Otis Williams looks back as the musical “Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations” returns to Toronto.
By Nick Krewen
Special to the Star
Sixty-three years on, Otis Williams is still at the helm of one of the greatest Motown acts of all-time, The Temptations.
Not only does the tenor and baritone vocalist continue to tour with the group into its seventh decade as its only original member, but the Texarkana-born musician has never relinquished his role as the soul sextet’s leader and director.
It hasn’t been easy: on the road to selling more than 30 million singles and albums; earning berths in the Rock & Roll, Vocal Group and Rhythm & Blues Halls of Fame; and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award to accompany four other statuettes, Williams has endured demands from close to 30 members who have flowed through the combo’s lineup since he formed it in Detroit in 1960.
“You’re dealing with people first and talent second — and that can be problematic — but it never got to the point where I just wanted to throw my hands up,” said Williams, 82, during a recent Zoom call to promote the return of the Tony-winning “Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations” to Toronto this month. “That is a true testament of me wanting to stay in the business and think straight ahead, because I have dealt with 27 strong personalities and yet, here I sit, still carrying on the Temptations 60 years later.”
The original lineup was formed during the doo-wop era and was the result of the merger of two groups: the Distants, featuring Williams, Al Bryant and Melvin Franklin, and the Primes, consisting of Eddie Kendricks and Paul Williams (no relation.)
Carrying on as the Distants, the quintet recorded two songs with Johnnie Mae Matthews’ Detroit-based Northern Records in 1960 before Motown Records founder Berry Gordy offered them a deal.
They had to change the name once they parted with Matthews.
“Paul and Eddie, Al — because (David) Ruffin wasn’t in the group at that time — Melvin and myself, and this young man named Bill Mitchell, were standing out in front of Motown, trying to figure out what name we should call ourselves.
“Bill said, ‘Temptations.’ I said, ‘I like that. We’ll call ourselves the Temptations.’ So we hollered up to Motown’s legal department, which was upstairs, and they put the name on the contracts.”
Even though the group was initially paired with Gordy, success was elusive. The ensemble began working with singer, songwriter and producer William “Smokey” Robinson, but it wasn’t until singer David Ruffin replaced Bryant that the Temptations enjoyed their first Top 20 hit with “The Way You Do The Things You Do.”
Williams admitted he thought the lyrics were banal.
“I said, ‘Smokey, I’m reading the lyrics and it says, “You’ve got a smile so bright” — man, this is hokey!’ We went to the studio and it was our first real big hit.”
The group and Robinson later struck pay dirt with their next one, the No. 1 hit “My Girl,” still considered the group’s signature song.
The song was such a smash that Williams remembers receiving congratulatory telegrams from Gordy, label mates the Supremes and non-label mates the Beatles once the song peaked at No. 1 on the charts.
“When we sing that song today, people will start crying,” Williams said. “‘My Girl’ was definitely the first one I would say is a touching moment in my life.”
One of the more interesting evolutions to the Temptations sound came in the late 1960s, when the writing and production team of Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong brought them more socially relevant material, transforming them into pioneers of “psychedelic soul.”
Commencing with 1969’s “Cloud Nine” — which earned the Temptations their first Grammy for Best R&B Group Performance — Whitfield steered the material to embrace more gritty realism with hits like “Ball of Confusion (That’s What the World Is Today),” culminating in 1973 with a seven-minute opus about a deadbeat father, “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone.”
“That’s just the evolution of pop music and what life can be,” Williams said. “In 1968, that’s when we ventured into ‘Cloud Nine’ and ‘Runaway Child’ and ‘Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone,’ those songs that were four or five or six or seven minutes long. It was unheard of during the early part of the ‘60s, but I found it to be a wonderful thing.”
Williams says he’s constantly reminded of the importance of Temptations — and Motown — to people and recalled walking around Hong Kong during a 1975 world tour when he was stopped by three American soldiers.
“The Vietnam War had just ended and these three soldiers started telling me the importance of what Motown and the Temptations meant to them while they were fighting in the jungles of Vietnam,” Williams recalled. “They said, ‘You guys really helped us make it through,’ and as they were telling me this they were crying.
“I never would have imagined that our music would have touched people to that degree. So I’m very happy and I know that what I’m doing is no happenstance. God, in His infinite wisdom, is letting me still do what I’m doing and bringing enjoyment to people.”
“Ain’t Too Proud” is based on Williams’ 1988 autobiography “Temptations,” co-authored with Patricia Romanowski. Williams said he’s “profoundly happy” with the Des McAnuff-directed production, which won a Tony Award for choreographer Sergio Trujillo in 2019.
“First of all, I’m from Texarkana, Texas, a real small town down in Texas. I used to run up and down the rural roads barefooted with hot water cornbread in my hand,” Williams said.
“To come from that ilk, to where I am and what I’ve seen is a quantum leap that I never would have imagined: that I’d jump to the heights and the longevity, and to bring so much enjoy and pleasure to people.
“I still love being a Temp,” he added. “When people spend their hard-earned money to come and see us, we try to give them as much of ourselves as we can, you know? People do not have to give up their money to see you, so when they do, you better give them all that you have.
“I think that’s a great sticking point with the Temps: here we are — 60 years in the business — and fans still come out like we just started.”