Sad News - Damon Harris (ex-Temptations)
In April 1971, a friend convinced Harris to audition for The Temptations
By
Mike in News Archives
Updated on 29 Sep 2015 ·
Published 19 Feb 2013
Yet more sad news reported
Former Temptation member Damon Harris (born Otis Robert Harris, Jr. died today at 7:17.pm at the age of 61
source:
http://www.facebook....umniAssociation
Wikipedia Info
http://en.wikipedia....ki/Damon_Harris
The Young Tempts/The Young Vandals
As a teenager growing up in Baltimore, Maryland, Otis Harris, Jr. was a major Temptations fan, and idolized in particular the group's falsetto, Eddie Kendricks. Patterning himself after Kendricks, Harris and his friends John Quinton Simms, Charles Timmons (actually name was/is Kareem Ali, who went on to perform with Glenn Leonard's Temptations Revue), and Donald Knute Tighman, formed a Temptations-inspired vocal group during his high school years called The Young Tempts ("Tempts" being a nickname for the Temptations). The Young Tempts recorded covers of two 1966 Temptations' songs, "I've Been Good to You" (a song originally recorded by The Miracles), and "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby," for The Isley Brothers' T-Neck Records in 1970. Motown Records filed an injunction against T-Neck because of the group's name; the 45 was withdrawn and re-issued with the group credited as The Young Vandals, and reached #46 on the R&B charts. At about this time, Billy Griffin joined the Young Vandals' lineup.
After two more T-Neck singles, " In My Opinion" and "I'm Gonna Wait For You", The Young Vandals broke up, because Harris felt that college would be a more sensible endeavor than a singing career.
The Temptations
In April 1971, a friend convinced Harris to audition for The Temptations, who were doing a series of shows in nearby Washington, D.C.. The group had just replaced Eddie Kendricks with Ricky Owens from The Vibrations, who was giving uneven performances, and The Temptations were again looking for a replacement. Harris performed first for Temptations Melvin Franklin, Richard Street, and Dennis Edwards before auditioning for group leader Otis Williams. Williams was hesitant about taking on the young singer, who was nearly a decade younger than the rest of The Temptations. Franklin, Street, and Edwards voted to accept Harris, however, and he made his onstage debut a few weeks later as first tenor/falsetto. Around this time, Billy Griffin replaced Smokey Robinson in The Miracles.
When he joined the Temptations, Otis Harris changed his name to Damon Harris, because, in his words, "the group already had an Otis"
Harris continued to perform with the Temptations for four years, providing Kendricks-esque lead vocals on hits such as "Superstar (Remember How You Got Where You Are)" (1971), "Take a Look Around" (1972), the #1 pop hit "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone", (1972, a three-time Grammy Award winner), the #1 R&B hit "Masterpiece" (1973), "Plastic Man" (also 1973), He leads on "Love Woke Me Up This Morning" from the All Directions album (1972) and is featured prominately on hard-to-find The Temptations Live in Japan (1975). According to Otis Williams' book, The Temptations, he was fired from the group in 1975 because of inappropriate statements he made that affected the perception of the group in the eyes of the public.
New group
After leaving the group, the dejected Harris decided to reform The Young Vandals with Simms, Timmons (Kareem Ali), and Tighman, renaming the group Impact, and signing a deal with Atco Records in 1976. Working with a Philadelphia soul production team, Impact recorded a number of minor soul and disco hits, including "Happy Man" and the #5 disco hit "Give a Broken Heart a Break". The group released only one album on Atco, 1976's Impact, before being dropped from the label because of low sales. Impact signed with Fantasy Records in 1977 and issued the album The Pac is Back, which also suffered from slow sales. The group disbanded and Harris recorded some solo singles of his own including 1978's "It's Music", and the album Silk.
Damon Harris soon retired from music and moved to Reno, Nevada to complete college. In the 1990s, he returned to music and began touring, sometimes billing himself as The Temptations Review Starring Damon Harris. Richard Street, another ex-Temptation, periodically performed with Harris' Temptations review until he formed his own Temptations group.
At the age of 47, Harris was diagnosed with prostate cancer, which he learned he had had for five years. After successfully being treated for the disease, Harris founded The Damon Harris Cancer Foundation in 2001. The organization is a non-profit company, designed to heighten awareness of prostate cancer diagnoses and treatments. The organization has a special focus in reaching African-American audiences, as African-American men have an approximately 60% higher chance of contracting prostate cancer than white men, and are twice as likely to die from the disease
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