Obit of the Day: Motown Talent Jimmy Ruffin The Ruffin family was blessed with talent. Brothers Jimmy and David were born in Mississippi and found their ways north to Detroit in the hopes of joining the legendary music label Motown. David Ruffin signed a contract as member of The Temptations. Older brother Jimmy earned his own solo contract. Never matching the career of the Temptations, Jimmy had his own share of hits beginning with his best-known single “What Becomes of the Broken-Hearted.” But it almost never happened since the song was written for another Motown group, The Spinners. Mr. Ruffin convinced one of the songwriters, James Dean, to let him record the ballad. Released in the late summer of 1966, the song would peak at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts (#6 on the R&B list). While it also became a top ten single in England. Mr. Ruffin continued to record hits over the next half a decade including “I’ve Passed This Way Before” and “Maria (You Were the Only One)”. In 1980, Mr. Ruffin would score one final top ten hit with “Hold On (To My Love) written by Robin Gibb. Jimmy Ruffin died on November 17, 2014 at the age of 78. His brother david died of a drug overdose on June 1, 1991. Sources: The New York Times, Rolling Stone, and Wikipedia (“What Becomes of the Brokenhearted” is copyright of Motown Records, 2001) Other singers featured on Obit of the Day: Fontella Bass - Singer/songwriter of “Rescue Me” Robin Gibb - Member of the Bee Gees Richie Havens - First performer at Woodstock Etta James - Legend Johnny Otis - “Godfather of R&B”
Posted on: Mon, 24 Nov 2014 02:45:24 +0000
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