David Ruffin -The Man

I've been blessed to have lived during a time when the music of our culture reached center stage and changed the world. So when it was announced that the highly acclaimed TVONE series was featuring the Late Great David Ruffin. WOW!!! I was excited!

I know the Temptation story and not just from the movie. To tell you the truth I've blessed to have had my life enhanced by their music. Also, I was blessed to have met several of the group’s members over the years and one of its lead singers was a friend who I admired and miss, but I hear his voice almost daily in song.

I wish that friend was Mr. Ruffin but I am too young to have had that good fortune. Nonetheless, I want to pay homage to this man who's music was a huge influence upon my life, particularly my young life, to which I am grateful. As I watched the documentary something his son said struck me as profound. He said, “My daddy wanted love but he got fame”. We know from the many talented artists to leave us of late that there is a line between triumph and tragedy. That line is often thin and frequently ends sadly.

David Ruffin walked that line with tragic consequences. Ruffin will always be remembered as the mightiest of the Temptations’ lead singers. He was one of "the voices" that made the Temptations and his legacy will live on in the depths of our souls. We will always remember that sexy, gritty voice, those trademark glasses, and that stage charisma that sums up the one and only David Ruffin, and even that little crack in his voice was ok, well it wasn't ok, but that was David Ruffin.

His songs were like windows into his soul, exposing his greatest fears as a lover and a man. Even "happy" songs like "My Girl" brought out vulnerability in his voice. His relationship with the Temptations was a stormy one, but the marriage produced defining moments in 1960's soul and his voice inspired just about every singer who sung to include the likes of Rod Stewart, George Michael, Daryl Hall, and Bruce Springsteen, just to name a few - his influence is everlasting. We'll never know how good he might have been, but we can rejoice in what he left behind.

Born Davis Eli Ruffin, on January 18, 1941 in Whynot, Mississippi. A sickly child, inflicted with both rheumatic fever and asthma. His mother died in childbirth, and he was raised by his father, a Baptist Minister. He was a complex man and master vocalist with a gospel trained voice that would gain him the affection of several generations of listeners, but Ruffin had more than a voice - he had a persona.

In the best of his music, there was a dark, terrible, tragic, and personal beauty. A good example would be in his self-penned composition "Statue of a Fool", written when he was just 18 years old, in which he sees himself as a "man who lets love slip through his hands."

My favorite line in that tune was "On his face, a gold tear should be placed to honor every tear he shed. And I think it would show, and everyone would know, concealed inside is a broken heart." This was a powerful statement that spoke to the depth of his soul. However, as history would record he would share his most private pain in the Temptations’ biggest hits. Songs like "Ain't Too Proud To Beg" and "Since I Lost My Baby", and the chilling "I Wish It Would Rain.

All of these songs were rooted in gospel where David first began, singing in The Ruffin Family and The Spiritual Trying Four with his father, his sister Rita Mae and older brothers Jimmy and Quincy. David left home at 13 following his father’s footsteps to practice the ministry, but was sidetracked, singing in Memphis talent shows where he met a young Elvis Presley. He later sang with the gospel group The Dixie Nightingales out of Memphis, Tennessee, and toured with The Womack Brothers, The Swan Silvertones, The Staple Singers, and the Dixie Hummingbirds.

It was with these gospel groups that Ruffin would develop his stage personality, dropping to his knees and doing splits, just like the late Jackie Wilson before him, and David’s show stopping performances within the group would be enough to get him noticed on the secular side.

Then in 1964, when problems arose between the Temptations and group member Elbridge Bryant, David would be invited to join the group. Shortly after David’s arrival, the group would record "The Way You Do The Things You Do", a Smokey Robinson number with Eddie Kendricks on lead. Gone for a three-week gig in Saginaw, Michigan, the group would return home to find themselves with their first hit. It is said that when David saw the chart standings, he sat down on the long chaise lounge in the Motown lobby, took off his glasses, and cried like a baby.

Ruffin would turn out be an electrifying and dynamic force, when soon after he would bring them their first universal #1 hit, "My Girl", recorded just before Christmas in 1964, a tune that would turn the group into a household word and legends. The group began turning out one hit after another, and when David took such up-tempo hits as "(I know), I’m Losing You", to the stage, he became a magnetic field of charisma. His greatness would then shine and his permanent mark on the pages of history was sealed.

It is reported that Pop Star Michael Jackson paid for his funeral, and numerous celebrities were in attendance at his home going service, including Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Martha Reeves, Mary Wilson, members of the Temptations, the Four Tops, and the Miracles. At the service Stevie Wonder told the audience: "We’re confronted with a problem that touches every one of us. We’re confronted with the most devastating slave owner of all times." Minister Louis Farrakhan, head of the Nation of Islam, who spoke told the mournful audience, "In David there is a lesson. We should not clap our hands and mourn, for he is out of trouble now. You are still in it."

It is not my intent to rewrite history or to re-tell a story that we all know. Rather to simply say, thank you TVONE for telling his story and reminding us that he is gone - but not forgotten.

And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQRqxb69EW8?autoplay=&wmode=Opaque]

DAVID RUFFIN GETS PERSONAL

"Just a Season"
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Legacy – A New Season is Coming!

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The Curse of Fame

When I heard the heartbreaking news of Whitney Houston’s death; I was shocked! I’m sure many of you were too! This is one of those events that you will always be able to recall where you were for the rest of your life. Let me say, from the onset, that my condolences and prayers go out to her family and loved ones.

In the mists of this tragedy I wondered if many of have thought about the reason why we live. The process of life dictates that we are born to die. In my ground breaking novel “Just a Season” I referred to this earthly period of existence as the “Dash” that will be place on our final marker - between the beginning and end dates of our season.

Now the more important point here is that each of us will face this quandary and will have a dash because we are only here for a short period of time, which is “Just a Season”. Therefore, what we should strive to accomplish is to make sure that while here you increase the equity within your dash. As the great Richard Pryor once said, “this is the ultimate test!”

As we get a glimpse from the footage concerning Whitney’s passing we have to ask is this the price of fame? Kathleen Parker wrote an article this week where she said, “It is painful to watch. You can see her struggling to cooperate, but the love they (meaning the fans) wanted wasn’t there. You can only give what you have. Beneath the halfhearted smile, Houston looked empty, exhausted and drained by the insistence of her audience. Maybe self-medication played a role, but the scene was a metaphor for what surely has been at least part of her internal struggle: the curse of fame.”

I tend to agree with her as she went on to say “the incredible voice that came to Earth with Whitney Houston ceased to be her own once Clive Davis put her on an album cover. Which is not to pity the wildly successful. Who doesn’t want to be discovered, to live the big life, to have a shot at something extraordinary? But the cost is dear, especially for the phenomenally gifted.”

We’ve seen this time and time again. There was Michael Jackson, Hendrix, Pryor, Cornelius, and so many more who in all the splendor lived a life cursed by fame. The famous or the great leaves us far too soon. There is always someone leaving us to transition to the afterlife. If you pick up a newspaper and read the obituary, you will see the faces of those who’ve gone on. But in the case of stars, rich or famous people we act as if it was not suppose to happen. I will remind you; “that we don’t know the minute or the hour”.

Actually the interesting thing is that most of us can’t imagine what that level of fame is like or why anyone would wants it? Frankly, the answer to that would be just about everyone. The popularity of reality shows, and the extent to which some are willing to go in exchange for even fleeting recognition, is something bordering on pathological.

When you look at Whitney’s life, her fame was of a higher order, based not only on her extra ordinary talent; it was more about the relationship with her fans. When she sang and pointed to the audience, it was easy to feel as if she was talking to you. When she wished us joy and happiness, it was easy to believe because when she wished us love we felt it. The love was a mutual connection. Now, I’ll say that she her beauty almost seemed less important.

There is sufficient history of the talented who met similar ends to comfortably conclude that fame is a huge risk. Fans may pay the bills, but they also siphon the spirit of the adored. You’ve heard that it is lonely at the top. What this means, basically, if you are somebody, you belong to everybody. Now that her season has come and gone – she belongs to the ages. Whitney I forgive you, love you, and may you Rest in Peace for all eternity.

And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspectives!

Whitney Elisabeth Houston’s Obituary

"Just a Season"

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Legacy – A New Season the sequel is coming!