With a raw edge to his mellifluous baritone voice Dennis Edwards, Jr. as the lead singer for the Temptations, gave the group another soulful tone, extending their popularity with a trove of hits. Edwards, who joined Motown’s Tempts after lead singer, David Ruffin, was fired, had a number of memorable songs to his credit, including his signature tune “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone.” Edwards, 74, died Feb. 1 in a Chicago hospital.
According to a Motown Museum representative who was close to Edwards and confirmed his death, the singer died of complications from meningitis, for which he was initially hospitalized last spring.
There was a massive outpouring of grief for Edwards, and none more touching than those from Berry Gordy, Motown’s founder. “I am saddened about the passing of the one and only, Dennis Edwards,” Gordy said Friday in a statement to the Edwards’ family. Another bright light from our Motown family is gone. Dennis was the perfect artist to join the Temptations at a critical time in the group’s rise. He epitomized their style – tall, dark, handsome – and a voice like no other. … Whenever we would greet each other, it was bear hugs and warm smiles.”
That same effusiveness and inexhaustible energy emanated on stage and in the recording studio where his funk-fused voice soared on such hits as “Ball of Confusion (That’s What the World is Today),” “I Can’t Get Next to You,” “Psychedelic Shack,” and “Cloud Nine,” which brought Motown’s its first Grammy award.
But it was “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone,” recorded four years after he joined the Tempts in 1968 that gave Edwards that special distinction. “It was just really magical,” Edwards said of the song. “Even today, everywhere I go, that’s one of the most well received songs I do. Everybody knows it.” The song was written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong, originally for the Undisputed Truth in 1971.
And everybody knew Edwards who was born in Fairfield or Birmingham, Alabama, depending on the source, on Feb. 3, 1943. His family moved to Detroit while Edwards was still in elementary school. Later he attended Eastern High School, now Martin Luther King, Jr. High School. Like so many singers, he began singing in a church where his father was the pastor. But he gradually left gospel and spirituals for the secular sound, beginning his professional career with several local Detroit groups before joining the Temptations.
One of the original Tempts, Otis Williams, in his autobiography recalled the moment when Edwards was selected to replace Ruffin. “Eddie [Kendricks] and I first noticed a singer named Dennis Edwards at the Howard Theater in Washington, D.C., when it was still with the Contours. We watched from the wings as he sang lead on Lou Rawls’ ‘Love Is a Hurtin’ Thing.’ Dennis not only had a stirring, soulful voice, be he was a showman with real command of the audience.
“His style was a little rougher and grittier than David’s,” Williams continued, “but we could tell that Dennis would be able to handle David’s songs and bring a new sound to the Tempts as well. Eddie looked at me and said, ‘That’s who we should get. If David don’t straighten up, that’s who we should keep in mind.'”
The other Tempts-Paul Williams and Melvin Franklin-agreed, and so did millions of fans. A statement from the Recording Academy, which runs the Grammys, offered a tribute for the fallen vocalist, celebrating his three career wins and the Temptations’ Lifetime Achievement Award, by noting that “Dennis Edwards helped define Detroit soul in the late 1960s as the music of Motown acts was becoming more socially aware,” read the tribute. “Edwards will forever be remembered as one of Motown’s most celebrated vocalists. He will be dearly missed, and our thoughts go out to his family and friends during this difficult time.”
It wasn’t always smooth sailing with the Tempts for Edwards, and Franklin fired him in 1980, no longer able to tolerate his lateness and replaced him with Ollie Woodson. In 1987, Edwards was back with the Tempts after Woodson was released. Two years later Woodson was back and Edwards was fired for the third and final time by Williams. In the interim of all this turmoil Edwards briefly performed and recorded with Kendricks and Ruffin, and in between had a solo career from 1984 to 1990.
Among his many awards was the Living Legend Award, and nothing best signified his standing with his funk fans all over the world.
“My heart is very heavy,” singer Martha Reeves told the Detroit Free Press. “I feel like I’ve been hit by a sledgehammer.”
No, it wasn’t the third of September that music lovers will remember, but Feb. 1, 2018 and a few other dates that Edwards marked on the entertainment calendar
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