Kendricks' solo career began slowly; he endured two years of singles that missed the Top 40, while The Temptations continued with their string of Norman Whitfield-helmed hits (one of which, "Superstar (Remember How You Got Where You Are)", was written as a jab towards Kendricks and Ruffin). Despite enjoying only a modicum of commercial success and radio airplay, Kendricks's 1972 album People... Hold On (with the aid of his touring group, The Young Senators: Jimi Dougans, Frank Hooker, LeRoy Fleming, Wornell Jones, David Lecraft, James Drumer Johnson and John Engram) was a cornerstone of DJ playlists in downtown New York's nascent disco scene. The expansive, eight minute take on "Girl, You Need A Change Of Mind", which peaked at number thirteen on the soul chart, from the album was a particular favorite at David Mancuso's Loft. The single was later remade by R&B singer D'Angelo for the Get on the Bus Soundtrack. As the dance craze seeped through into other cities, Kendricks scored a #1 pop hit in 1973 with the Frank Wilson-produced "Keep on Truckin'". It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. Future hits included "Boogie Down" (US #2) (1974) and another million selling release,[3] "Son of Sagittarius" (US #28) (1974), "Shoeshine Boy" (US #18) (1975), and "He's a Friend" (US #36) (1976). Another notable song is "Intimate Friends" (1977), which is sampled for the Alicia Keys song "Unbreakable", "A Penny for My Thoughts" by Common, Sparkle's "Time to Move on" on her self-titled first studio album and Sweet Sable's "Old Time's Sake" from the soundtrack for the 1994 2pac film, Above the Rim. Erykah Badu also sampled "Intimate Friends" for her song "Fall in Love (Your Funeral)", as well as his song "My People... Hold on" for her song "My People" on her album New Amerykah Part One (4th World War).
Exasperated by a lack of creative and financial control, Kendricks left Motown in 1978, with the requirement of signing away the rights to his royalties. He moved first to Arista Records, and later to Atlantic Records. By this time, his popularity had waned, and he was also gradually losing his voice as a result of chain smoking.
He and David Ruffin briefly re-joined the Temptations for a 1982 reunion tour. In an interview with Tom Meros, Dennis Edwards, Kendricks's former Temptations band mate, claimed that Kendricks had issues hitting his falsetto notes during recording sessions for the reunion album. Because of his singing difficulty, Edwards said that Kendricks went to a physician to examine his vocal ability. The physician discovered a "pin drop" of cancer on one of his lungs. However, Kendricks reportedly refused to undergo chemotherapy at the time because of fear that he would lose his hair.
Ruffin and Kendrick (Kendricks dropped the "s" from his stage name during the 1980s) reportedly met up one night when Ruffin went to watch Kendrick perform in a nightclub; Kendrick spotted Ruffin in the crowd, pointed him out, and invited him to come up on stage and perform with him. Afterward they talked about touring on their own and recorded an album as a duo for RCA in 1988.
Earlier, in 1985, they participated in the Hall & Oates live album Live at The Apollo recorded at a benefit at New York City's Apollo Theater; and sang with the duo at Live Aid in Philadelphia and the MTV Video Music Awards in New York. Hall & Oates have cited Kendrick and Ruffin specifically, and the Temptations in general, as a major influence.
In 1989, Kendrick, Ruffin, and their Temptations bandmates were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. There, Kendrick and Ruffin made plans with fellow former Temptation Dennis Edwards to tour and record as "Ruffin/Kendrick/Edwards, Former Leads of The Temptations." The Ruffin/Kendrick/ Edwards project was cut short in 1991, when Kendrick was diagnosed with lung cancer and David Ruffin died of a drug overdose, although Kendrick and Edwards continued to tour for the remainder of 1991.
In late 1991, Kendrick, by now living in his native Birmingham, Alabama, underwent surgery to have one of his lungs removed in hopes of preventing the spread of the cancer. He continued to tour through the summer of 1992, when he fell ill again and was hospitalized. Kendrick died on October 5, 1992, of lung cancer in Birmingham at the age of 52. Kendrick is survived by his three children: Parris Kendrick, Aika Kendrick and Paul Kendrick. He was buried in Elmwood Cemetery.
In 1998, NBC aired The Temptations, a four-hour television miniseries based upon an autobiographical book by Otis Williams. Kendricks was portrayed by actor Terron Brooks.
Kendricks was born in on December 17, 1939, the son of Johnny and Lee Bell Kendrick. He had one sister, Patricia, and three brothers, Charles, Robert, and Clarence. His family moved to Birmingham, where he met and began singing with his best friend Paul Williams in their church choir in the late 1940s. In 1955, Kendricks, Williams, and friends Kell Osborne and Jerome Averette formed a doo-wop group called The Cavaliers, and began performing around Birmingham. The group decided to move for better opportunities in their musical careers, and in 1957 the group moved to Cleveland, Ohio. In Cleveland, they met manager Milton Jenkins, and soon moved with Jenkins to Detroit, Michigan, where the Cavaliers renamed themselves 'The Primes'. Under Jenkins' management, the Primes did well for themselves in the Detroit area, eventually creating a female spin-off group called The Primettes (later The Supremes). In 1961, Osbourne moved to California, and the Primes disbanded. Kendricks and Paul Williams joined forces with members Otis Williams and Melvin "Blue" Franklin of Otis Wiliiams and the Distants after three members quit and became The Elgins, who on the same day changed their name to "The Temptations" and signed to Motown.
The Temptations began singing background for Mary Wells. After an initial dry period, The Temptations quickly became the most successful male vocal group of the 1960s. Although technically Kendricks was first tenor in the group's harmony, he predominately sang in a falsetto voice. Among the Temptations songs Kendricks sang lead on were "Dream Come True" (1962), the group's first charting single; "The Way You Do the Things You Do" (1964), the group's first US Top 20 hit; "I'll Be in Trouble" (1964); "The Girl's Alright With Me" (1964), a popular b-side that Kendricks co-wrote; "Girl (Why You Wanna Make Me Blue)" (1964); "Get Ready" (1966); "Please Return Your Love to Me" (1968); and "Just My Imagination" (1971). He was also allowed to sing a few leads in his natural voice such as "May I Have This Dance" (1962). He shares lead vocal duty on other records, including "You're My Everything" (1967) (shared with David Ruffin), and a long string of Norman Whitfield produced psychedelic soul records where all five Temptations sang lead, such as the Grammy winner "Cloud Nine" (1968), "I Can't Get Next to You" (1969), and "Ball of Confusion" (1970). He also leads on "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" (1968), a popular duet with Diana Ross and the Supremes, and on the Temptations' famous version of the Christmas classic "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (1968).
In the Temptations, Kendricks was responsible for creating most of the group's vocal arrangements, and also served as wardrobe manager, including the now famous purple suits the group wore for one performance. He also co-wrote several Temptations songs apart from "The Girl's Alright With Me" including "Isn't She Pretty" (1961) and "Don't Send Me Away" (1967). His favorite food was cornbread, and as a result he was nicknamed "Cornbread" (or "Corn" for short) by his groupmates. According to Otis Williams, Kendricks romantically pursued Diana Ross, lead singer of the Supremes, and he was said to have been close friends with Martha Reeves of the Vandellas. In her second book, Supreme Faith, Supremes singer Mary Wilson writes that she and Kendricks were lovers "briefly," but remained close friends.
Kendricks remained in the group through the rest of the decade, but a number of issues began to push him away from it in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He was uncomfortable with singing the psychedelic style that Whitfield was now crafting for the group as opposed to the romantic ballads they had sung under the direction of Smokey Robinson; his friend Paul Williams was often too ill to perform with the group; and Kendricks often found himself at odds with bandmates Otis Williams and Melvin Franklin. As he grew away from the group, Kendricks began to rekindle his friendship with ex-Temptation David Ruffin, who convinced him to leave the group.
In a 1991 interview with a Chicago television series called Urban Street, Kendricks said he had actually considered leaving the group as early as 1965, even though that was when the band was finally starting to take off, because of things that "weren't quite proper." He explained that they were working with people that "didn't have their best interests at heart." Kendricks, however, initially decided to stay in the group because he was worried he would not get the support he needed if he left the group. Kendricks also expressed the fact that his relationship with Berry Gordy was less than cordial. "Berry Gordy is a man I don't know, I only met him about three times," he said, but "I know he didn't particularly care for me." Kendricks stated that he did not agree with many decisions that were made.
Following one final altercation with Williams and Franklin during a run at the Copacabana nightclub in November 1970, Kendricks walked off after the first night and didn't return, and it was mutually decided he would leave the group. While working on his first solo album, Kendricks recorded one last hit single with the Temptations, 1971's "Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)". By the time the record reached #1 on the US pop charts in April 1971, Kendricks had signed a solo deal with Motown's Tamla imprint and was preparing the release of his first solo album, All By Myself. However, many of his problems with Motown would reoccur.
Runaway Child
Eddie Kendricks Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The Temptations
You played hooky from school
And you can't go out to play, yeah
Mama said for the rest of the week
In your room you gotta stay, yeah
Now you feel like
The whole world's pickin on you
You've been punished cause your mother
Wants to raise you the right way, yeah
But you don't care
Cause you already made up your mind
You want to run away, yeah
You're on your way
Run away child, running wild
Run away child, running wild
Better come back home
Better come back home
Where you belong
Where you belone
Roaming through the city
Going nowhere fast
You're on your own at last
Hey it's getting late, where will you sleep
Gettin kind-a hungry
You forgot to bring something to eat
Oh lost with no money, you start to cry
But remember you left home
Wanting to be grown
So dry your weepin eyes
Siren screamin down, neon light is flickin
You want your mama
Ah there's nothing for you
You're frightened and confused
I want my mama
But she's much too far away
She can't hear a word you say
You heard some frightening news on the radio
About little boys running away from home
And their parents don't see them no more
You want to hitch a ride and go home
But your mama told you never trust a stranger
And you don't know which way to go
Streets are dark and deserted
Not a sound nor sign of life
How you long to hear your mother's voice
Cause you're lost and alone
But remember you make the choice
Run away child, running wild
Better go back home where you belong
Run away child, running wild
Better go back home where you belong
You're lost in this great big city
(Go back home where you belong)
Not one familiar face
Ain't it a pity
(Go back home where you belong)
Oh run away child, running wild
You better go back home where you belong
Mama, mama please come and see about me
But she's much too far away
She can't hear a word you say
I want my mama
You're frightened and confused
Which way will you choose
The lyrics of Eddie Kendricks's song, Runaway Child in which he sings about a young child who decides to run away from home. The song describes the child's emotions and experiences throughout his journey. The child has been punished by his mother and made to stay in his room for the rest of the week. However, instead of staying home as instructed, the child decides to run away. As he roams through the city, he feels lost, alone, and confused. The child realizes that he's thirsty and hungry but he has lost his money. He then hears a disturbing news broadcast about other children who once ran away but never return home. He becomes frightened and misses his mother but remembers that he chose to run away. He wants to go back home, but he doesn't know the way and doesn't want to trust strangers. The song ends with the child feeling frightened and alone, crying out for his mother's help.
The song is reflective of Kendricks' background with the Temptations. The song features the Temptations’ iconic harmonies and was written by Frank Wilson and William “Smokey” Robinson, two of the greatest songwriters of the Motown era. Kendricks was known for his ability to articulate the emotions of the songs he sang, and his delivery of the lyrics in this song is powerful and emotive. The chorus of the song is catchy, with a memorable melody, and the lyrics of the song are filled with vivid imagery that captures the fear and confusion of the child.
Line by Line Meaning
RUN AWAY CHILD, RUNNING WILD
The child has run away and is living recklessly
You played hooky from school
You skipped school
And you can't go out to play, yeah
You are grounded for the week
Mama said for the rest of the week
Your mother has punished you for your behavior
In your room you gotta stay, yeah
You are confined to stay in your room
Now you feel like
You feel overwhelmed by the situation
The whole world's pickin on you
You feel like everyone is against you
But deep down inside you know it ain't true
You know that your mother is trying to raise you the right way
You've been punished cause your mother
Your mother is establishing boundaries for you
Wants to raise you the right way, yeah
Your mother has reason to guide you
But you don't care
You are refusing to accept the consequences
Cause you already made up your mind
You have already decided to run away
You want to run away, yeah
You are desperate to escape your punishment
You're on your way
You have left your home
Better come back home
You should return home
Where you belong
Your home is where you are supposed to be
Roaming through the city
You are wandering aimlessly through the city
Going nowhere fast
You are not making any progress
You're on your own at last
You are alone and vulnerable
Hey it's getting late, where will you sleep
You are running out of options and resources
Gettin kind-a hungry
You are getting hungry
You forgot to bring something to eat
You did not plan ahead for your journey
Oh lost with no money, you start to cry
You are helpless and overwhelmed
But remember you left home
You have chosen this path for yourself
Wanting to be grown
You are trying to be independent
So dry your weepin eyes
You must face your situation with courage
Siren screamin down, neon light is flickin
You are in an unfamiliar and dangerous place
You want your mama
You want to feel safe and loved
Ah there's nothing for you
There is no one to help you
You're frightened and confused
You are overwhelmed by your situation
I want my mama
You want comfort and guidance
But she's much too far away
You are far from the security of your home
She can't hear a word you say
Your mother is not aware of your struggle
You heard some frightening news on the radio
You are exposed to the dangers of running away
About little boys running away from home
Your situation is common but dangerous
And their parents don't see them no more
You may never see your parents again
You want to hitch a ride and go home
You want to turn back and return to your family
But your mama told you never trust a stranger
You have been taught to be cautious
And you don't know which way to go
You feel lost and uncertain
Streets are dark and deserted
You are in an unsafe area
Not a sound nor sign of life
You are alone and without resources
How you long to hear your mother's voice
You crave loving guidance and protection
Cause you're lost and alone
You feel helpless and afraid
You're lost in this great big city
You are overwhelmed by the size of the city
(Go back home where you belong)
You should return home
Not one familiar face
You are alone and without support
Ain't it a pity
It is a shame that you chose to run away
You better go back home where you belong
You must return home for your own safety
Mama, mama please come and see about me
You are desperate for your mother's care and guidance
Which way will you choose
You must make a decision between continuing your reckless journey or returning home
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: BARRETT STRONG, NORMAN WHITFIELD
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Oh Ngook Yin
RIP Eddie Kendricks.We will always love you.
Andrea T Gaut
Absolutely Love Eddie Kendricks. Beautiful Man And Voice.
Margaret Ferguson
I love him forever 💕
Rosalie Caliendo
Loved them and still listen to their music.♥️
Tyleek Vandroff
Same
African Mermaid 🧜♀️
Love ❤️ you always Eddie. You’re never forgotten. Rest in Paradise.
Loveoldies50
All of the original Temptations had tragic stories. I've watched the 2 part movie several times. It's a great movie! If you're a fan, you should see it. It plays on some music channels occasionally. Worth the effort to find it! I bought it on a DVD, too. Great music, and a very sad story
Sufunda Samuels
Yes, I have the DVD in my movie collection. Those men went through hell and wasn't getting paid that top dollar due to being cheated by Berry Gordy. Voices like that should be very wealthy, but you take music nowadays when mediocre and subpar talent can come out with one song, is filthy rich and they retire....it's not fair, because you take groups like "The Temptations" they had to really work hard to get a hit and these men could really sing without any synchronized or auto tuned sounds....they could just naturally sing.
Erica Gabriel
Rest in peace 😇 you will forever be missed ❤
Andrew Campbell
Just learning about this guy but I've always hear and loved is songs