Eddie Kendricks: The Copacabana Walkout, The Loft and Keep On Truckin'

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Eddie Kendricks was born in Union Springs, Alabama, in 1939 and met Paul Williams in a Birmingham church choir. Their doo-wop group the Cavaliers moved to Cleveland in 1957, where manager Milton Jenkins took them to Detroit as the Primes, mentors to a girl group called the Primettes who became the Supremes. In 1961 they merged with Otis Williams and Melvin Franklin, briefly called themselves the Elgins and signed with Motown as the Temptations. Kendricks, nicknamed Cornbread, sang falsetto lead on The Way You Do the Things You Do and Get Ready, wrote most of the vocal arrangements and acted as wardrobe manager.

He hated Norman Whitfield's psychedelic soul on tracks like Cloud Nine and Ball of Confusion, distrusted Motown management and clashed with Otis Williams and Melvin Franklin. After a backstage fight at the Copacabana in November 1970 he walked out for good, leaving behind Just My Imagination, a No. 1 in 1971. His eight-minute Girl You Need a Change of Mind from 1972 became a staple for DJs like David Mancuso at The Loft, helping lay the ground for disco. Keep On Truckin' hit No. 1 in 1973, making him the only Temptation with a solo U.S. No. 1. Smoking ruined his falsetto, he refused chemotherapy for lung cancer fearing hair loss, and he toured with one lung until his death in Birmingham on October 5, 1992, at 52.

• The Temptations answered his exit with Superstar (Remember How You Got Where You Are), widely read as a diss.
• Boogie Down followed in 1974 and reached No. 2.
• He left Motown in 1978 for Arista and later Atlantic over control and royalties.
• With David Ruffin he played the Apollo with Hall and Oates and performed at Live Aid in 1985.
• Kendrick Lamar is named after him, and Erykah Badu and Alicia Keys have sampled his solo work.