David Ruffin

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Whynot, Mississippi (1941 – 1991)

David Ruffin (Davis Eli Ruffin 1941 - 1991 ) was an American soul singer born in Whynot, Mississippi who is most famous for his stellar work as lead singer of The Temptations from 1964 to 1968. His gruff, gospel inflected voice was featured on numerous soul hits like”

Ain’t Too Proud To Beg”, “Since I Lost My Baby”, “

My Girl” and “

I Wish It Would Rain”.

His skyrocketing solo career was soon tempered by a dark side he could not control, and his life ended tragically of drug overdose in a seedy Philadelphia tenement.

He started his professional musical career as a teen traveling with The Dixie Nightingales, out of Memphis, Tennessee and eventually he and his brother Jimmy Ruffin found their way to Detroit, and by age 17, they were accepted into the fledgling Motown family by Berry Gordy.

Opportunity arose for David to join the Temptations in 1964, with Ruffin taking lead vocals on the huge hit

My Girl. With fellow lead vocalist Eddie Kendricks and talented Motown songwriters and Gordy’s promo machine backing them, they were unstoppable. Ruffin however soon began showing ego problems, showing up late in his own limo, and demanding the group be known as David Ruffin & The Temptations.

By 1969, the often erratic and high, Ruffin had been voted out of the Temps, and started his solo career with the hit “

My Whole World Ended (The Moment You Left Me)”.

Tagged as:

soul, motown, rhythm and blues, rnb, funk
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The Ultimate Collection
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David
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The Motown Solo Albums, Vol. 1
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Tamla Motown Gold
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Top Tracks

1	Walk Away From Love full track	276
2	My Whole World Ended (The Moment You Left Me) full track	240
3	I Want You Back full track	203
4	Put A Little Love In Your Heart full track	114
5	Common Man full track	99
6	Blood Donors Needed (Give All You Can) full track	82
7	You Can Come Right Back To Me full track	77
8	Each Day Is A Lifetime full track	70
9	Let Somebody Love Me full track	56
10	My World Ended (The Moment You Left Me)	47
11	Dinah full track	31
12	Pieces Of A Man full track	23
13	Heaven Help Us All	22
14	Everlasting Love full track	21
15	Don't Stop Lovin' Me full track	20

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pseudonym340 wrote:
last month

Y'all ain't NOTHIN' without David RUFFIN!!!!!

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BossUp313 wrote:
August 2009

i miss you is one of the most overlooked songs ever... davids voice is untouched

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ExtremeHouser wrote:
July 2009

so few listeners, and such a wonderful music...

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groovadelic wrote:
May 2009

each day is a lifetime

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staytooned wrote:
April 2009

pops bust a tears when he passed away. love this man's art!

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blueboy123 wrote:
April 2009

under rated

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OSCARCHOICE-CHI wrote:
November 2008

2 EXITOS PASE EN LAS DISCOS DE URUGUAY--------------------------------------------------------

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eyemhem wrote:
October 2008

YALL CANT REPLACE ME. I'M DAVID RUFFIN. I MADE YALL'S ASSES!

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notorious_me wrote:
September 2008

More people need to hear David. Tragic loss.

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groovadelic wrote:
May 2008

Each Day Is a Lifetime from david's voice. astonishing.

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LarkCGN wrote:
August 2007

Great voice!

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majself wrote:
June 2007

WOW! give some more love,great stuff...

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bigsexyshaq wrote:
January 2007

That's truly what it should have been.

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MrStyle wrote:
December 2006

David Ruffin & The Temptations? I like that!

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bigsexyshaq wrote:
May 2006

Genius.

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