document_title: List of My Babysitter's a Vampire characters

question_text: who plays benny on my babysitter's a vampire

question_tokens: who plays benny on my babysitter 's a vampire

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text: Main characters[edit]

text: Ethan[edit]

text: Ethan Morgan (portrayed by Matthew Knight) is a geeky sci-fi-loving 15-year-old who discovers that his little sister's babysitter Sarah, is a vampire. Awkward, sweet and well-meaning, Ethan just wants to have a normal high school experience. But the constant paranormal chaos of Whitechapel make that nearly impossible. Ethan is a Seer. Seers are able to see visions through touch. His visions help him learn more about supernatural forces. Ethan lacks social skills because of which he usually finds himself lost when it comes to navigating social waters. Ethan is understood most by Benny, whom he has been best friends with since childhood. He loves playing video games and is book-smart. He is more sarcastic than Benny and thinks things through carefully. He cares for his loved ones and will go to any height to protect them. He is in the chess club along with Benny. Although Benny often gets the two of them into sticky situations, Ethan is usually able to find a way out. His biggest fear is being alone. Later on Ethan begins to develop a romantic relationship with best friend and supernatural partner Sarah in the two part Season 2 finale, "The Date to End All Dates." In Season 2 (The Date To End all Dates Part 2) Benny's grandmother try's to help out Ethan get over his fear in seeing dead people, but then that does not work so when he holds Benny's and Sarah's hand he sees them normal again. But then he has to bring back our loyal friend Jesse, so then they have to go to this old building and defeat the bad guy by Jesse joining their side and not the vampire's side. Then Ethan touches the schoolmaster's soldier and goes into his mind and tells him, You're not strong it's the thing" and then they all run out of the building.

tag: p

text: Sarah[edit]

text: Sarah (portrayed by Vanessa Morgan) is Jane's babysitter, and one of Ethan's best friends who he has a crush on. Although most times, she ends up babysitting Ethan and Benny as well. By the time the pilot movie begins, she is already a new vampire, bitten by her ex-boyfriend Jesse. Since she has not drunk human blood, she is only a fledgling, not fully human, not fully vampire. Hoping for a cure to become human again, Sarah tries her best to fit into high school and be a normal teenage girl, though she is unsuccessful. She refrains from human blood and instead, drinks a human blood substitute that Benny's grandmother makes. Sarah usually aids Ethan and Benny in their quests to defeat supernatural forces and has excellent fighting skills which, combined with her superhuman strength and speed, make her a formidable opponent. She struggles to keep her friends protected from evil vampires, particularly Jesse. In the first season finale, she finally turns into a full vampire when Ethan is bitten by Jesse and she drinks his blood to get the venom out. Although upset at first, she is later shown to somewhat accept what she is in the end. Later on Sarah begins to develop a romantic relationship with best friend and supernatural partner Ethan Morgan in the two part Season 2 finale, "The Date to End All Dates."

text: Benny[edit]

text: Benny Weir (portrayed by Atticus Mitchell) is Ethan's loud and goofy best friend. He is similar to Ethan, being geeky. He often gets into trouble with his antics. Benny has been Ethan's best friend since they were 6 years old. He and Ethan understand each other better than anyone else, although Benny is more funny and outspoken than Ethan. Benny can be just as brave and strategically clever as his pal, though he only showcases these abilities in the most dire of situations. Benny's dream is to make it big as a sorcerer and paranormal expert. He is told by his grandma that he is a Spellmaster and can cast magical spells, although his magic usually goes wrong due to his lack of practice. Benny often tries to lighten the mood when things get too intense. He is girl-crazy and frequently drags Ethan into his schemes, getting them both in trouble. Despite that, Benny is a genuine friend to Ethan and is always ready to go on another adventure. In season two, Benny begins to improve on his magic, becoming more helpful than in the first season. Benny secretly has a crush on Erica.

text: Rory[edit]

text: Rory Keaner (portrayed by Cameron Kennedy) is Ethan and Benny's geeky, dimwitted, funny, non-genuse vampire friend. He is turned into a vampire after being bitten by Jesse at a vampire-infested party. No matter how odd Ethan and Benny are, Rory still manages to be the odd man out. He is even more immature than Ethan and Benny and has ideas that often gets him or all three of them into bad situations. Rory is a follower instead of a leader and has a major crush on Erica and is always eager to impress her, a trend which is in line with the traditional biter-bitten relationship. He is easily manipulated and does whatever he is told to do which leads him to become a full vampire (in the movie he says that his first reason for drinking human blood was because "everyone else was doing it"). Ethan and Benny mostly try to keep Rory out of their adventures, knowing that Rory can get himself into danger with his weak intellect. Rory includes himself nevertheless and though he can be foolish, he supports Ethan and Benny to the best of his ability. Embracing his new-found vampirism, he goes through several short-lived personae including 'Vampire Ninja' and 'Rory Vampire'. He's a fond lover of animals both as pets (he kept a cat called Mr Kitty and two alligators which he mistook for iguanas) and as a delicacy. In the movie he promises Ethan he'll not drink human blood again and sticks to this promise throughout the series only hunting animals, something other vampires including Sarah and Erica find disgusting, though he happily drinks bagged human blood again in "Blood Drive" and "Fanged and Furious" where he fights over a phial of it with Erica. In "The Date to end All Dates- Part 2" he shows courage (or complete stupidity) being ready to face a hooded menace until he finds out the intruder is his vice-principal, only at this point does he cow down and runs. He later displays his loyalty with Erica when he says that "if there's a fight coming I want to be here with my friends", he only avoids the battle when placed under Anastasia's powerful glamour. Rory's last name "Keaner" was shown on a computer screen in episode "Siren Song".

text: Erica[edit]

text: Erica (portrayed by Kate Todd) is a vampire and Sarah's best friend. She is a huge fan of the "Dusk" series. (Dusk is a parody of the Twilight series) Erica becomes a vampire after being bitten by Gord (one of Jesse's friends) in the same vampire-infested party where Rory was also bitten. Erica is the kind of girl who gets revenge if someone does her wrong. She used to be a nerd when human but has become beautiful since turning into a vampire, a fact she is very proud of. Erica doesn't share an actual friendship with Ethan and Benny but speaks to them when necessary. She is annoyed mostly by Rory and makes sure not to be seen with him. However, she uses his crush on her as an advantage to get him to do things for her. Although Erica is conceited and shallow, she genuinely cares for Sarah and always comes through for her. In the first season finale, she supports Sarah after Sarah becomes a full vampire and tells her that they will (literally) be friends forever. In the second season, Erica becomes closer to Ethan and Benny as well, and subsequently becomes more active in their heroic activities. Erica seeks out Benny to help Sarah out after she dumped the new vice principal in a trash can, Benny doing a forgetting spell and gathers him and Ethan to testify against the Vampire Council's accusations. In "Say You'll Be Maztak", Erica helps Sarah get their male classmates out of a spell where they were controlled by Lucia, who wanted to be reunited with her Sun King. Erica seemed to be jealous that Ethan and Benny were all over Lucia, not believing that they were blowing her and Sarah off for her. In "Mirror/rorriM", Erica is controlled by a ghost trapped in a dressing room mirror during the school's production of the play, "The Rainbow Factory". Benny, Ethan, and Sarah manage to get the ghost out of Erica, in the middle of the play, the audience assuming they were performing. In "Village of the Darned", Benny makes a potion mixed with his blood for Erica and Sarah (because the towns' older citizens were possessed by an evil girl scout troop leaders cookies), Erica initially takes dislike to drinking blood from children and teenagers, citing it had fats; but Erica confides to Sarah that she liked Benny's blood, that it was "the best she ever tasted", and she might be starting to have feelings for him. In "The Date to End All Dates", while the vampire community is preparing to evacuate Whitechapel (in which Erica reluctantly and unwillingly helps them do), Erica helps Sarah and Ethan prepare for their first date, even choosing their restaurant, which was a vampire restaurant, where the staff assumed Ethan was Sarah's meal.

text: Recurring Characters[edit]

text: Jane Morgan[edit]

text: Jane Morgan (portrayed by Ella Jonas Farlinger) is Ethan's younger, 9-year-old sister. She has her own strange view of the world around her. Jane knows about Ethan's, Benny's, Sarah's, Rory's and Erica's supernatural abilities and keeps the secret, often helping along when they are in dangerous situations. She usually gets her way by blackmailing Ethan, threatening to tell their parents about all of Ethan, Benny, and Sarah's secret adventures. Although she is manipulative, she cares for Ethan and shares a friendly and easy relationship with Benny. Jane seems to have certain limited abilities to cast spells; She once used one of Benny's spells to bring one of her dolls to life and gets her parents and others turned into little dolls after being touched by Jane's doll, prompting Ethan, Benny and Sarah to come to the rescue and turn everyone back to normal again.

text: Samantha Morgan[edit]

text: Samantha Morgan (portrayed by Laura DeCarteret) is the mother of Ethan and Jane Morgan. She is a fun-loving, supportive mom to Ethan and Jane, and will do whatever she can to keep her kids happy. She and her husband go out on date nights every Friday, which is when Sarah is needed to babysit. Although she doesn't quite understand her kids, she loves them all the same.

text: Ross Morgan[edit]

text: Ross Morgan (portrayed by Ari Cohen) is the father of Ethan & Jane Morgan and Samantha Morgan's husband. When Ross isn't taking cookery/dancing/archery lessons with his wife, he sells insurance – which oddly enough is something people in Whitechapel seem to need a lot of. Ross is a proud father to Ethan and Jane, even though he doesn't always understand his son's geeky hobbies. But that doesn't stop him from trying to connect with him.

text: Benny's Grandma[edit]

text: Benny's Grandma Evelyn[1] (portrayed by Joan Gregson) is an Earth Priestess (a witch on the side of good) who knows what to do in every situation that Ethan and Benny get themselves into. She also has everything that often ends up causing the problem. She tends to be sardonic, especially while scolding the boys.

text: Principal Hicks[edit]

text: Principal Hicks (played by Hrant Alianak) is the often dimwitted principal of Whitechapel High School, usually blissfully unaware of what is really going on around him. He often appears concerned about Ethan and Benny because of their weirdness and unusual hobbies.

text: Jesse[edit]

text: Jesse (portrayed by Joe Dinicol) is an evil vampiric cult leader and main antagonist in the movie. In the original settlement of Whitechapel, he was a priest named Reverend Horace Black, and led an evil vampire cult. In recent times, he poses as a high school student. His personality is pure callous, being willing to sacrifice any follower for his own gains. This is shown numerous times such as in the movie when he didn't react to the news that his entire new cult was eliminated by Ethan, Benny and Sarah, and in The Date to end All Dates when he admitted he'd let "most of his old flock" get wiped out by the Lucrifractor two hundred years ago and was extremely willing to let Benny be destroyed when the would-be wizard temporarily turned against them. His plan throughout the movie was to use the cubile animus to exchange the souls of 219 Dusk fans in order to resurrect the 219 ancient souls of the vampires in his cult, known as the "Black Army". He was also the vampire who originally sired Sarah, turning her into a fledgling, and his minions turned Rory and Erica into vampires at his house party. When Ethan and Benny become aware of the existence of vampires, they team up with Sarah to help stop Jesse. Days later Jesse comes close to succeeding in his plan but he and his minions are killed by Ethan and Benny before he can complete it. In the first season finale, he returns from the grave after Ethan and Benny dig up and inadvertently open the cubile animus he was trapped in. He tries to convince Sarah to become a full vampire so they can be together and leave Whitechapel. When Sarah refuses, Jesse bites Ethan's wrist to infect him with vampire venom, compelling Sarah to save him and become a full vampire after all. Jesse leaves, unharmed, and is later banished from Whitechapel by the Vampire Council for being an "undesirable element". Jesse returns in the Season 2 finale to give Ethan a message about someone seeking the powers of the Lucifractor. He says that he cannot deal with it himself due to his banishment. Following Stern succeeding in driving out the vampire council, Ethan invites Jesse back, as he managed to defeat the original wizard Gaelon Sinisteral. Jesse joins them in facing Stern. Jesse is a handsome but sinister vampire whose charming smile hides a deep,dark secret thats centuries old. Not one to leave his fangs a idle for long, Jesse has ambitious plans that he is determined to see succeed. he hopes to one day control not only all of whitechapel, but especially the heart of one beautiful young lady named Sarah.

text: Mr. G[edit]

text: Mr. G (portrayed by Ryan Blakely) is a teacher who often gets wrapped up in the supernatural goings-on that happen at the school, whether he is fully aware or not. He first appears in "Double Negative" to take the yearbook photos but an evil version of Hannah Price is out to use Benny's grandmother's evil camera to make evil doubles of the students. Mr. G is also seen as the school's wrestling team coach in "Friday Night Frights". Mr. G unearths a crystal skull which summons Lucia, a queen looking for her Sun King. Mr. G is later controlled by Lucia, she seeking him to be bearer of a sacred vessel. When the spell is broken over Mr. G (and the other male students), he gives Sarah and Erica detention for smashing the skull he dug up, Mr. G never gave students detention prior to this.

text: Vice Principal Stern[edit]

text: Vice Principal Stern (portrayed by Richard Waugh) The new vice principal in Whitechapel's high school and the main antagonist in season two. He made his first appearance in "Welcome back Dusker" where he was quickly met with Sarah's highly emotional wrath and was plunged headfirst into a trashcan by the newly fully-fledged vampire. His Great grandfather (Gaelon Sinisteral) was a wizard who hated vampires, and attempted to wipe them out but was defeated by Reverend Horace Black (a.k.a. Jesse). Centuries later, Stern planned to do the same. Around the same time as he got the job as vice principal, he conjured the breath of death to begin his vampire genocide, but that plan soon failed. In The Date to End all Dates we also learn from Erica that she despised him since he banned the Dusk Fanclub, no doubt due to its affiliation with vampires. He later attempts to kill Ethan in "Independence Daze" whilst wearing a Grim Reaper-esque disguise and is referred to as "some guy without a face". In the episode Date To End All Dates, his secret is revealed that his new goal was finding the Lucifactor to wipe out all vampires in Whitechapel. He attempts to steal it from Benny and Rory after they find it in the abandoned Darkwood hotel, but was thwarted when he found himself face to face with Jesse's "guard dog". Later he confiscates the Lucifractor from Benny and places Ethan under a spell, making him fear everyone is dead. When Stern attacks the vampire council, he kills several vampires and chases the rest away. He plans to use their beacon (which Jesse states is referred to as "the Caller") to broadcast the Lucifractor's power across town. Benny is put temporarily under his control, but is taken out by his own magic and the vice-principal is soon defeated by Ethan after Sarah and Jesse successfully distract him. Ethan telepathically attacks Stern, and uses the man's own arrogance against him, causing him to absorb energy from the Lucifractor and results in a huge explosion.

text: Minor Characters[edit]

text: Gord[edit]

text: Gord (portrayed Nathan Stephenson) is Jesse's right hand man, and another vampire. He becomes Erica's boyfriend and turns her into a vampire. He is later killed in the climax by holy water rigged sprinklers.

text: Della[edit]

text: Della (portrayed by Rebecca Dalton) is a normal student at Whitechapel High, who gets her heart broken after the death of her dog, Puffles. Benny brings Puffles back to life to woo her but ends up bringing to life every other dead animal buried in the ground. This ends up driving her away from Benny. Della is said to be attending therapy since she can't forget Puffles. Della is seen again in the first season finale at the school dance, later talking with Rory.

text: Stephanie[edit]

text: Stephanie (portrayed by Leah Renee Cudmore (young), Susan Robertson (elder)) is an old witch, disguised as the cheerleader captain, and the antagonist of the episode, Three Cheers for Evil. She went to school with Benny's grandmother but physically looks 17 because she has used her powers to maintain immortality. It's revealed that Stephanie teased Erica when Erica used to be a nerd as a human. Stephanie puts a spell on Erica and Sarah so they obey her. On the night of the school pep rally, Ethan and Benny are able to thwart her plan to steal the souls of the student body and Stephanie's real age is unmasked. An old Stephanie ends up as a lunch lady at Whitechapel High.

text: Annie Vee[edit]

text: Annie "Hot Nurse" Vee (portrayed by Kristin Adams) is the Hot Nurse who appeared in the episode "Blood Drive". Annie was the better-looking and younger nurse at the Blood Drive in Whitechapel. She is a vampire who has worked with the older vampire nurse for years, using blood drives to get their food. She thinks she can do anything and does not like to get involved with the Vampire Council. Benny only went to donate blood because he wanted Annie to do it. Benny then learns she is one of the bloodsuckers and lets Erica and Rory away for a pint of blood from Ethan.

text: Older Nurse[edit]

text: The Older Nurse (portrayed by Amy Ciupak Lalonde) is a character who appeared in the episode Blood Drive. She and Annie are vampire nurses that first appeared in Blood Drive. She makes all the decisions and is the leader of the two. She always thinks that mistakes should be justified and wanted to take Erica and Rory to the Vampire Council for stealing food from their own kind. She took blood out of Benny when he thought that Annie would.

text: Debbie Dazzle[edit]

text: Debbie Dazzle (portrayed by Georgina Reilly) is Jane's favorite doll. She was turned into a human after Jane cast a spell on her to fix her broken leg. She is the antagonist in the episode "Guys and Dolls." Debby loves cupcakes, ice cream, disco-dance parties and make overs. Debbie didn't like being a doll, claiming that it was boring and she wanted to have fun. In order to stay in human form, she sucks life energy out of humans, thus turning them into dolls. Jane manages to reverse the spell to change Debbie back into a doll. But in the end she turn her head at the audience and wink at them. Her counterpart doll is Dazzle Dan. Her look is seemingly based on Katy Perry, though this is never mentioned in the series.

text: Hannah Price[edit]

text: Hannah Price (portrayed by Kiana Madeira) is the photographer, and the leader of the yearbook committee at Whitechapel High in the episode Double Negative. Ethan and Benny mistakenly believe she has a crush on Ethan after misinterpreting her actions. It was found at the end, that she had a boyfriend. She bought a camera from Benny at a yard sale for $10 and wanted to use the camera for yearbook photos, not knowing of its evil powers.

text: Coach Ed[edit]

text: Coach Ed (portrayed by Clé Bennett) is a character in the episode, Friday Night Frights. He is a ghost whose spirit was locked into Whitechapel High's sole sports trophy. His spirit was released when Ethan held the trophy, and haunted him relentlessly. Ethan tried to confide in Sarah and Benny to get rid of him, but in the end he agreed to win a new trophy for his spirit to move on. Though Ethan 'cheated' to win the trophy, the coach's spirit was banished by the ghosts of those he coached.

text: Kurt "The Hurt" Lochner[edit]

text: Kurt Lochner (portrayed by William Greenblatt) is an ace wrestler who appears in Friday Night Frights. In this episode, he is dating Erica, and Sarah is led to suspect that he is a vampire and tries to investigate; only leading Ethan to think that she likes him.

text: Ethan and Kurt meet during a wrestling match, and Ethan wins a trophy by pinching him to the floor and tickling his neck to keep him under. He tries to beat up Ethan, but Sarah knocks him to the ground and confirms that he has been "beaten by a geek and a girl". He is last seen on a date with Erica, who shows him her fangs. It is unknown what happened to him later.

text: David Stachowski[edit]

text: David Stachowski (portrayed by Jake Epstein) is a character from the episode Blue Moon. He is the hairiest jock at Whitechapel High and very popular. He makes Ethan and Benny his best friends but Ethan suspects that David is a werewolf and has a motive behind making them his friends. Benny tries a spell to expose him, but it has no effect whatsoever. However Ethan has a vision that confirms his suspicions of David. He then sees that David scratched him and starts to turn into a werewolf. It is revealed that David knew Ethan is a Seer and was hoping Ethan could help him find the cure to become human again. During a party at Ethan's house, Ethan and Benny find out that David isn't an actual werewolf after Sarah, Benny, Rory, and Erica mistake Ethan as David; he simply turns into a shaggy dog under the full moon, making him a weredog.

text: Doug Falconhawk/Machowski[edit]

text: Doug Falconhawk (true name Doug Machowski, portrayed by Thomas Mitchell) is the host of his own television show that called him the Scarefinder. Rory, Benny and Ethan are his only fans because his lack of locating paranormal activities is boring the audience except those three. He makes his first appearance in Doug The Vampire Hunter and hires the kids to hunt vampires. His show is eventually ruined by his fans.

text: Dirk Baddison[edit]

text: Dirk Baddison (played by Jamie Johnston) is the actor who portrays the vampire named James in the Dusk series, he appears in "Welcome Back Dusker" when Ethan starts the rumor that he's coming to Whitechapel, in order to get Sarah to come back. Erica abducts Dirk, showing him that she's a vampire and that vampires are real, Dirk involuntarily gets dragged in front of the vampire council with Erica, and the head of the council likes Dirk, wanting his autograph for "a friend". Dirk is placed into a psychiatric facility after going to the media and saying he has a vampire girlfriend, pictures he took with Erica showed that only he was in the pictures, because vampires don't show up on film.

text: Anastasia[edit]

text: Anastasia (portrayed by Addison Holley) is first introduced in "Welcome back Dusker" as a little girl who is after Ethan and Sarah because vampires are being attacked by an ominous green mist later identified by Benny as, "The Breath of Death". She initially accuses Ethan of being the one behind the vampire attacks as he is a known vampire hunter and because vampires sent by the Council to retrieve his love interest Sarah were killed in his garden. When one of the other council members is taken over by the Breath of Death and tries to go after her, Ethan saves her and she believes that he has nothing to do with it. She secretly likes Dirk Baddison, asking to have his autograph "for a friend". Her personality is heavily juxtaposed to her demeanor, as she is very assertive (despite being on a council where each member has an equal vote, she always takes charge and no one seems willing to go against her) and also sinister and scary, usually resorting to death threats to get things done. Rory claims she's "scary" (at the end of "The Date to End All Dates") while Benny refers to her as "Little Miss Fang-Fang". Her sense of style both in her outfits and possessions (such as her choice of duffle bag in "The Date to end all Dates- Part 2") shows that despite her youthful appearance she is actually several centuries old. Despite banishing him, she is somewhat similar to Jesse, being quick to use force, mind control and is very williing to sacrifice her followers to save herself (Jesse freely admits he allowed most of his "flock" to be Lucifractored so he could defeat Stern's great-grandfather and Anastasia happily sent guards at Stern knowing they had no chance of defeating him while she fled Whitechapel. She also says that Stern could "have this town" (Whitechapel), in essence leaving every vampire in Whitechapel at the mercy of the vengeful vice-principal by leaving the Caller (a device Jesse says the Council uses to communicate with other covens) undefended). Most likely she only forced Rory and Erica to flee with her as all her remaining guards were busy holding off Stern while the rest of her Council had already fled.

text: Lucia[edit]

text: Lucia (portrayed by Shiva Negar) is a queen in search of her Sun King, Mr. G summons her when he digs up a crystal skull around the school. Lucia uses Mr. G and his male students to get reunited with her Sun King. The students make an altar out of the classroom desks for Lucia along with finding things such as animal hearts, gold, and jewelry. And Lucia initially chooses Rory to be "The Chosen One", or a sacrifice to the Sun King, but when she learns Rory is a vampire and isn't pure, she moves onto Ethan instead, who is breaking from Lucia's control over him. Sarah and Erica defeat Lucia after learning that the moon could interfere with Lucia's plan, they use moon rocks that Ethan bought to get their friends and classmates out of Lucia's spell. Ethan destroys Lucia using a moon rock as well, the skull crashing to the floor in the process.

text: Malcolm Bruner[edit]

text: Malcolm Bruner (portrayed by Scott Beaudin) is a Whitechapel High student whose grandfather had recently passed in the episode "Fanged and Furious". Ethan wanted to buy his grandfather's clunker car, but chose against it when he learned the car was possessed by a vampire. Bruner threatens to have Ethan's learner's permit revoked because he thinks Ethan stole the car and tried to run him over with it. When he came to school the next day he was all bandaged up and Rory told him his bandages were leaking.

text: Sunday Clovers[edit]

text: Sunday Clovers (portrayed by Bindi Irwin) is an energetic foreign exchange student from Australia who becomes lead in the school's upcoming play, "The Rainbow Factory", where Erica is assigned as her understudy. Clovers looks in a possessed dressing room mirror and she is controlled by the ghost trapped in it, to harm her classmates involved in the play. In the process of doing that, Clovers cuts numerous sandbags hoping to hurt her classmates, many of them fell on her in the process, breaking both of her legs; Sarah thought suspiciously that Erica did it to become lead in the play. Clovers watches a controlled Erica on stage the night of the play, sitting by Ethan's mother, both amazed at Erica's "acting".

text: Boltz[edit]

text: In "Jockenstein", Boltz is a robotic hockey player at Whitechapel High, invented by the coach to win games, taking human body parts to make him. The coach abducts Ethan and tries to take Ethan's brain and put it into Boltz to make him the greatest hockey player ever, until Sarah manages to stop the coach while Benny and Erica try to dismantle Boltz.

text: Hottie Ho-Tep[edit]

text: Hottie Ho-Tep (portrayed by Jesse Rath) is an ancient Egyptian mummy that took the form of a human teen by taking magical objects from Benny's home, after Benny took his pancreas, causing his mummy to break out of its sarcophagus. Hottie falls for Sarah and vice versa, trying to take her back to the underworld with her as his. Benny and Ethan manage to stop him by shaking Hottie's ancient artifacts that were buried with him.

text: Serena[edit]

text: Serena (portrayed by Kendra Timmins) is a local singing sensation who has the voice of an angel, but in reality she's a siren; a mythical creature whose songs bring out the self-destructive worst in anyone who hears it. Ethan, Benny, and Rory sign up for the talent show to stop Serena, using her songs against her, to stop her from bringing out the worst of people in the whole town.

text: Richard Bruner[edit]

text: Richard (portrayed by Trevor Coll) is grandson of Milfred Bruner. A tall, handsome, snooty prep-school kid. Extremely condescending.Younger version of the Winklevoss twins from The Social Network. The gang figures out that Richard is the latest target of the evil car…so in order to save Richard they invite him over under the pretense of taking his picture for a “Charity Photo Shoot” and draw a tube of his blood. Rory takes on his identity to attract the evil car and stop it from its rage.

text: Vivian Keaner[edit]

text: Vivian Keaner (portrayed by Marsha Mason) is Rory's mother who is first seen in "Siren Song", cheering her son on at the school's talent show. Vivian bored Benny's grandmother in the audience with stories of what Rory does, praising that he'd be a veterinarian one day, blissfully unaware that her son's recent interest in small mammals was actually due to finding them more delicious than cute. Benny's grandmother turned off her hearing aid as a result. Backstage, Rory gets nervous when he hears his mum is in the audience, not because he's worried for his safety but actually for the rest of the audience as he claims his mum can "really throw them" in terms of throwing punches. Ms. Keaner is later seen to be taken over by Serena's songs, punching out a lady in the audience.


document_title: List of Lagos State local government areas by population

question_text: how many local govts do we have in lagos state

text: This article needs to be updated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (March 2015)

tag: table

text: This article does not cite any sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text:
Rank
LGA
Population

1
Alimosho
1,277,714

2
Ajeromi-Ifelodun
745,634

3
Kosofe
665,998

4
Mushin
633,543

5
Oshodi-Isolo
621,789

6
Ojo
598,332

7
Ikorodu
535,811

8
Surulere
504,408

9
Agege
461,123

10
Ifako-Ijaiye
428,812

11
Shomolu
402,992

12
Amuwo-Odofin
318,576

13
Lagos Mainland
317,980

14
Ikeja
313,333

15
Eti-Osa
287,958

16
Badagry
241,437

17
Apapa
217,661

18
Lagos Island
209,665

19
Epe
181,715

20
Ibeju-Lekki
117,542

Lagos State
9,013,534

text: Local Government Areas in Lagos StateNigeria geography-related listsLists by population

tag: ul

text: Wikipedia articles in need of updating from March 2015All Wikipedia articles in need of updatingArticles lacking sources from June 2015All articles lacking sources


document_title: The Temptations

question_text: who came up with the group name the temptations

question_tokens: who came up with the group name the temptations

text: The Temptations

text: History[edit]

text: This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: Origins[edit]

text: Eddie Kendricks and Paul Williams started singing together in church as children. By their teenage years, they formed a doo-wop quartet in 1955 with Kell Osborne and Wiley Waller, naming themselves the Cavaliers.[6]

text: After Waller left the group in 1957, the remaining trio left Birmingham to break into the music business. The group settled in Detroit where they changed their name to the Primes under the direction of Milton Jenkins. The Primes soon became well known around the Detroit area for their meticulous performances.[7] Jenkins later created a sister group, The Primettes, later known as the Supremes. Kendricks was already seen as a "matinee idol" in the Detroit area while Williams was well received for his baritone vocals.[6] Texas teenager Otis Williams moved to Detroit as a youngster to be with his mother.

text: By 1958, Williams was the leader of a vocal group named Otis Williams and the Siberians. The group included Elbridge "Al" Bryant, James "Pee-Wee" Crawford, Vernard Plain and Arthur Walton. The group recorded a song, "Pecos Kid" for a label run by radio deejay Senator Bristol Bryant.[8] Shortly after its release, the group changed its name to The El Domingoes. Following this, Montgomery native Melvin Franklin replaced Arthur Walton as bass vocalist and Detroit-born Richard Street (claimed by Melvin Franklin to be his cousin)[9] replaced Vernard Plain as lead singer. Signing with Johnnie Mae Matthews' Northern Records, the group had their name changed again to The Distants.

text: The group recorded two Northern singles including "Come On" (1959) and "Alright" (1960).[10] Between these releases, Albert "Mooch" Harrell replaced Pee-Wee Crawford. "Come On" became a local hit and the Warwick Records label picked the record up for national distribution.[10] Following the release of "Alright", Matthews appointed Williams the group leader, and the group's name was changed to Otis Williams & The Distants.[11] During this period, both the Primes and Distants were influenced by other vocal groups including the Miracles.[12] Other inspirations included the Cadillacs, Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers, the Drifters, and the Isley Brothers.[13] Though "Come On" was a local hit in the Detroit area, the Distants never saw much record sales and "Alright" was not as successful. After receiving an offer from Berry Gordy to sign with Motown Records, the Distants got out of their contract with Northern Records. However, Mooch Harrell and Richard Street shortly departed from the group and the remaining members lost use of the Distants name. Richard Street later formed another Distants group who recorded for the Thelma label in the early 1960s.[citation needed]

text: Early years[edit]

text: Members of the Distants were acquainted with the Primes as both groups participated in the same talent shows and performed at the same public venues. Friendly rivals, the Primes were considered to be the more polished and vocally stronger group of the two. The Primes disbanded in 1960 after Kell Osborne moved to California. Eddie Kendricks and Paul Williams returned to Alabama following the band's dissolution. While visiting relatives in Detroit, Kendricks called Otis Williams, who desperately needed two more members for an audition for Gordy's label and offered Kendricks a lead singer place in his new group. Kendricks agreed on the condition he bring Paul Williams with him. Otis Williams happily agreed and Kendricks and Paul Williams moved back to Detroit to join the new group.

text: The original name for the new lineup of Otis Williams, Melvin Franklin, Elbridge "Al" Bryant, Eddie Kendricks, and Paul Williams was the Elgins. Under that name, the group auditioned for Motown in March 1961. Already impressed with some of the members after hearing session work, Berry Gordy agreed to sign the group to the Motown imprint, Miracle. However, before signing, Gordy discovered another group was using the name of Elgins. The group began tossing about ideas for a new name on the steps of the Hitsville U.S.A. studio. On a suggestion from Miracle Records employee Billy Mitchell, songwriter Mickey Stevenson, and group members Otis Williams and Paul Williams, the Temptations became the group's new moniker. The "Elgins" name re-surfaced at Motown in 1965, when Gordy renamed a quartet called the Downbeats as the Elgins.

text: The Temptations' first two singles, "Oh Mother of Mine" and "Check Yourself", with Paul Williams on lead, were released on Miracle before Gordy closed the label down and reassigned the band to his latest imprint, Gordy Records. On the Gordy imprint, Eddie Kendricks sang lead on the Temptations' first charted single, "(You're My) Dream Come True", which peaked at number 22 on the R&B chart in 1962. Later that year, the Temptations began touring as part of the Motortown Revue. The group would issue eight recordings between 1961-63 without much success.

text: Paul Williams and Eddie Kendricks split the leads during this early period, with Al Bryant, Otis Williams, and Melvin Franklin occasionally singing lead, as they would on a song titled "Isn't She Pretty". For a brief time, the group almost had their name changed to The Pirates, and recorded the songs "Mind Over Matter" and "I'll Love You Till I Die" under that name. Eventually the label and the group decided against it. One hit song, "Do You Love Me", was originally to be recorded by the Temptations. When he couldn't get a hold of the group, Gordy produced a version for the Contours. In 1963, the Temptations began working with Smokey Robinson as producer and writer. Robinson's first work with the group was the Paul Williams-led "I Want a Love I Can See". While the song failed to chart, it did eventually become a popular live performance spot for the group and particularly for Paul Williams in general. Some called the group "The Hitless Temptations" due to their lack of hits.

text: During this time, David Ruffin began following the group around as he aspired to join the group. During a local Detroit performance, Ruffin joined the group onstage and impressed the group with his vocal talent and dancing skills.[14] Following that same time, Al Bryant had grown frustrated with the group's lack of success and became restless and uncooperative, preferring the mundane routine of his day job as a milkman over the rigors of rehearsal and performing. After a second altercation onstage at a Christmas performance, having struck Paul with a beer bottle during a heated quarrel at an earlier gig in the middle of the year, Bryant was summarily fired from the group. As a result, David Ruffin was brought in as his replacement in January 1964.[15] Though Ruffin's brother, Jimmy was also considered for the slot, David was selected following his performance with them in 1963.

text: Bryant continued to perform in a number of other local groups, and died at the age of 36 in Flagler County, Florida, of liver cirrhosis on October 26, 1975.[16]

text: "Classic Five" Era[edit]

text: The Temptations would now consist of Otis Williams, Melvin Franklin, Paul Williams, Eddie Kendricks, and David Ruffin; the success that would follow the group would result in what would, in later years, be frequently referred to as the "Classic Five" lineup. In January 1964, Smokey Robinson and Miracles bandmate Bobby Rogers co-wrote and produced "The Way You Do the Things You Do" with Eddie Kendricks on lead and the single became the Temptations' first Top 20 hit that April.

text: Shortly afterward, "The Way You Do The Things You Do" and several pre-David Ruffin singles were compiled into the group's first album, Meet the Temptations, released in early 1964. The next two Temptations singles in 1964, "Girl (Why You Wanna Make Me Blue)" along with "I'll Be in Trouble" and its B-side "The Girl's Alright with Me", all featured Kendricks on lead (although Franklin sang one line in "I'll Be in Trouble"). However, producer Smokey Robinson saw potential in the "mellow yet gruff" voice of David Ruffin, and thought that if he could write the perfect song for his lead, then the group could have a Top 10 hit.[17]

text: While traveling as part of Motown's Motortown Revue later that year, Robinson and fellow Miracles member Ronnie White wrote "My Girl", which the Temptations recorded in the fall of 1964 with Ruffin singing his first lead vocal for the group. Released as a single on December 21, 1964, the song became the Temptations' first number-one pop hit in March 1965. Over 50 years and multiple chart topping songs later, it is still their signature song to this day.

text: After the success of "My Girl", Ruffin sang lead on the next three singles: "It's Growing", "Since I Lost My Baby", and "My Baby", which all made it to the Top 20 in 1965. The B-side to "My Baby", "Don’t Look Back", featured a stirring lead from Paul Williams, and was a sleeper hit on the R&B charts and a standard for vocal group playlists.

text: Norman Whitfield had requested the opportunity to write for the group and in 1966, Berry Gordy promised him that if Robinson's "Get Ready", with Eddie Kendricks on lead, failed to chart in the Top 20, Whitfield would be allowed to produce the next song. "Get Ready" subsequently missed its mark, and Gordy issued the Whitfield-produced "Ain't Too Proud to Beg", with David Ruffin on lead, as the next single. "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" outperformed "Get Ready" on the Billboard charts, and Whitfield became the Temptations' new main producer. He began pulling the group away from the ballad-based productions espoused by Robinson, toward a harder-edged and brass-heavy soul sound reminiscent of James Brown.

text: Nearly all singles Whitfield produced prior to 1968 featured David Ruffin on lead, including the R&B number-one/pop Top 10 hits "Beauty Is Only Skin Deep", "(I Know) I'm Losing You"[18] and the early 1967 hit "(Loneliness Made Me Realize) It's You That I Need". Other important singles from this period include "All I Need", produced by Frank Wilson, a Whitfield protégé, and the "You're My Everything", on which Kendricks and Ruffin share lead. Studio albums during the "Classic Five" period apart from Meet the Temptations include The Temptations Sing Smokey (1965), The Temptin' Temptations (1965), Gettin' Ready (1966), The Temptations with a Lot o' Soul (1967), and The Temptations Wish It Would Rain (1968).

text: During this period, the various songwriting partners of Norman Whitfield included Roger Penzabene, Edward Holland, Jr., and Temptations road show manager and guitarist Cornelius Grant. Subsequently, Barrett Strong, who sang the very first hit at Motown in 1959, "Money (That's What I Want)", began working with Whitfield and Penzabene on Temptations material after Eddie Holland left Motown with the rest of the Holland-Dozier-Holland songwriting/production team in 1967. Two of the Whitfield-Strong-Penzabene collaborations, "I Wish It Would Rain" and "I Could Never Love Another (After Loving You)", became hits in early 1968 after the suicide of Roger Penzabene in December 1967. Subsequently, Barrett Strong became the sole collaborator of Norman Whitfield.

text: From early 1964 to mid 1968, the Temptations went from unknown hopefuls to international stars and as a result, appeared frequently on television shows such as American Bandstand, The Ed Sullivan Show, and The Hollywood Palace. At the same time, the group began to achieve a crossover success, catering to middle America with a pop standards album (The Temptations in a Mellow Mood, 1967), the success of which resulted in performances at the famous Copacabana in New York City along with dates at other similar supper clubs. Outside of music, the Temptations were made honorary members of Phi Beta Sigma fraternity.

text: David Ruffin's departure and Dennis Edwards' arrival[edit]

text: By 1967, David Ruffin had begun demanding special treatment as lead singer, riding to and from gigs in a private mink-lined limousine with his then-girlfriend, Motown singer Tammi Terrell, instead of in the group limousine used by the other four Temptations. The other members slowly became irritated and annoyed with Ruffin's behavior. Following Motown's decision to rechristen the Supremes as Diana Ross & the Supremes, Ruffin felt entitled to the same treatment and demanded that his group be renamed as well, to David Ruffin & the Temptations. Ruffin was also causing friction with Berry Gordy by demanding an accounting of the group's earnings;[19] Motown partially acquiesced by allowing the Temptations to retain an outside accounting firm, but the firm did not have full access to the books from the Temptations' manager, International Talent Management, Inc. - a subsidiary of Motown.[19]

text: Some of this behavior was attributed to the fact that by this time Ruffin had begun using cocaine regularly, building further tension within the group and causing him to miss a number of group meetings, rehearsals, and concerts.  There was a consensus among the rest of the group that Ruffin needed to be replaced. When Ruffin missed a June 1968 engagement at a Cleveland supper club in order to attend a show by his new girlfriend, Barbara Gail Martin (daughter of Dean Martin),[20] the group decided that he had crossed the line. The other four Temptations drew up legal documentation, officially firing Ruffin on June 27, 1968.[21] The next day, Dennis Edwards, a singer formerly of the Contours that Eddie Kendricks and Otis Williams already had pegged as a potential Ruffin replacement,[22] was hired to take Ruffin's place.

text: Edwards and Ruffin were good friends, and at first, Ruffin went along with the changing of the guard and encouraged Edwards. However, at Edwards' official debut with the Temptations in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, on July 7, Ruffin came to the show and jumped onstage, taking the microphone from Edwards, singing lead on "Ain't Too Proud to Beg," and disappearing as quickly as he had appeared.[23] Ruffin repeated this stunt several times throughout the group's July tour run. Despite the group hiring extra security to keep Ruffin out, he continued to find ways to sneak into the venue and jump onstage when the group performed one of the songs he had once sung lead on.[23]

text: In a story recounted several times by Dennis Edwards,[22] (rebutted by Otis Williams and Temptations road manager Don Foster),[24] after several of these stunts, the positive audience reactions and a remorseful Ruffin's pleas to be let back into the act convinced the other Temptations to do so. Otis Williams informed the then still-new Edwards that the group would lay him off and rehire Ruffin while in Gaithersburg, Maryland. However, when Ruffin failed to show up on time the next night for his "return" engagement, the group kept Edwards on and ceased to entertain the prospect of rehiring Ruffin.[22][24]

text: After Gaithersburg, Ruffin stopped attempting to disrupt the Temptations' concerts and instead turned his attention to the Motown offices back in Detroit. He sued Motown in October 1968, seeking a release from the label, but Motown countersued to keep the singer from leaving and the case was eventually settled out of court.[25] The settlement required Ruffin to remain with Motown as a solo artist to finish out his contract.[25]

text: Edwards' first album with the Temptations was Live at the Copa, recorded at the group's return to the Copacabana nightclub. The year 1968 also saw the debut of the first of a number of collaborations for the Temptations with Diana Ross & the Supremes. The results included two studio albums: 1968's Diana Ross & the Supremes Join The Temptations, which featured Edwards's first studio recordings with the group and the number-two hit single "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" and  "Together". There was also a joint tour and two NBC television specials, TCB (aired December 9, 1968) and G.I.T. on Broadway (aired November 12, 1969).

text: Psychedelic soul[edit]

text: The addition of Dennis Edwards to the Temptations coincided with the adoption of a new sound for the group by producer Norman Whitfield, and in the fall of 1968, Whitfield began producing psychedelic-based material for the Temptations, derived primarily from the sound of funk band Sly & the Family Stone. This new style, which debuted with the Top 10 hit single "Cloud Nine"[18] in October 1968, was a marked departure from the David Ruffin-era ballads. The instrumentation was funkier, the beat was hard-driving, and all five Temptations traded lead vocals, similar to Sly & the Family Stone. "Cloud Nine", the centerpiece of the group's landmark Cloud Nine LP, was a Top 10 hit and won Motown its first Grammy Award, for Best R&B Vocal Group Performance of 1969.

text: The blending of the Motown sound and psychedelic rock sound resulted in a new subgenre of music called psychedelic soul, also evident in the work of Diana Ross and the Supremes ("Reflections", "Love Child"), Marvin Gaye's version of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", and music of the 5th Dimension, the Undisputed Truth, and the Friends of Distinction. More Temptations psychedelic soul singles followed in 1969 and 1970—among them "Runaway Child, Running Wild" (a number-one R&B hit), "I Can't Get Next to You" (a number-one pop hit), "Psychedelic Shack", and "Ball of Confusion (That's What the World Is Today)", but the formula began to wear thin when "Ungena Za Ulimwengu (Unite the World)", only went to number 33 Pop in the fall of 1970. The group's other important albums from this period included Puzzle People (1969) and Psychedelic Shack (1970). Psychedelic Shack includes the original version of "War", later made famous by Edwin Starr.

text: Eddie Kendricks and Paul Williams' departures[edit]

text: Paul Williams, who suffered from sickle-cell disease, fell into depression because of the stress of touring and personal issues. By the late 1960s, he had developed a serious case of alcoholism. Having never previously consumed anything stronger than milk, he began to drink quite heavily, and it was hard to take, according to Otis Williams.[26][27] As his physical and mental health began to decline sharply, it made performing increasingly difficult. Williams began traveling with oxygen tanks,[26] and the other four Temptations made valiant efforts to raid and drain his alcohol stashes.[26]

text: In late 1969, Richard Street, lead singer of Motown act the Monitors and a former Distant, was hired by Otis Williams to tour with the group as a backup replacement for Williams.[26][28] For most shows, save for his solo numbers, Williams would dance and lip-sync on stage to parts sung live by Street into an offstage mic behind a curtain. At other shows, and during most of the second half of 1970, Street substituted for Williams on stage when he was too sick to go on.[29]

text: Eddie Kendricks became detached from the group after David Ruffin's firing and as the health of Paul Williams continued to fail. He regularly picked fights with Otis Williams and Melvin Franklin, which often became violent, and in addition, he preferred the ballad material from the earlier days and was uncomfortable with the psychedelic soul material the group was now performing. Kendricks rekindled his friendship with Ruffin, who persuaded him to go solo. He no longer felt he had a say in Otis Williams's handling of the group and was also convinced Motown's handling of the Temptations' finances was cheating the group out of money.[30] Kendricks, being the only member to continue an alliance with Ruffin, also repeatedly suggested that Ruffin should be allowed back into the group, despite the other members' strong objections.

text: Kendricks lobbied strongly in 1970 to have the Temptations go on "strike" - no performances, no recordings - until Berry Gordy and the Motown staff would be willing to go over all group finances with independent accountants.[30] Otis Williams and Franklin strongly opposed this idea, and regular group infighting between Kendricks, Otis Williams, and Franklin grew from this disagreement.[30] After a November 1970 Copacabana engagement, one final confrontation between the three caused Kendricks to walk out in-between shows and not return. Both Kendricks and Williams then agreed that Kendricks would be leaving the group.[30]  Kendricks later stated that he actually considered leaving as early as 1965, but remained with the Temptations and unsuccessfully attempted to get permission to record a solo album without leaving the group.[31]

text: Before Kendricks officially left the Temptations, he and Paul Williams recorded the lead vocals for "Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)", a ballad that became Kendricks' final single with the group. Included on the Sky's the Limit LP along with the original album version of "Smiling Faces Sometimes", "Just My Imagination" was released as a single in January 1971, and the song began steadily climbing the US pop singles chart, peaking at number 1 two months later. By the time "Just My Imagination" topped the charts, Kendricks had negotiated his release from the group and signed a solo deal with Motown's Tamla label.

text: The Temptations originally hired Ricky Owens, from the Los Angeles-based vocal group the Vibrations, to replace Kendricks. However, Owens only played two dates with the group before he was fired for forgetting the words to his solo numbers due to nervousness.[32] For several weeks of the spring of 1971, the Temptations were without a fifth member. Owens meanwhile returned to the Vibrations and died in Los Angeles, California on December 6, 1996, at the age of 57.

text: Whitfield took the remaining Temptations quartet and re-recorded "It's Summer", the B-side to "Ball of Confusion (That's What the World Is Today)", as a replacement single. "Smiling Faces Sometimes" was released as a single for the Undisputed Truth instead, becoming a Top 5 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1971. Meanwhile, "It's Summer" peaked at number 51 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it the first Temptations single to miss the Top 40 since "Farewell My Love" eight years earlier.

text: After his doctor declared a few weeks later that he was unable to continue performing due to medical reasons, Paul Williams quit the Temptations in May.[33]  Richard Street officially took Williams' place, although Williams continued to be paid his customary one-fifth of group revenue (Street was paid on salary for the first eighteen months of his tenure),[34] and worked when he could with the group as an adviser and choreographer. After Williams had recovered enough to record again, he recorded two sides in 1973 for a debut solo single. However, on August 17, 1973, Williams died in Detroit at the age of 34 from a gunshot wound, his death ruled a suicide by the Wayne County coroner.

text: Early 1970s[edit]

text: In May 1971, the Temptations finally found a permanent replacement for the first tenor position in twenty-year-old Baltimore native Damon Harris. Otis Williams, Edwards, Franklin, Street, and Harris continued recording and performing, and Norman Whitfield continued producing hits for them. There were Top 40 hits such as "Superstar (Remember How You Got Where You Are)" (1971), a message from the Temptations to David Ruffin and Eddie Kendricks, and "Take a Look Around" (1972). During this period, the group toured with Quiet Elegance as their back-up singers. Quiet Elegance featured Lois Reeves, the sister of Martha Reeves, alongside Frankie Gearing and Millie Vaney-Scott.

text: Late 1972 saw the release of "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone", a magnum opus written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong and produced by Whitfield. Originally a three-minute record written and produced for the Undisputed Truth, Whitfield took the somber tune and created a sprawling, dramatic twelve-minute version for the Temptations—a forerunner of the extended single, soon to become popular in clubs and discothèques. An edited seven-minute version was released as a single and became one of the longest hit singles in music history: it hit number 1 on the pop charts and number 5 on the R&B charts. In 1973, "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" won the Temptations their second Grammy for Best R&B Performance by a Group. Whitfield and arranger/conductor Paul Riser won the award for Best R&B Instrumental Performance for the instrumental version on the B-side, and Whitfield and Barrett Strong won the songwriting Grammy for Best R&B Song.

text: After "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone", Whitfield stopped working with Barrett Strong, and began writing the Temptations' material on his own. The success of "Papa" led Whitfield to create more elongated, operatic pieces, including the Top 10 hit "Masterpiece" (1973) and several of the tracks on the resulting Masterpiece album. Tensions developed between Whitfield and the group, who found Whitfield arrogant and difficult to work with, and the group citing his habitual tardiness, his emphasis of the instrumental tracks at the expense of their vocals on many of his productions, and the declining singles and albums sales as other sources of conflict, sought to change producers.[35] Otis Williams complained about Whitfield's actions and the Temptations' stagnant sales to Berry Gordy; as a result, the group was reassigned to Jeffrey Bowen, co-producer of the 1967 In a Mellow Mood album.[35]

text: The final Norman Whitfield-produced Temptations album, 1990, was released in December 1973, and included the Top 30 single "Let Your Hair Down". Shortly afterwards, Whitfield left Motown, and in 1975 established Whitfield Records, taking the Undisputed Truth and Willie Hutch with him, along with Rose Royce---who performed an instrumental track for "Let Your Hair Down" before recording their 1976 smash "Car Wash."

text: Dry spell[edit]

text: Bowen's first LP with the Temptations was January 1975's A Song for You, which included a cover of the titular Leon Russell tune (popularized with soul audiences by Donny Hathaway), along with the pop Top 40/R&B number-one hits "Happy People" (featuring the Commodores as the instrumentalists) and "Shakey Ground" (featuring instrumentation by Parliament-Funkadelic's Eddie Hazel along with Billy Bass Nelson). "Glasshouse", the group's final Top 40 Pop hit was also included. Damon Harris was fired from the group during the recording of A Song for You, as his behavior and work ethic were deemed unprofessional,[36]  and his replacement was Washington, D.C. native Glenn Leonard, formerly of the Unifics.[37]

text: A number of producers, including Bowen, Brian Holland, James Anthony Carmichael, and even the Temptations themselves tried producing hits for the next three LPs, House Party (November 1975), Wings of Love (March 1976), and The Temptations Do the Temptations (August 1976). None of these recordings were as commercially successful as A Song for You however, and none of their associated singles entered the Billboard charts.[38]

text: As time progressed, Bowen pushed Dennis Edwards further to the front of the group.  This was evident on Wings of Love, where several tracks featured Edwards' vocal more prominently than the other Temptations' backing vocals.[39] Otis Williams felt that this was hurting the group, accused Motown of inattention, and cited this as the reason for the group's declining sales and popularity. After The Temptations Do the Temptations was recorded in 1976, Edwards was fired from the group,[40] and with new lead Louis Price on board, they left Motown for Atlantic Records.[41]

text: Success continued to elude the group at Atlantic, however. Their two releases on Atlantic – Hear to Tempt You (1977), and Bare Back (1978), along with their associated singles, had failed to perform any better at Atlantic than their last handful of singles had at Motown. As a result, in 1979, Atlantic released the group from its contract,[39] and shortly afterwards, the Temptations met once again with Smokey Robinson and Berry Gordy, who re-signed the group to Motown in 1980.[42]

text: Return to Motown and Reunion[edit]

text: Upon the return to Motown several lineup changes occurred. Louis Price departed from the group and joined the Drifters. Dennis Edwards—who had made an unsuccessful attempt at developing a solo career during his three-year exit from the group—returned to the lineup.  Berry Gordy co-wrote and produced "Power", the Temptations' first single under the new contract. "Power", from the album of the same name, hit number 11 on the R&B charts but failed to chart in the Top 40. Two years of under-performing singles and albums followed, including an eponymous album] with Philadelphia-based producer Thom Bell, until Motown began planning a Temptations reunion tour in 1982.

text: Eddie Kendricks and David Ruffin agreed to rejoin the group for the new album, aptly titled Reunion, and its subsequent promotional tour. Rick James, the Motown funk star who had previously used the Temptations as backup vocalists on his 1981 hit "Super Freak" and whom Franklin claimed as his nephew,[9] wrote, produced, and guested on the Reunion album's lead single, "Standing on the Top". The single went to number-six on the R&B charts and featured Ruffin, Kendricks and Edwards trading back and forth on lead.

text: While the ensuing Reunion tour with all seven Temptations (Ruffin, Kendricks, Otis Williams, Franklin, Edwards, Richard Street, and Glenn Leonard) was financially successful, it ended up being a stressful venture: Kendricks' voice had weakened after decades of chain smoking, Ruffin (still addicted to drugs) missed a number of the performances due to being incapacitated, and current group members Dennis Edwards and Glenn Leonard were causing problems. At the conclusion of the Reunion tour, Ruffin and Kendricks were dismissed, and they began touring and performing together as a duo.

text: One more album, Surface Thrills, released in 1983, featured a sharp departure in the group's sound by incorporating elements of then-current rock. Following its release, Glenn Leonard was let go and replaced by Ron Tyson, who was with the Philadelphia groups the Ethics and Love Committee. Tyson had been a staff songwriter at Atlantic during the Temptations' tenure at that label, and co-wrote several songs on the album Hear to Tempt You.

text: From the 1980s to the 1990s[edit]

text: By this time, the Temptations' releases were no longer performing well on the pop charts, though some singles still made the R&B Top 20. "Love on My Mind Tonight," a single from Surface Thrills, charted at number 17.

text: The lineup of Franklin, Williams, Street, Tyson, and Edwards proved to be short-lived. The five performed on Motown 25 and released the direct to video The Temptations: Live in Concert (filmed at Harrah's Atlantic City). The album Back to Basics, released later in 1983, was the first album featuring Ron Tyson on lead.  "Sail Away," produced by a returning Norman Whitfield and featuring Ron Tyson's first lead vocal, peaked at number 13 on the US R&B chart.

text: In addition, a then-relatively unknown singer/musician, Ali-Ollie Woodson was featured on one track, "Stop the World Right Here (I Wanna Get Off)." Woodson was a Detroit native who had been a potential candidate to replace Dennis Edwards back in 1977. Meanwhile, Edwards (who also had his share of lead vocals on the Back to Basics album) was again fired in 1984, for missing rehearsals or showing up hungover. He then attempted a second solo career, scoring a hit with the 1984 single "Don't Look Any Further", a duet with Siedah Garrett.

text: At this point, Woodson officially joined the group, taking Edwards' place. Woodson's first lead on a single was 1984's "Treat Her Like a Lady", co-written by himself and Otis Williams, and co-produced by former Earth, Wind & Fire members Al McKay and Ralph Johnson. The single became their biggest success on R&B radio since 1975, reaching number-two on the R&B charts, and just missing the Pop Top 40 at number 48. The group enjoyed further successes with 1985's "Do You Really Love Your Baby," a number 14 R&B hit co-written by soul star Luther Vandross, and 1986's "Lady Soul," the group's third and final Top 10 R&B hit of the decade.

text: Ali Woodson remained with the Temptations until 1987, when he was fired for consistent lateness. He was replaced by the again-returning Dennis Edwards. The group recorded one album during Edwards's third tenure, Together Again, released in late 1987. The following year, Otis Williams published his autobiography, Temptations, co-written with Patricia Romanowski, chronicling the careers of the group from the Primes/Distants days and focusing on the lives of Williams and Melvin Franklin. (An updated version of the book was published in 2002.)

text: Edwards was fired from the group for the third and final time in late 1988, with Woodson re-joining the lineup. On January 18, 1989, the Temptations were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The event honored Edwards, Franklin, Otis Williams, David Ruffin, Eddie Kendricks (now performing as "Eddie Kendrick"), and, posthumously, Paul Williams. Most of the Temptations, present and former, showed no ill feelings towards one another, although Otis Williams reported that Kendricks would not speak to him during the ceremony.[42] The Temptations ended their induction ceremony with a performance of Paul Williams' signature song, Don't Look Back, dedicated to his memory.

text: After reuniting at the induction ceremony, and much to the chagrin of Otis Williams and Motown, Edwards, Ruffin, and Kendrick made plans to tour and record as Ruffin, Kendricks and Edwards, Former Leads of The Temptations. The tour was in fact carried out, but production on the album was canceled when 50-year-old David Ruffin died in Philadelphia after a cocaine overdose on June 1, 1991. Kendricks was diagnosed with lung cancer soon after; he continued to perform until his death on October 5, 1992, in his native Birmingham.

text: Richard Street missed a performance in 1992 after undergoing emergency surgery to remove kidneystones. Otis Williams, completely unaware of Street's surgery, called him angrily about his absence. Street felt Williams was unsympathetic, and as a result, he left the group in 1993 after twenty-two years. His replacement was St. Louis native Theo Peoples.

text: By the early 1990s, bass Melvin Franklin began missing performances due to failing health and Ray Davis, former bass man of Parliament-Funkadelic, began touring as a fill-in during 1993.[43] Franklin died after suffering a brain seizure at the age of 52 on February 23, 1995, and Davis was named his official replacement. The group subsequently finished production on For Lovers Only, an album of pop standards featuring two tracks recorded with Melvin Franklin prior to his death.

text: This lineup would not last, however, as Davis was diagnosed with lung cancer[43] and left shortly after completing the album. Davis died in New Brunswick, New Jersey of respiratory problems and complications of lung cancer on the evening of Tuesday July 5, 2005.

text: The group continued as a quartet for a short time before recruiting bass Harry McGilberry, a former member of the Futures. For Lovers Only would also be the last contribution for lead Ali-Ollie Woodson; he was released from the group shortly after McGilberry's hiring[44] due to health problems:[45] he suffered two bouts of throat cancer in a short time. He was replaced by new member Terry Weeks, who had served as his sub.[citation needed]

text: The Temptations' new lineup, consisting of Otis Williams, Ron Tyson, Theo Peoples, and newcomers Harry McGilberry and Terry Weeks, toured throughout 1997, and was featured in the halftime show of Super Bowl XXXII in early 1998, which celebrated the 40th anniversary of Motown. Later that year, the Temptations released Phoenix Rising, vocally arranged by 1980s producer Narada Michael Walden, Isaias Gamboa, Claytoven Richardson, Theo Peoples, Tony Lindsey and Skyler Jett, which became their first million-selling album in more than 20 years. The album was anchored by "Stay," a single featuring Theo Peoples on lead and including a sample from "My Girl," which became a number-one hit on the adult contemporary charts.[citation needed]

text: Peoples was fired from the group before the release of Phoenix Rising because of issues with drug addiction,[46] and was replaced by Barrington "Bo" Henderson. Henderson lip-synched to Peoples's vocals in the "Stay" music video, and the completed album features lead vocals on different tracks by both Henderson and Peoples. Peoples would go on to join the Four Tops the following year.[citation needed]

text: TV miniseries[edit]

text: Also in 1998, de Passe Entertainment (run by former Motown vice-president Suzanne de Passe) and Hallmark Entertainment produced The Temptations, a four-hour television miniseries based on Otis Williams' Temptations autobiography. The miniseries was broadcast in two parts on NBC on November 1 and November 2, 1998, with the first part covering the group's history from 1958 to 1968, and the second part the years from 1968 to 1995.[47] The miniseries was a ratings success and was nominated for five Emmy Awards, with Allan Arkush winning for Best Direction;[48] it was subsequently rerun on the VH-1 cable television network and released to VHS and DVD.

text: Otis Williams' former wife Josephine Miles, Melvin Franklin's mother Rose Franklin, David Ruffin's family, and Johnnie Mae Matthews filed lawsuits against Williams, Motown, de Passe and de Passe Entertainment, Hallmark, and NBC for a number of charges, including defamation.[49]

text: The lawsuits were consolidated, and the judges ruled in favor of the defendants, and the ruling was upheld when the plaintiffs appealed in 2001.[50] Williams later claimed that, although his book was used as the source material for the film, he did not have a great deal of control over how the material was presented.[48]

text: From 2000 to present[edit]

text: The Temptations were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1999. In 2001, their 2000 album Ear-Resistible won the group its third Grammy, this one for Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance. Bo Henderson was fired from the group in 2003, prompting a wrongful termination lawsuit.[51]

text: His replacement was former Spinners lead G. C. Cameron. The lineup of Cameron, Otis Williams, Ron Tyson, Harry McGilberry, and Terry Weeks recorded for a short time before McGilberry was dismissed;[52] his replacement was former Spaniels bass Joe Herndon. McGilberry died on April 3, 2006, at the age of 56.

text: The group's final Motown album, Legacy, was released in 2004. Later that year, the Temptations asked to be released from their Motown contract, and moved to another Universal label, New Door Records. Their sole album with this lineup, Reflections, was released on January 31, 2006, and contains covers of several popular Motown songs, including Diana Ross & the Supremes' "Reflections", the Miracles' "Ooo Baby Baby", Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell's "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing", and the Jackson 5's "I'll Be There."[53]

text: G.C. Cameron left the group in June 2007 to focus on his solo career.[54] He was replaced by new member Bruce Williamson. The new lineup recorded another album of soul covers, Back to Front,[55] released in October 2007. Former member Ali-Ollie Woodson died on May 30, 2010, after a long battle with leukemia.[citation needed]

text: On May 4, 2010, the group released their Still Here album. The first single from Still Here, "First Kiss", was criticized for having instances of using Auto-Tune technology.[56]

text: The Temptations received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award on February 9, 2013.[57] Otis Williams, Dennis Edwards, and the children of David Ruffin, Eddie Kendricks, Paul Williams, and Melvin Franklin attended the ceremony to accept the six Grammys given to the group for the occasion.[58]

text: Former member Damon Harris died on February 18, 2013, from prostate cancer at a Baltimore hospital.[59] Nine days later, former member Richard Street died of pulmonary embolism in Las Vegas, Nevada.[60] At the time of his death, Street was in the process of writing a book regarding his time with the Temptations entitled Ball of Confusion: My Life as a Temptin' Temptation. Completed by his co-author, Gary Flanigan, the book was published in 2014; it is the second autobiography regarding the group.[citation needed]

text: In late 2015 both Bruce Williamson and Joe Herndon announced their departures from the group.[61] Williamson's replacement, Larry Braggs, was lead singer of Tower of Power from 2000-13[62][63] Herndon's replacement on bass is Willie Green, who had previously toured with former Temptations Richard Street and Ali-Ollie Woodson.[64] Dennis Edwards died in a Chicago hospital on February 1, 2018, two days before his 75th birthday. He had been battling with meningitis before his death

text: On May 4, 2018, the Temptations released All the Time, their first album since 2010's Still Here, as well as their first for Universal's UMe Direct imprint. [65]

text: Phases[edit]

text: Motown Sound (1961–68)[edit]

text: Following their first Motown hit, the group would alter their style several times over the ensuing years, adapting to the popular styles of the day while retaining their signature visual and vocal styles. The earliest Temptations recordings backed by Motown's stalwart studio band, the Funk Brothers, reflect the influence of producers Berry Gordy and Smokey Robinson, and featured a cohesive blend of black rhythm and blues along with elements of white pop music that later came to be known as the Motown Sound. Recordings made prior to 1966, such as "My Girl", were built around songs with simple, direct lyrics supported by an R&B rhythm section with orchestral strings and horns added for pop appeal. During this period, each recording usually featured only one lead singer, usually David Ruffin or Eddie Kendricks, although Paul Williams, Melvin Franklin, and Otis Williams each had solo numbers of their own at various times during this period.

text: In 1966, Norman Whitfield changed the group's dynamic, moving them away from the previous one lead singer model and adding elements derived from the rougher soul of artists such as James Brown, Wilson Pickett, and the performers at Stax Records. Whitfield and his lyricists crafted Temptations songs with shifts of dynamics, syncopated horn stabs, and more intricate harmony arrangements which spotlighted each singer's unique vocal range. Onstage, this change was reflected in the group's use of a custom-made four-headed microphone stand, invented by David Ruffin.

text: Psychedelic and cinematic soul (1968–73)[edit]

text: When Ruffin was replaced by Dennis Edwards, and Sly and the Family Stone became popular, Whitfield again restructured the Temptations' sound, this time driving the group almost completely into a "psychedelic soul"-type sound. However, ballads in the traditional style of the group were still being recorded as B-sides and album fillers, with the lone exception being "Just My Imagination".

text: Tracks such as the album version of "Run Away Child, Running Wild" from Cloud Nine, "Take a Stroll Thru Your Mind" from Psychedelic Shack, and "Smiling Faces Sometimes" from Sky's the Limit, all run at least eight minutes. At Whitfield's insistence, a large portion of the additional running time for each song consisted of instrumental passages without vocals. For example, the hit version of their smash 1972 single "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" was nearly seven minutes, featuring an instrumental intro that was almost two minutes, a rarity for songs of that era.

text: "Psychedelic soul" soon gave way to "cinematic soul"—highlighting a further series of lengthy recordings featuring detailed orchestration, extended instrumental introductions and bridging passages. Often focusing on lyrics about the ghettos and inner cities of black America, these songs were heavily influenced by the work of singer-songwriters Isaac Hayes and Curtis Mayfield.

text: Unlike Hayes and Mayfield however, the Temptations had no creative control over their recordings, and were in no way fond of the 12- and 13-minute-long songs being forced upon them by Whitfield, whose contributions were the focal point of Temptations albums such as Solid Rock, All Directions, and particularly Masterpiece.

text: From funk to disco to adult contemporary (1974 to present)[edit]

text: In 1974, after Whitfield was dismissed as the producer for the Temptations, the group altered its sound to accommodate a balance of both up-tempo dance material as well as ballads. The vocal arrangements began to again focus primarily on one lead singer per track, although some leads were still being shared periodically. In addition, the Temptations themselves, after fighting Motown and Berry Gordy for creative control, began to write and produce some of their own material. From this point on, the Temptations focused almost exclusively on songs about romance. However, songs about social issues similar to the recordings made during Whitfield's tenure were periodically produced as well.

text: Temptations recordings of the mid 1970s focused significantly on the influences of funk music from artists such as Parliament-Funkadelic and Sly and the Family Stone, and members of both acts contributed significantly to material recorded by the group during this period. Their signature ballad sound, reduced to filler material during much of the Whitfield period, was restored to the lush, full productions of the earlier hits produced by Smokey Robinson. After a brief diversion into disco in the late-1970s, the Temptations settled into a form of an adult contemporary-rooted type of R&B, a style in which they continue to record.

text: Legacy and influence[edit]

text: Berry Gordy insisted that all his acts be equally appealing to both white as well as black audiences, and employed an extensive creative team to help tailor Motown talent for the crossover success he desired. Motown choreographer Cholly Atkins, along with Paul Williams, created the trademark precise and energetic, yet refined, dance steps used by the Temptations onstage. The most famous of these, the Temptation Walk, or Temptation Strut, was adapted from similar moves by the Flamingos and the Vibrations, from those two sources, Atkins and Williams crafted the resulting signature dance routine.

text: Like other similar independent companies of the period, Motown was not a member of the Recording Industry of America, preferring to stay independent and handling their own widely varied distribution through thousands of "Mom & Pop" record stores and small radio stations. As such, hit singles by Motown artists such as the Temptations never achieved official "gold" or "platinum" RIAA certification until after Motown joined the RIAA in 1977.

text: During the 1960s and 1970s, a number of soul groups showed significant influence from the Temptations, among them the Delfonics, the Chi-Lites, Parliaments, featuring George Clinton, the Dramatics, Daryl Hall & John Oates (from 1965-67, one of Daryl Hall's earliest bands was named the Temptones), and Motown labelmates the Jackson 5 and the Undisputed Truth. These acts and others, showed the influence of the Temptations in both their vocal performances and their onstage choreography.

text: The Temptations' songs have been covered by scores of musicians, from R&B singers such as Luther Vandross ("Since I Lost My Baby"), to pop vocalists such as Bette Midler ("Just My Imagination"), to rock bands such as Rare Earth ("Get Ready"), Anthrax, Love and Rockets, Duran Duran ("Ball of Confusion (That's What the World Is Today)" and the Rolling Stones ("My Girl", "Ain't Too Proud to Beg", "Just My Imagination") and Mick Jagger's collaboration with reggae artist Peter Tosh on ("Don't Look Back"). British rock singer Rod Stewart released a cover of "I'm Losing You" in 1971, and, in 1991, collaborated with the Temptations on the single "The Motown Song".

text: In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked the Temptations number 67 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.[66] The Temptations were voted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame in 2005.[67] They received the Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award in 2013. On Saturday August 17, 2013, the Temptations were officially inducted into the R&B Music Hall of Fame at the inaugural ceremony held at the Waetejen Auditorium on the campus of Cleveland State University.[citation needed]

text: Band members[edit]

text: The Primes[edit]

text: aka The Cavaliers

text:
Paul Williams (1955–60)
Eddie Kendricks (1955–60)
Kell Osborne (1955–60)
Wiley Waller (1955–57)

text: The Distants[edit]

text: aka Otis Williams & the Distants, Otis Williams & the Siberians

text:
Otis Williams (1958–60)
Elbridge "Al" Bryant (1958–60)
James "Pee-Wee" Crawford (1958–59)
Vernard Plain (1958–59)
Arthur Walton (1958–59)
Melvin Franklin (1959–60)
Richard Street (1959–60)
Albert "Mooch" Harrell (1959–60)

text: The Temptations[edit]

text: aka The Elgins

text:
Otis Williams (1960–present)
Elbridge "Al" Bryant (1960–63)
Melvin Franklin (1960–95)
Eddie Kendricks (1960–71, 1982 reunion)
Paul Williams (1960–71)
David Ruffin (1964–68, 1982 reunion)
Dennis Edwards (1968–77, 1980–84, 1987–89)
Ricky Owens (1971)
Richard Street (1971–92)
Damon Harris (1971–75)
Glenn Leonard (1975–83)
Louis Price (1977–80)
Ron Tyson (1983–present)
Ali-Ollie Woodson (1984–87, 1989–97, 2002)
Theo Peoples (1992–98)
Ray Davis (1994–95)
Harry McGilberry (1995–2003)
Terry Weeks (1997–present)
Barrington "Bo" Henderson (1998–2003)
G. C. Cameron (2003–07)
Joe Herndon (2003–15)
Bruce Williamson (2007–15)
Larry Braggs (2016–present)
Willie Green (2016–present)

text: Discography[edit]

text: Top Twenty Singles[edit]

text: The following singles reached the Top Twenty of the US Pop Singles Chart or the UK Pop Singles Chart, or reached the top spot on the US R&B Chart.

text:
Year
Song Title
US
US R&B
UK

1964

"The Way You Do the Things You Do"

11

1

—

"My Girl"

1

1

43
2 (1992 reissue)

1965

"It's Growing"

18

3

45

"Since I Lost My Baby"

17

4

—

"My Baby"

13

4

—

1966

"Get Ready"

29

1

10 (1969 reissue)

"Ain't Too Proud to Beg"

13

1

21

"Beauty Is Only Skin Deep"

3

1

18

"(I Know) I'm Losing You"

8

1

19

1967

"All I Need"

8

2

—

"You're My Everything"

6

3

26

"I Wish It Would Rain"

4

1

45

"Loneliness Made Me Realize (It's You That I Need)"

14

3

—

1968

"I Could Never Love Another (After Loving You)"

13

1

47

"Cloud Nine"

6

2

15

"I'm Gonna Make You Love Me"(Diana Ross & The Supremes and The Temptations)

2

2

3

1969

"Run Away Child, Running Wild"

6

1

—

"Don't Let The Joneses Get You Down"

20

2

—

"I Second That Emotion"(Diana Ross & The Supremes and The Temptations)

—

—

18

"I Can't Get Next to You"

1

1

13

1970

"Psychedelic Shack"

7

2

33

"Ball of Confusion (That's What the World Is Today)"

3

2

7

1971

"Superstar (Remember How You Got Where You Are)"

18

8

32

"Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)"

1

1

8

1972

"Take a Look Around"

30

10

13

"Papa Was a Rollin' Stone"

1

5

14

1973

"Masterpiece"

7

1

—

"Let Your Hair Down"

27

1

—

1974

"Happy People"

40

1

—

1975

"Shakey Ground"

26

1

—

1984

"Treat Her Like a Lady"

48

2

12

1991

"The Motown Song" (Rod Stewart featuring the Temptations)

10

—

—

"—" denotes releases that did not chart

text: Top Ten Albums[edit]

text: The following albums reached the Top Ten on either the United States Pop or R&B Albums Chart.

text:
1965: The Temptations Sing Smokey (R&B #1) (US #35)
1965: The Temptin' Temptations (R&B #1) (US #11)
1966: Gettin' Ready (R&B #1) (US #12)
1966: Greatest Hits (R&B #1) (US #5)
1967: Temptations Live! (R&B #1) (US #10)
1967: The Temptations with a Lot o' Soul (R&B #1) (US #7)
1967: The Temptations in a Mellow Mood (R&B #1) (US #13)
1968: The Temptations Wish It Would Rain (R&B #1) (US #13)
1968: The Temptations Show (R&B #2) (US #24)
1968: Diana Ross & the Supremes Join the Temptations (with Diana Ross & the Supremes) (R&B #1) (US #2)
1968: TCB (with Diana Ross & The Supremes) (R&B #1) (US #1)
1968: Live at the Copa (R&B #2) (US #15)
1969: Cloud Nine (R&B #1) (US #4)
1969: Puzzle People (R&B #1) (US #5)
1969: Together (R&B #6) (US #28)
1969: On Broadway (R&B #4) (US #38)
1970: Psychedelic Shack (R&B #1) (US #9)
1970: Live at London's Talk of the Town (R&B #5) (US #21)
1970: Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 (R&B #2) (US #15)
1971: Sky's the Limit (R&B #2) (US #16)
1972: Solid Rock (R&B #1) (US #24)
1972: All Directions (R&B #1) (US #2)
1973: Masterpiece (R&B #1) (US #7)
1973: Anthology (R&B #5) (US #65)
1973: 1990 (R&B #2) (US #19)
1975: A Song for You (R&B #1) (US #13)
1975: Wings of Love (R&B #3) (US #29)
1976: The Temptations Do the Temptations (R&B #10) (US #53)
1982: Reunion (R&B #2) (US #37)
1984: Truly for You (R&B #3) (US #55)
1986: To Be Continued (R&B #4) (US #74)
1998: Phoenix Rising (R&B #8) (US #44)

text: Filmography[edit]

text:
1973: Save the Children
1987: Happy New Year
1989    Who's Harry Crumb ?                                                                             2007: Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

text: Television work[edit]

text:
1985: The Fall Guy (TV episode Rockabye Baby, February 13, 1985)
1985: The Love Boat (TV episode Your Money or Your Wife/Joint Custody/The Temptations, October 5, 1985)
1986: Moonlighting (TV episode Symphony in Knocked Flat, October 21, 1986)
1986: 227 (TV episode Temptations, November 15, 1986)
1990: Murphy Brown (TV episode Goin' to the Chapel, Part 2, May 21, 1990)
1990: performed CBS network's 1990–91 version of their "Get Ready" campaign with an updated version of Get Ready.
1993: Getting By (TV episode Reach for the Stars, November 23, 1993)
1996: New York Undercover (TV episode Deep Cover, May 2, 1996)
2008: Friday Night with Jonathan Ross (TV appearance), March 7, 2008
2012: Dancing with the Stars (TV appearance), April 23, 2012 – Motown Week

text: Video and DVD releases[edit]

text:
1991: The Temptations – Live in Concert
2004: 20th Century Masters – The Best of the Temptations
2006: Get Ready: The Definitive Performances - 1965–1972
2007: The Temptations – Live In London (1987)


document_title: Four-minute mile

question_text: who has run the most sub 4 minute miles

question_tokens: who has run the most sub 4 minute miles

text: Four-minute mile

text: Record holders[edit]

text: Breaking the four-minute barrier was first achieved on 6 May 1954 at Oxford University's Iffley Road Track, by Englishman Roger Bannister,[5] with the help of fellow-runners Chris Chataway and Chris Brasher as pacemakers.[6]

text: Two months later, during the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games hosted in Vancouver, B.C., two competing runners, Australia's John Landy and Bannister, ran the distance of one mile in under four minutes. The race's end is memorialised in a photo, and later a statue, of the two, with Landy looking over his left shoulder, just as Bannister is passing him on the right. Landy thus lost the race. The statue was placed in front of the Pacific National Exhibition entrance plaza.[7]

text: New Zealand's John Walker, the first man to run the mile under 3:50, ran 135 sub-four-minute miles during his career (during which he was the first person to run over 100 sub-four-minute miles), and American Steve Scott has run the most sub-four-minute miles, with 136. Algeria's Noureddine Morceli was the first under 3:45. Currently, the mile record is held by Morocco's Hicham El Guerrouj, who ran a time of 3:43.13 in Rome in 1999.

text: In 1964, America's Jim Ryun became the first high-school runner to break four minutes for the mile, running 3:59.0 as a junior and a then American record 3:55.3 as a senior in 1965.[8] Tim Danielson (1966) and Marty Liquori (1967) also came in under four minutes, but Ryun's high-school record stood until Alan Webb ran 3:53.43 in 2001.[9] Ten years later, in 2011, Lukas Verzbicas became the fifth high-schooler under four minutes.[10] In 2015, Matthew Maton and Grant Fisher became the sixth and seventh high-schoolers to break four minutes, both running 3:59.38 about a month apart.[11] Webb was the first high schooler to run sub-4 indoors, running 3:59.86 in early 2001. On 6 February 2016, Andrew Hunter significantly improved upon Webb's mark, running 3:58.25 on the same New York Armory track[12] and 3:57.81 two weeks later.[13] Hunter achieved the 4 minute mile mark outdoors later in the season at the Prefontaine Classic. At that same meet Michael Slagowski ran his second sub-4 minute of the season.[14] Reed Brown dipped under the barrier on 1 June 2017, running the 4th fastest high school mile time ever recorded in a race: 3:59.30.[15]

text: Another illustration of the progression of performance in the men's mile is that, in 1994, forty years after Bannister's breaking of the barrier, the Irish runner Eamonn Coghlan became the first man over the age of 40 to run a sub-four-minute mile.[16] Because Coghlan surpassed the mark indoors and before the IAAF validated indoor performances as being eligible for outdoor records, World Masters Athletics still had not recognised a sub-4-minute-mile performance as a record in the M40 division. Many elite athletes made the attempts to extend their careers beyond age 40 to challenge that mark. Over 18 years after Coghlan, that was finally achieved by UK's Anthony Whiteman, running 3:58.79 on 2 June 2012.[17]

text: No woman has yet run a four-minute mile. As of 2015[update], the women's world record is held by retired Russian Svetlana Masterkova, with a time of 4:12.56 in 1996.[18]

text: In 1997, Daniel Komen of Kenya ran two miles in less than eight minutes, doubling up on Bannister's accomplishment.[19] He did it again in February 1998, falling just 0.3 seconds behind his previous performance, and is still the only individual to accomplish the feat.[20]

text: The youngest runner to ever run a four-minute mile is Norwegian runner Jakob Ingebrigtsen, who ran 3:58.07 at the Prefontaine Classic in May 2017, when he was 16 years and 250 days old.[21]

text: Possible other claims[edit]

text: James Parrott (1770)[edit]

text: Some sources (including Olympic medalist Peter Radford[22]) contend the first successful four-minute mile was run in London by James Parrott on 9 May 1770.[23][24] Parrott's route began on Goswell Road, before turning down Old Street, finishing at St Leonard's, Shoreditch. Although timing methods at this time were – following the invention of the chronometer by John Harrison – accurate enough to measure the four minutes correctly, the record is not recognised by modern sporting bodies.[25] Neal Bascomb notes in The Perfect Mile that "even nineteenth-century historians cast a skeptical eye on the account."[26]

text: The Weller Run (1796)[edit]

text: Then in 1796, the Sporting Magazine reported that on 10 October of that year a young man called Weller, one of three brothers, "undertook for a wager of three guineas (about 5 months' pay at that time) to run one mile on the Banbury road, in four minutes, which he performed two seconds within the time."[27]

text: In other words, the magazine reports that he ran a mile in three minutes, fifty eight seconds. By that time, a mile could be routinely measured to within a few inches;[28] watches, thanks to John Harrison, could measure 4 minutes to within 0.0009 sec (i.e. gain or lose 10 seconds a month),[29] and after about 1750 the mass production of highly accurate watches was well underway.[30]

text: Glenn Cunningham (1920s)[edit]

text: It is also reputed that Glenn Cunningham achieved a four-minute mile in a workout in the 1920s. In addition to being unsubstantiated, a workout run would not count as a record.[31]

text: In popular culture[edit]

text: In 1988, the ABC and the BBC co-produced The Four Minute Mile, a miniseries dramatisation of the race to the four-minute mile, featuring Richard Huw as Bannister and Nique Needles as John Landy (who was simultaneously pursuing the milestone). It was written by David Williamson and directed by Jim Goddard.[citation needed]

text: In 2004, Neal Bascomb wrote a book entitled The Perfect Mile about Roger Bannister, John Landy, and Wes Santee, portraying their individual attempts to break the four-minute mile and the context of the sport of mile racing. A second film version (entitled Four Minutes) was made in 2005, starring Jamie Maclachlan as Bannister.[citation needed]

text: In June 2011 the watch used to time the original event was donated by Jeffrey Archer to a charity auction for Oxford University Athletics Club; it sold for £97,250.[32]

text: In July 2016 the BBC broadcast the documentary Bannister: Everest on the Track, The Roger Bannister Story with firsthand interviews from Bannister and various other figures on the first sub-4 minute mile.[33][34]