Today, January 18, is the great David Ruffin’s Birthday! “MY GIRL”, my favorite song in all the world! Sung by one of the greatest Soul Singers of our time … David Ruffin! Performed by my favorite group of all time … the Classic Five … “Temptations”! Mr. Ruffin was born this day in 1941, in Wynot, Mississippi, grew up and cut his singing teeth in Detroit, Michigan, had a solo career before the Temptations recording on the Anna and Check Mate Record Labels. He was part of an early Motown related group called the Voice Masters that was made up of some future Soul Music greats like Ty Hunter, Lamont Dozier and even Melvin Franklin. As a Temptation, David had the group’s first breakthrough hit with the classic … “My Girl”! A song that offers everything that a great Soul Record has to offer … melody, harmony, orchestration, a catchy bass riff, a soon to be iconic guitar riff and a memory of a song that will last a lifetime.
I had the pleasure of experiencing a lifetime dream … meeting and working with my favorite group and even fullfilled a lifelong dream to sing with the Temptations. When they were filming the movie “The Temptations”, which was filmed here in Pittsburgh, Otis sent out a memo to the films movie crew to meet with me to find some locations and venues that could resemble Detroit and the Motown scene. I still have the memo in my Musem here in the ‘Burgh (Johnny Angel’s Ginchy Stuff and Museum) as well as some Motown related items. Not long after the shooting and before the movie actually was released, I had the opportunity to Emcee the Motown Revue Show that had the Temptations as part of the line-up. Otis brought me on stage to sing with my favorite group, to fullfill a dream of a lifetime, to be on stage with the greatest Soul Group of our time! It gets even better, I got to sing “My Girl” with the Temptations!
I have been singing and entertaining now for over 58 years, I have worked with and sang with some of the greatest singers and entertainers of our time … but to this day, my greatest memory of my career was walking onto a stage that had my favorite group in all the world and the honor of singing with the “Temptations”! “I’ve got sunshine, on a cloudy day … when it’s cold outside, I got the month of May … I guess you’d say, what can make me feel this way … My Girl”.