EDDIE KENDRICKS, 1939-1992
A Founding Voice Of the Motown Sound

By Wayne Robins. STAFF WRITER


EDDIE KENDRICKS, who died Monday of lung cancer, will be remembered for
his forceful-yet-elegant falsetto singing with the Temptations vocal
group which was one of the cornerstones of the Motown sound.
   Kendricks, 52, had been hospitalized since the end of last month. He
died in Birmingham, Ala., where he was raised.
     He moved to  Detroit around 1960 with another Alabama native named
Paul Williams, with whom Kendricks sang in a group called the  Primes.
In Detroit they got together with singers Otis Williams and Melvin
Franklin and performed briefly as the Elgins. Another singer named David
Ruffin joined the group, which recorded for Berry Gordy's fledgling
Motown label.
      Renamed the Temptations, the group hit the charts in 1964 with
"The Way You Do The Things You Do," the first of many pop-soul standards
written for the group by Motown's prolific singer, songwriter and
executive William (Smokey) Robinson.
     "Although the Temptations were being spoken of as a group with five
lead singers, Eddie Kendricks' sweet lead on `The Way You Do the Things
You Do' established him as one of the  central voices of the group," the
critic Vince Aletti wrote in the biographical notes for "The Temptations
10th Anniversary Album."
     Early Temptations hits such as "The Girl's Alright With  Me,"
(co-written by Kendricks) and "I'll Be in Trouble" revolved around
Kendricks' impressive falsetto, which carried an emotional jolt without
affectation.
     Kendricks sang on virtually all of the Temptations' hits  through
the 1960s, including the classics "My Girl," "Ain't  Too Proud To Beg"
and "(I Know) I'm Losing You." The success of many of the Temptations'
records was based on the contrast between Kendricks' joyous-sounding
high voice and David Ruffin's grittier intonations. "They were able to
exploit this versatility brilliantly . . . using Kendricks for
happiness, Ruffin for heartbreak, and occasionally pulling out all the
stops and letting them trade leads," wrote  Geoffrey Stokes in "Rock of
Ages: The Rolling Stone History of Rock and Roll."
     Kendricks remained with the group through its late 1960s
psychedelic-soul phase, and in 1971 left for a solo career. As a solo
artist, Kendricks had mixed luck. Two of his early 1970s recordings,
"Boogie Down" and "Keep On Truckin'," had the driving beat and extended
instrumental breaks that would eventually become commonplace in the
disco era. But much of Kendricks' material was second-rate. He remained
an influence on other performers  -  the Bee Gees' falsetto attack was
strongly based on Kendricks' vocal approach. And his style had a
palpable effect on the popular white-soul duo Hall and Oates.





Copyright 1992, Newsday Inc.

Wayne Robins, EDDIE KENDRICKS, 1939-1992 A Founding Voice Of the Motown Sound. , Newsday, 10-07-1992, pp 51.