Paul Williams (The Temptations singer)

Paul Williams (July 2, 1939 – August 17, 1973) was an American baritone singer.

He was noted for being one of the founding members and original lead singer of the Motown group the Temptations.

Along with Elbridge "Al" Bryant, Otis Williams, and fellow Alabamians Eddie Kendricks and Melvin Franklin, Williams was a member of the Temptations.

In 1957, Williams, Kendricks, and Osborne 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 Osborne 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.

His early leads include, "Your Wonderful Love" (1961), "Slow Down Heart" (1962), "I Want a Love I Can See" (1963), and "Oh, Mother of Mine" (1961) (the group's first single) and "Farewell My Love" (1963) 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 (most notably their trademark "Stop! In the Name of Love" routine), before Cholly Atkins took over that role for all of Motown's acts.

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".

Although Williams had been the group's original lead singer during its formative years, by 1965, his role had been eclipsed by David Ruffin and Eddie Kendricks, who had both sung lead on Temptations hit singles.

As such, Williams was often overlooked for leads, even on album tracks and B-sides, prompting him to complain, "shit, I can sing too!"

In response, he was given lead vocals on the song, "Don't Look Back" (1965).

Williams sang lead on several of the group's songs, and served as the main lead singer during the group's early years.

Williams' later leads on Temptations songs include, "Just Another Lonely Night" (1965), "No More Water in the Well" (1967), and a cover version of "Hey Girl" (1969).

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 led to Williams developing alcoholism, which was in strong contrast to drinking nothing stronger than milk.

Otis Williams recounted, "So to see a guy come from drinking milk to drinking, sometimes, two to three fifths of Courvoisier a day—that was kind of hard to take."

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.

Williams suffered from sickle-cell anemia, which frequently brought havoc on his physical health.

In the spring of 1969, Williams and Brown opened the Celebrity House West, 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 (US$0 in dollars).

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.

Ultimately, Williams' health, as well as the quality of his performances, continued to decline and he refused to see a doctor.

Because Williams's voice had become ravaged due to his respiratory illness and alcoholism, the Temptations decided to resort to enlisting an on-hand fill-in for him.

Personal problems and failing health forced Williams to retire in 1971 and, at the age of 34, he was found dead two years later as the result of an apparent suicide.

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 Kell Osborne and Willie Waller performed in a secular singing group known as The Cavaliers, with dreams of making it big in the music industry.