One of many nice soul voices of the Sixties was delivering one of many basic R&B vocal performances of the Seventies, because it climbed to the R&B chart summit on January 3, 1976. After leaving the Temptations in 1968, David Ruffin had been making solo data for some seven years by the point he had his best success in his personal proper with the very good “Walk Away From Love.”
The gruff but candy voice of the soul man from Meridian, Mississippi helped to make songs like “My Girl,” “Since I Lost My Baby,” “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg,” “I Wish It Would Rain” and plenty of extra into absolute classics with the Temptations. Ruffin had recorded solo within the late Nineteen Fifties and early 60s earlier than becoming a member of the Motown legends, however when he resumed his work in his personal identify in 1969, he had a High 10 crossover hit on the first time of asking. “My Whole World Ended (The Moment You Left Me)” hit No.2 R&B and No.9 pop.
Van McCoy’s masterful contact
Regardless of some high-quality releases, the following few years produced thinner business pickings for Ruffin. However then, in periods for 1975’s Who I Am album, alongside got here a track offered to him by writer-producer Charles Kipps and masterfully overseen within the studio by the nice Van McCoy.
Hearken to the Motown Yesterday, Right now, Perpetually playlist.
Kipps and McCoy had labored collectively on early Seventies soul hits by the Presidents and had been companions in White Home Productions. When a deal was signed for them to supply Ruffin, Kipps had the proper alternative to supply him “Walk Away From Love.” Ruffin instantly liked it, delivering a implausible vocal efficiency of a track that was directly melancholy and uplifting.
Hear particularly for his distinctive, trademark gymnastics, at 2’35” within the single edit, the place he effortlessly leaps a complete octave in the course of a sentence, as he sings “…breaks my heart” and rises to a magical falsetto. It’s a spine-tingling second in a milestone of Seventies Motown.
Purchase or stream “Walk Away From Love” on David Ruffin’s twentieth Century Masters compilation.
