Paul Williams was an American baritone singer and choreographer. Williams was noted for
being one of the founding members and original lead singer of the Motown group The Temptations.
Along with David Ruffin, Otis Williams, and fellow Alabamians Eddie Kendricks and Melvin
Franklin, Williams was a member of The Temptations during the "Classic Five" period. Personal
problems and failing health forced Williams to retire in 1971. He was found dead two years
later as the result of an apparent suicide.
Early years Paul Williams was born and raised in the Ensley
neighborhood of Birmingham, Alabama. He was the son of Sophia and Rufus Williams, a gospel
singer in a gospel music vocal group called the Ensley Jubilee Singers. He met Eddie Kendricks
in elementary school; supposedly, the two first encountered each other in a fistfight
after Williams dumped a bucket of mop water on Kendricks. Both boys shared a love of singing,
and sang in their church choir together. As teenagers, Williams, Kendricks, and Kel Osbourne
and Willie Waller performed in a secular singing group known as The Cavaliers, with dreams
of making it big in the music industry. In 1957, Williams, Kendricks, and Osbourne left
Birmingham to start careers, leaving Waller behind. Now known as The Primes, the trio
moved to Cleveland, Ohio, and eventually found a manager in Milton Jenkins, who moved the
group to Detroit, Michigan. Although The Primes never recorded, they were successful performers,
and even launched a spin-off female group called The Primettes, who later became The
Supremes. In 1961, Kell Osbourne moved to California,
and the Primes disbanded. Kendricks returned to Alabama, but visited Paul in Detroit shortly
after. While on this visit, he and Paul had learned that Otis Williams, head of a rival
Detroit act known as The Distants, had two openings in his group's lineup. Paul Williams
and Kendricks joined Otis Williams, Melvin Franklin, and Elbridge Bryant to form The
Elgins, who signed to the local Motown label in 1961, after first changing their name to
The Temptations. With the Temptations
Although the group now had a record deal, Paul Williams and his bandmates endured a
long series of failed singles before finally hitting the Billboard Top 20 in 1964 with
"The Way You Do the Things You Do." More hits quickly followed, including "My Girl", "Ain't
Too Proud To Beg" and "(I Know) I'm Losing You."
Williams sang lead on several of the group's songs, and served as the main lead singer
during the group's early years. His early leads include, "Your Wonderful Love", "Slow
Down Heart", "I Want a Love I Can See", and "Oh, Mother of Mine" and "Farewell My Love"
both shared with Eddie Kendricks. Considered the Temptations' best dancer, Williams served
as the group's original choreographer, devising routines for his group and The Supremes, before
Cholly Atkins took over that role for all of Motown's acts. Williams' later leads on
Temptations songs include, "Just Another Lonely Night", "No More Water in the Well", a cover
version of "Hey Girl", and his signature song "Don't Look Back".
Williams also sang lead with Dennis Edwards, who joined in 1968, on Motown’s first Grammy
Award-Winner “Cloud Nine”. One of his best-known lead performances is his stand
out live performance of "For Once in My Life," from the television special TCB, originally
broadcast on December 9, 1968 on NBC. The live version of the song "Don't Look Back"
is also frequently cited as one of his standout performances. He also took over the lead vocal
for live performances of "My Girl" following David Ruffin's departure from the group.
Paul Williams' vocals were featured on the following Temptations songs:
Cloud Nine Runaway Child, Running Wild
Hey Girl Lonely, Lonely Man Am I
Who You Gonna Run To Hello, Young Lovers
Just Another Lonely Night For Once In My Life
Who Can I Turn To That's Life
No More Water In The Well I Want A Love I Can See
Isn't She Pretty Just Let Me Know
Your Wonderful Love The Further You Look, the Less You See
Check Yourself Slow Down Heart
Farewell My Love Oh, Mother of Mine
Romance Without Finance Psychedelic Shack
War I Can't Get Next To You
Don't Look Back Hey Jude
Don't Let the Joneses Get You Down Little Green Apples
Running Away(SOLO) Just My Imagination
Baby, Baby I Need You You Beat Me To The Punch
Gonna Give Her All The Love I've Got No Man Can Love Her Like I Do
Personal problems and decline Williams suffered from sickle-cell anemia,
which frequently wreaked havoc on his physical health. In 1965, Williams began an affair
with Winnie Brown, hair stylist for The Supremes and a relative of Supremes member Florence
Ballard. In love with Brown but still devoted to his wife and children, Williams was also
depressed because Cholly Atkins' presence now made Williams' former role as choreographer
essentially, but not completely, obsolete. Life on the road was starting to take its
toll on Williams as well, and he began to drink heavily.
In the spring of 1969, Williams and Brown opened a celebrity fashion boutique in downtown
Detroit. The business was not as successful as planned, and Williams soon found himself
owing more than $80,000 in taxes. His health had deteriorated to the point that he would
sometimes be unable to perform, suffering from combinations of exhaustion and pain which
he combated with heavy drinking. Each of the other four Temptations did what they could
to help Williams, alternating between raiding and draining his alcohol stashes, personal
interventions, and keeping oxygen tanks backstage, but Williams' health, as well as the quality
of his performances, continued to decline and he refused to see a doctor.
Otis Williams and the other Temptations decided to resort to enlisting an on-hand fill-in
for Paul Williams. Richard Street, then-lead singer of fellow Motown act The Monitors and
formerly lead singer of The Distants, was hired to travel with The Temptations and sing
all of Williams' parts, save for Williams' special numbers such as "Don't Look Back"
and "For Once in My Life", from backstage behind a curtain. When Williams was not well
enough to go on, Street took his place onstage. In April 1971, Williams was finally persuaded
to go see a doctor. The doctor found a spot on Williams' liver and advised him to retire
from the group altogether. Williams left the group and Street became his permanent replacement.
In support of helping Williams get back on his feet, The Temptations continued to pay
Williams his same one-fifth share of the group's earnings, and kept Williams on their payroll
as an advisor and choreographer, and Williams continued to help the group with routines
and dance moves for the next two years. Later years
By early 1973, Williams made his return to Motown's Hitsville USA recording studios,
and began working on solo material. Kendricks, who had quit the Temptations just before Williams
left, produced and co-wrote Williams' first single, "Feel Like Givin' Up", which was to
have been issued on Motown's Gordy imprint with "Once You Had a Heart" as its b-side.
However, after Williams' death was ruled a suicide in August 1973, Motown decided to
shelve the sides, because the song "Feel Like Givin' Up" was just too literal to bear and
the single was not released. Death
On August 17, 1973, Paul Williams was found dead in an alley in the car having just left
the new house of his then-girlfriend after an argument. A gun was found near his body.
His death was ruled a suicide by the coroner; Williams had expressed suicidal thoughts to
Otis Williams and Melvin Franklin months before his death.
Williams' funeral was held on August 24, with his family and former bandmates in attendance.
He was survived by his wife, Mary Agnes Williams, and six children: Sarita, Paul Lucus, Kenneth,
Paula, Mary and Paul, Jr. and he has a number of other children.Paul Jr., who later joined
a Temptations splinter group, The Temptations Review featuring Dennis Edwards. Williams
also had three other children, Paul Williams Lucas, Anthony Johnson, and Derrick Vinyard,
with three girlfriends. Williams is buried in Clinton Township, Michigan's Lincoln Memorial
Park. The circumstances surrounding Williams' death
caused the Williams family to suspect that some form of foul play was the actual cause
of Williams' death. According to the coroner, Williams had used his right hand to shoot
himself in the left side of his head. In addition, a bottle of alcohol was found near Williams'
left side, as if he had dropped it while being shot. The gun used in the shooting was found
to have fired two shots, only one of which had killed Williams.
Legacy As a member of the Temptations, Paul Williams
was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989 and the Vocal Group
Hall of Fame in 1999. Both of his solo recordings were later released by Motown on Temptations-related
compilations in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1998, NBC aired The Temptations, a four-hour
television miniseries based upon an autobiographical book by Otis Williams. Paul Williams was portrayed
by actor Christian Payton. The music video for the Diana Ross song "Missing
You" pays tribute to Marvin Gaye, Florence Ballard, and Paul Williams, all former Motown
artists who had died. References
^ a b c d Ribowsky, Mark. Ain't Too Proud to Beg: The Troubled Lives and Enduring Soul
of the Temptations. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-470-26117-0. Pg.
9-14 ^ Ankeny, Jason. "Artist Biography - The Temptations".
All Music Guide. Retrieved 10 April 2009. ^ a b c d e Ribowsky, Mark. Ain't Too Proud
to Beg: The Troubled Lives and Enduring Soul of the Temptations. Hoboken, New Jersey: John
Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-470-26117-0. Pg. 237-248
^ Snell, Robert. "Temptations heir sues sister over lost royalties.". The Detroit News.
Sources Williams, Otis and Patricia Romanowski. Temptations.
Lanham, MD: Cooper Square. ISBN 0-8154-1218-5. External links
Paul Williams at Find a Grave