Otis Williams

Otis Williams; actually Otis Miles ( born October 30, 1941 in Texarkana, Texas) is an American tenor and baritone singer. He also worked as a songwriter and producer. Williams is the leader of the group The Temptations, which he co-founded in the early 1961s years of the group The Elgins.

Life

The Early Years

Williams (real name: Otis Miles ) was born in Texarkana, Texas. His parents were Louise Hazel and Otis Miles. Williams grew up largely on his grandmother in Texarkana, Texas. At the age of 10 he moved with his mother and his new stepfather Edgar to Detroit. Since that time, he used his mother ( Williams) last name as his own.

Career

Williams was interested in teenage increasingly of Music and was a member of several singing groups such as Otis Williams and the Siberians, the El Dominguez Goes, and The distants. The distants had a regional hit ( come on), which was written by Williams and the manager and producer Johnnie Mae Matthews. The lyrics to the song came from the pen of Richard Street. Subsequent recordings of distants were less successful. After an offer from Berry Gordy of Motown Records, he broke up his band members and Elbridge " Al " Bryant and Melvin Franklin the group. Eddie Kendricks and Paul Williams later joined the group and formed The Elgins. In March 1961, she signed a record deal with Motown under its new name, The Temptations.

The Temptations were ultimately the most successful group in the category of black music in its nearly fifty year career. During this time notable singers were members of the group such as: David Ruffin, Dennis Edwards, former Distant Richard Street, Damon Harris, Ron Tyson, Ali - Ollie Woodson, Theo Peoples, Ray Davis and GC Cameron. The members of the group changed frequently and there was a lot of anger within the group so that Williams and Melvin Franklin mutually promised never to leave the group. Franklin was a member of the group until 1994, when he could no longer occur due to his illness. He died on 23 February 1995, leaving Otis Williams is the only founding member of the Temptations.

Williams wrote in 1988 along with Patricia Romanowski the book The Temptations, which describes his autobiography and at the same time the history of the Temptations. The book was filmed by NBC as a mini-series in 1998.

Williams sings rare as the lead singer in the group, he focused more on the role as an organizer, manager and backing vocalist of the group. The 1967 published song of the Temptations Do not Send Me Away is one of the few songs in which Williams appeared as a lead vocalist.

Private life

Williams married Josephine Rogers in 1961. In the same year their son, Otis Lamont Williams was born. After Otis and Josephine Williams in 1964 divorced, he met with Florence Ballard of the Supremes, and had a relationship with the R & B singer Patti LaBelle.

Williams was married from 1967 to 1973 with Ann Cain and married in 1983 to his current wife Goldie. His son, Otis Lamont, a construction worker, died in 1983 in a work accident.