Glenn Leonard

By their teenage years, they formed a doo-wop quartet in 1955 with Kell Osborne and Wiley Waller, naming themselves the Cavaliers.

After Waller left the group in 1957, the remaining trio left Birmingham to break into the music business.

The group settled in Detroit where they changed their name to the Primes under the direction of Milton Jenkins.

The Primes soon became well known around the Detroit area for their meticulous performances.

Jenkins later created a sister group, the Primettes, later known as the Supremes.

Kendricks was already seen as a "matinee idol" in the Detroit area, while Williams was well received for his baritone vocals.

Meanwhile, concurrently, Texas teenager Otis Williams moved to Detroit as a youngster to be with his mother.

By 1958, Williams was the leader of a vocal group named Otis Williams and the Siberians.

The group included Elbridge "Al" Bryant, James "Pee-Wee" Crawford, Vernard Plain and Arthur Walton.

The group recorded a song, "Pecos Kid" for a label run by radio deejay Senator Bristol Bryant.

Shortly after its release, the group changed its name to The El Domingoes.

Subsequently, Montgomery native Melvin Franklin replaced Arthur Walton as bass vocalist and Detroit-born Richard Street (claimed by Melvin Franklin to be his cousin) replaced Vernard Plain as lead singer.

Signing with Johnnie Mae Matthews' Northern Records, the group had their name changed again to the Distants.

The group recorded two Northern singles including "Come On" (1959) and "Alright" (1960).

Between these releases, Albert "Mooch" Harrell replaced Pee-Wee Crawford.

"Come On" became a local hit, and the Warwick Records label picked the record up for national distribution.

Following the release of "Alright", Matthews appointed Williams the group leader, and the group's name was changed to Otis Williams & The Distants.

The Temptations are an American vocal group from Detroit, Michigan, who released a series of successful singles and albums with Motown Records during the 1960s to mid 1970s.

Featuring five male vocalists and dancers (save for brief periods with fewer or more members), the group formed in 1960 in Detroit under the name the Elgins.

The founding members came from two rival Detroit vocal groups: Otis Williams, Elbridge "Al" Bryant, and Melvin Franklin of Otis Williams & the Distants, and Eddie Kendricks and Paul Williams of the Primes.

In 1964, Bryant was replaced by David Ruffin, who was the lead vocalist on a number of the group's biggest hits, including "My Girl" (1964), "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" (1966), and "I Wish It Would Rain" (1967).

The group's work with producer Norman Whitfield, beginning with the Top 10 hit single "Cloud Nine" in October 1968, pioneered psychedelic soul, and was significant in the evolution of R&B and soul music.

The band members are known for their choreography, distinct harmonies, and dress style.

Having sold tens of millions of albums, the Temptations are among the most successful groups in popular music.

Ruffin was replaced in 1968 by Dennis Edwards, with whom the group continued to record hit records such as "Cloud Nine" (1968), "I Can't Get Next to You" (1969), and "Ball of Confusion (That's What the World Is Today)" (1970).

The Temptations were the first Motown recording act to win a Grammy Award – for "Cloud Nine" in 1969 – and in 2013 received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Kendricks and Paul Williams both left the group in 1971, with subsequent members including Richard Street, Damon Harris, Glenn Leonard, Ron Tyson, and Ali-Ollie Woodson, the last of whom was the lead singer on late-period hit "Treat Her Like a Lady" in 1984 and the theme song for the children's movement program Kids in Motion in 1987.

Over the course of their career, the Temptations released four Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles and fourteen R&B number-one singles.

Their music has earned four Grammy Awards.

Six of the Temptations (Edwards, Franklin, Kendricks, Ruffin, Otis Williams and Paul Williams) were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989.

Three classic Temptations songs, "My Girl", "Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)", and "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone", are among The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.

The Temptations were ranked at number 68 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Artists of all time.

They were the first Motown artist to get a Grammy Award and to get a Lifetime Achievement Award (which they gained in 2014).

In 2023, the Temptations were ranked

as the #1 artist on the

Top 100 Greatest

R&B/Hip-Hop Artists Of All Time

according to Billboard magazine.

, the Temptations continue to perform with founder Otis Williams in the lineup (Williams owns the rights to the Temptations name).

Eddie Kendricks and Paul Williams started singing together in church as children.