The Temptations 'Reflections' album

When five skinny young men walked together onto the rehearsal stage back in the early ‘60s, history stood in the wings and nodded. These were the anointed. They would become the standard-bearers for breathtaking harmonies, stylish choreography and thrill-making vocal leads. Legends in the making, they felt fire in the sole of their feet, strength in their hearts, and power in the songs their voices would weave into the fabric of pop music’s tapestry.

And so today, when five like-dressed men step away from microphone to execute a synchronized little move of the hips at a right angle, slide that foot up on the toe, both history and mythology are stepping in those footsteps. It’s the “TEMPTATIONS Walk”.

First performed in the early ‘60s by Otis Williams and four other men, it’s still a thrill to see--living testimony to the TEMPTATIONS’ musical history made by David Ruffin, Eddie Kendricks, Melvin Franklin and Paul Williams. Lovingly executed today by Otis and their heirs-in-music: Ron Tyson, Barrington Henderson, Harry McGillberry and Terry Weeks, it proves those men are gone, but in no way forgotten-not by a grateful public nor by the men who now carry the legacy forward into the next generation.

“I’m not trying to be Paul Williams,” confesses the earnest young baritone, Barrington Henderson, “but I know what he meant to the group and I know what it meant to him. I respect his contributions. I’ve been told that along with some of the songs we sing, even some of the moves we make came from Paul’s vision for the group. “

Melvin Franklin’s death has had a sobering and solidifying effect on the men who now wear the “Emperor’s of Soul” crown.

Williams says, “We do this now for Melvin. No matter how hard it gets out there, it can never equal the pain and suffering Melvin went through. He went through everything so the TEMPTATIONS would go on, and we will...in his memory.”

Memories of the TEMPTATIONS stretch back a long and winding road. to earn the devotion of the millions who love them still, they started out in those Motown bus tours called The Motor Town Revues. They criss-crossed the country and the crowds became larger, drawn like a magnet to the impossibly sweet tenor of Eddie Kendricks, the honeyed soul shout of David Ruffin, the beautiful baritone of Paul Williams, the heart of the group Melvin Franklin, and the engine that made it all run, Otis Williams.

As the hits came rushing out of Detroit and onto the charts, the pace accelerated. The lights grew brighter, the crowds more frenzied as the group sang “The Way You Do The Things That You Do,” “My Girl,” “Get Ready, “ “Ain’t Too Proud Too Beg,” “Beauty’s Only Skin Deep,” “I Know (I’m Losing you),” “You’re My Everything,” “Cloud Nine,” “I’m Gonna Make You Love Me,” and “I Can’t get Next To You” and the world eased into the ‘70s.

The group personnel changed with time and tides. Dennis Edwards replaced David Ruffin and led the group through the early ‘70s with a long string of hits, including “Psychedelic Shack,” “Runaway Child, Running Wild,” “Don’t Let The Joneses Get You Down,” and “Ungena Za Ulimwnga (Unite the World).” Setting another trademark, a long string of hits featured multiple trade-off leads; some like “Superstar” featured a lead turn by every single group member. “Papa Was a Rolling Stone,” “Cloud Nine,” “I Can’t Get Next To You,” and “Ball Of Confusion” are among the smashes with lead trades.

Eddie Kendricks crystallized for all time the essence of the first tenor voice on “Just My Imagination,” and then departed the group. He was replaced in succession by Damon Harris, Glenn Leonard and ultimately Ron Tyson. “I was supposed to be broken in gradually,” Tyson remembers, “but suddenly I found myself in the wings practicing the TEMPTATIONS walk as we were rehearsing for the television special ‘Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever.’ There was no chance to make any mistakes. I had to be a Temptation right then and there!”

In the roads traveled from those early days, to the international capitols of the world, this group has dazzled everyone from the tiara wearers to the kids who’ve scraped their lunch money together to buy tickets, with a long succession of hits, including “Glasshouse,” “Shaky Ground,” “Standing On The Top,” “Treat Her Like A Lady,” and “Soul To Soul,” sung, as Otis notes, “by several lead voices and each person who has graced our lineup deserves our enduring respect. Each man in his own way helped build the legend.”

The group in and of itself deserves the admiration of the tireless, since their touring schedule runs into hundreds of performance dates each year. “We just never stop,” Otis says, “because I think we’ve become like a piece of Americana. People want to see us.”

What they are seeing these days is a group that reminds Otis “more of what the first group of men were like than any other line-up. This group has the talent, determination and brotherhood that will take us forward, give our fans what they come to hear and keep us on our toes, doing that TEMPTATIONS Walk into the year 2000.”

Indeed the line-up of Otis Williams, first/second tenor; Ron Tyson, first tenor, Barrington Henderson, baritone; Terry Weeks, first/second tenor and baritone; and Harry McGillberry, bass, hold the circle of time in their hands and hearts as they hold the microphones in the name of one of the most beloved group of men ever to step up into history’s footsteps.

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The Temptations - Reflections