982, the door opened again. David and Edd.i.e Kendricks rejoined the Temptations for the reunion album and tour, which included the Rick James hit, Standing on the Top. For fans, it looked like a dream return. The old magic was back on stage, even if only for a moment.

But behind the scenes, the same problems came back fast. David began missing shows again because of cocaine use, and the group was fined thousands of dollars. By Christmas 1982, Otis fired David for the second and final time along with Edd.i.e, whose voice had been weakened by heavy chain smoking. Once again, Otis had to choose the group over the men who helped make it famous.

David and Edd.i.e later toured as a duo and in 1985 Hall and Oats joined them at the reopening of the Apollo Theater. They also performed a Temptations medley at Live Aid. But the comeback glow did not erase David’s troubles. He faced legal problems over taxes, a handgun charge, cocaine use, and probation violations.

His personal life was also complicated. He married Sandra Barnes in 1961 and had three daughters, Cheryl Nidra and Kimberly. He later had a son with Jenna Sappia and in 1976 he married Joy Hamilton. But his relationships often carried the same troubles throughout his career. Love, pressure, and behavior that became harder for people around him to ignore.

In 1991, after a tour of England with Edd.i.e Kendricks and Dennis Edwards, David d.i.ed in Philadelphia from an accidental cocaine overdose at 50. His family suspected foul play because money was missing, but the cause was ruled an accident. At his funeral in Detroit, Surviving Temptations sang My Girl, while Stevie Wonder and Artha Franklin also sang.

It was a heartbreaking ending for the man whose voice had made that song immortal. The losses did not stop there. Edd.i.e Kendricks d.i.ed in 1992 from lung cancer at 52 after years of heavy smoking. Melvin Franklin d.i.ed in 1995 from heart failure with diabetes making his condition worse. That left Otis Williams as the last surviving original Temptation.

Dennis Edwards also became part of the group’s later sad history. He d.i.ed in Chicago on February 1st, 2018, just before his 75th birthday. His official cause of d.e.a.t.h was complications from menitis. There were claims of neglect and abuse by his wife Brenda, but she denied them and officials later found no evidence. Otis had his own pain, too.

He married Josephine Rogers in 1961, and their son Otis Lamont Miles was born that same year. The marriage ended in 1964. He later married Anne Kaine from 1967 to 1973. then are Leia Gold.i.e Williams from 1983 to 1997. His son Lamont, a construction worker, d.i.ed in a workplace accident in Detroit in 1985 at 24.

Otis told the Express in 2023 that performing helped him through that grief because he could turn sorrow into joy for the aud.i.ence. Through all the lineup changes, Otis and Melvin had once promised each other they would never quit. Melvin stayed until he physically could not continue. Otis carried on. As of June 2025, he remained with the Temptations and had performed on every release, including Temptation 60 from 2022.

At 77, he told Rolling Stone, “As long as my body holds up, I’m going to ride the hell out of the horse.” In 2025, before a historic Lion’s halftime performance, he told ESPN, “We’re going to make sure our game is tight because Detroit was home.” He was asked about the famous miniseries line, “Ain’t nobody coming to see you, Otis.” Is uh ain’t nobody coming to see you, Otis.

which you people still say to this day. Otis said the line came by chance, but fans now shout, “We came to see you, Otis.” After all the fights, losses, firings, and funerals, that twist says everything. Otis did not escape pain. He learned to carry it under the music. So, what really broke things between David Ruffin and the Temptations? Ego, addiction, money, or fame? And did Otis make the hard choice that saved the group, or did the Temptations lose a voice they could never replace? Share your thoughts

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