Tony Turner (David Ruffin's godson) reveals in his book, "Deliver Us From Temptation." When Eddie Kendricks left the Temptations, Paul Williams (above, 2nd from left) completely lost his balance and couldn't even fake it on stage any more. Richard Street was brought in as his replacement and Paul, still under contract, was kept on salary by Motown as a "consultant" to the Tempts.

One day in August 1973, Paul came home from work to find his girlfriend, Winnie, partying with friends. Upset, he promptly left again. He was found some time later, dead with a bullet in his brain. The verdict was suicide. Everybody agreed that Paul had plenty of reasons to kill himself-he owed $80,000 in back taxes, his family life was in ruins, a boutique he had opened with Winnie had failed, he'd drunk himself out of the Temptations, and now considered himself a prisoner of Motown. But hardly anyone believed Paul had killed himself.

Eddie Kendricks had his doubts. He had seen Paul just a couple of days earlier and found him in a positive mood. Besides, as David Ruffin said, why would anyone get into his car with only his underwear on, drive to within a few blocks of Motown and using his right hand, shoot himself in the left side of his head? It didn't make sense.

Whatever the reason for Paul's death, it terrified Eddie. As the years went by, Eddie became increasingly self-controlled and cautious, carefully picking and choosing who he would allow in his life.

Paul's fate also made Eddie even more wary of Motown, despite the fact that his solo career was going well. Eddie thought he was going to be the male Diana Ross but nobody could be because Gordy wouldn't let them. And nobody was given the kind of star treatment or attention she got either, which Eddie resented.

Once, Eddie and Gordy were in an elevator together and Gordy allegedly told Eddie, "You know, your career would go much further if you would be like Diana and just do what you're told. "Well, I'm not Diana," Eddie replied. From that point on, according to Eddie, it was as if he didn't exist at Motown. According to Eddie, he wanted out of Motown despite his solo success and offered to buy his way out but Motown wanted him to sign an agreement relinquishing all future royalties. Eddie said, things got so bad, Motown had him in a hospital seeing psychiatrists. Eventually, Eddie signed the agreement according to Turner.

Timmy84 said:

Very scary stuff, and yet interesting. Showing how regardless of the label and how much they preach the "all in the family" lingo, the main goal is to screw the ones that are generating the $$

Same old BS allegations. All talk, no proof.

funksterr said:

It did come from Tony Turner. He has some interesting stories about his time with both the Supremes and the Temptations. He also seemed to have this love-hate affair with Mary Wilson for some reason.

lastdecember said:

Image is one thing, what happens behind the scenes is a very different story.

Motown was a mess. Anymore stories ...

Timmy84 said:

I was hoping there was some controversy surrounding the release of this budget compilation.

Cinnie said:

Don't hate on those Motown Legends compilations, I got a ton of them ...

LittleBLUECorvette said:

This is a funny one concerning David Ruffin outstaging Diana Ross:

Tony Turner reveals the following in his book, "Deliver Us From Temptation:"

While the Temptations and Supremes rehearsed for an joint appearance on the "Ed Sullivan Show," David Ruffin became angry, because the set featured several boxes with the names "The Temptations" and "The Supremes," all across them but if those names came up thirty times, the name "Diana Ross" came up sixty times. Worst of all, her name was overlapping not just the Supremes name but the Temptations too. So visually, you had something like, "Diana Ross Temptations-Diana Ross Supremes and there was nothing the Tempts could do about it.

The real problem started when the two groups started rehearsing and realized the Tempts songs and the Supremes songs were arranged in different keys and Diana could not sing in David's key. As usual, after the rehearsal Diana started complaining about the whole thing and when the Tempts left and came back to rehearsal the next day they all knew she must have run and called Berry Gordy because everything had been changed. Overnight, somebody had transposed the Tempts charts into Diana's key and rehearsed the band to play the new charts. The guys were shocked. They hadn't worked with Diana in a while and they weren't used to seeing her treated almost like a solo star with her own separate staff and everything. Little did they know, Diana had the nerve to be upset because she had the audacity to think that the Tempts were riding her coattails.

David whispered to Mary Wilson, "Is this what goes on all the time?" "Yes, said Mary, "she always gets her way."

Later, before the actual show, David told me. "Watch, Tony. When I get up there tonight, I'm gonna give that phony wig-wearing bitch a run for her money." I didn't know what he was planning but I knew David could murder Diana vocally and he did. He did exactly what he was supposed to do as far as his dance steps and movements were concerned but when it came time to singing, he did a whole lot of ad libbing and completely threw Diana off. Diana was livid by the end of the show.

Timmy84 said:

Sounds alot like the Minneapolis scene in the early 80's before Purple Rain broke through.

This story has Dennis Edwards and Aretha Franklin supposedly renewing their romance:



Tony Turner reveals the following in his book, "Deliver Us From Temptation."

David Ruffin, Eddie Kendricks and Dennis Edwards were scheduled to perform at a big by-invitation-only party at the Queen Of Soul, Aretha Franklin's mansion in a Detroit suburb.

Aretha had personally requested that Dennis Edwards, her one-time live-in lover sing one of her favorite songs at the event, "A Song For You," but Edwards politely declined because Dennis had made a vow to a long term ongoing love interest of his never to sing "A Song For You," specifically for anyone else but her.

Just getting to the party proved to be an event in itself. As usual, David Ruffin missed three or four planes. I had to keep rebooking his flight arrangements throughout the day.

Finally, David finally arrived and we got into a limo that took us to Aretha's estate. On the way over, Eddie Kendricks looked like he was silently reminiscing. At his peak, he had lived in this neighborhood but he had to give the house and practically everything he owned to his ex-wife Pat in the divorce settlement.

The house was filled with thousands of dollars worth of fresh flowers. The white walls were covered with gold and platinum records spanning Aretha's whole career. It took me back to the time Mary Wilson moved homes for a day when she was invited to appear on one of the Rich & Famous shows. She took all her photographs and gold records off the walls, moved them over to a friend's mansion, parked her old Rolls-Royce with the Supremes license plate and pretended that this was her house so that nobody would know she was actually washed up and lived cooped up with her family in a tiny, two-bedroom bungalow.

But Mary's production paled in comparsion to Aretha because this was actually Aretha's home.

Strategically placed among all the photographs on the walls were several large framed pictures of Dennis and Aretha. It was like a shrine to Dennis.

"Me and Aretha could have made it." Dennis once told me. "But when you get Aretha, you get the Queen's staff and guards." He added, that he was worried that Aretha might be seeking to rekindle their romance. Dennis was in a marriage that didn't appear to be a match made in heaven, plus his career was definitely in need of the kind of shot in the arm Aretha could give it.

Suddenly, Aretha's personal manager arrived and told me "there's a man calling for you in the hallway, he's buck naked, he's soaking wet and he's screaming for you to get him a razor." Looking down the corridor, I saw that it was David Ruffin, my godfather.

Eddie suddenly informed me, he wanted to perform for Aretha, get paid and get out.

Aretha suddenly shows up with her boyfriend and asked Dennis again-to sing "A Song For You." As soon as Aretha's boyfriend turned his back, Dennis whispered, "Aretha, how can you ask me to sing "A Song For You," with your boyfriend standing right there? She said, "Honey, this is my house. He do what I say or he can get out!"

David, Dennis and Eddie came out on stage in their black jumpsuits and tore Aretha's house down with their performance.

After the performance, Aretha left to watch actor Blair Underwood model men's furs upstairs.

Not much later, after doing the payroll in Dennis's suite, there came a knock at the door. It was Aretha's sister, Erma. "Dennis, I want to speak to you privately," she said.

I left so they could speak.

The next morning, as I sat eating breakfast with Eddie, in walked Dennis Edwards followed by Aretha wearing a fabulous mink coat. She nodded her head regally, and said, "Y'all be sure to come up to the house for brunch," and left.

The second Dennis sat down Eddie and I both asked him, "What in the world has happened now?" Dennis claimed that Erma told him that Aretha still loved him and wanted to get back with him.

Later, Aretha came in saying she wanted Dennis to ride back to the house with her and spend the weekend, he asked, "What about your man?" "Honey, she said, what about him? He knows I came up here to see my man."

Dennis just told her, "Now Aretha, I'm not with all that." To this day, he insists nothing further happened between them that night.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Who's hatin'! I got the Stevie and MJ ones. I think the Rick James one too.

Cinnie said:

The only one that really hates those compilations are the artists, most of them get ZERO of the money, unless they wrote the tracks, than they get a very small cut of the royalities

lastdecember said:

Well yeah, how much money could be left after you pay $5.96 at point of sale?

agreement relinquishing all future royalties.....


That's exactly what the Jacksons signed in 1980 and what Michael tried to fight in 2002

bboy87 said:

Really? Why would they sign that in 1980 if they were already fuckin with Epic?

funksterr said:

-----
One of the motown book out a few years ago was filled with court documents showing the lawsuits against Motown by artist and staff song writers. Some of those writers and artist received settlements for lack of royalties.

In addtion, you have the Teena Marie case. (look it up) and some of the things Rick James has said about Motown and the mob. Let's live in reality.

Timmy84 said:

Cinnie said:

Motown said that the family owed them one more album but Joe wouldn't let them work with the boys anymore. So Motown released "Joyful Jukebox Music".....a month before the Epic debut was to be released

Then they released the "Boogie" album around the same time "Destiny" was being released back in 1979. Motown filed a lawsuit in 1979-1980 against the entire family and won,

bboy87 said:

Berry Gordy is a powerful man. No way the Jacksons would've gotten anything from the label. But I bet once he moves to the afterlife, every Motown act would file a lawsuit demanding royalties. Too many artists from independent labels often leave it penniless and broke. Diana Ross only had $250,000 in her name when she left Motown in 1981. So she had to learn about business affairs and accounting before making another deal. She didn't become really rich until she signed with RCA for $20 million.

Stevie Wonder was really the only Motown artist from those days to get his masters and royalties from all of his recordings post-1971.

Timmy84 said:

And Stevie played HARDBALL. He had Songs In The Key of Life in his back pocket

bboy87 said:

Stevie threatened to leave Motown if Berry didn't give him a contract he can be satisfied with and got $13 million out of the deal. It made sense because the album went to #1 and sold 10 million! Stevie was the smartest negotiator during the Motown period.

WOW! DRAMA,DRAMA & MORE DRAMA! What goes on behind closed doors, we just dont know.....I wished that Kim Weston & Brenda Holloway & The Velvelettes and The Marvelettes were given their DUE but the POWERS that be said it was'nt going to HAPPEN.....Motown does have a history.

Timmy84 said:

I bet David did do that, sounds like his character. Plus if you look at that particular show on YouTube you can see David blow the wind out of Diana.

Funny how years later all the true stories come out about Motown, and they are very interesting too. Funny stuff.

Why don't we ever hear stories like these about Motown's rival, Stax records???

missfee said:

Link now!

GoActive said:

exactly!
I just went to search for it on youtube and couldnt find it

and every small label that opened up in Detroit Berry bought em out such labels as

Impact
Ric-tic
Wingate
Motor City

The only labels that Gordy did not fuck with were

Hot Wax and Invictus those labels were already distributed by Buddah at the time.

laurarichardson said:

I know all about that stuff. I've read a lot of books about it. I've got family members who were there at the time and say a lot of things. But at the end of the day, noone says anything tangible. Everyone talks about their fears, assumptions, and rumors, especialy when they feel they didn't get enough money out of Motown, but noone ever says they saw or know anything definite.

I think most artists at Motown wonder why they didn't get paid to the level of artists at other companies, when they were selling more records in some cases. That's where the 'mob' stories come in. Berry Gordy's sisters worked at a Jewish Mafia owned nightclub therefore the mob ran Motown. Blah, blah, blah. A lot of the people making those allegations harbored their own racial biases and sterotypes and were not particularly well educated or familiar with other cultures. So as soon as they saw a 'white' face in the building, they must be Mafia. Also, there is a lot of hatin' on Berry Gordy personaly. You 've got some black people that are jealous that he was successful in an all-white business and they were not.

The fact is Berry Gordy was not that good at cutting deals on behalf of his artists. He often took pennies on the dollar for what he was owed. He often made terrible deals because he was inexperienced and the industry took advantage of him. He was talented in one sense, but not so much in another.

But that makes a boring book, so instead we hear about boogeymen and mafia.