Melvin Franklin

Melvin Franklin (born October 12, 1942 in Montgomery , Alabama , † February 23, 1995 in Los Angeles ; real name David Melvin English ) was an American bass singer. He became known as a member of the group The Temptations from 1961 to 1994. Franklin's nephew was the future Motown star Rick James .

biography

He was born in Montgomery as David English. The son of a priest moved his family to Detroit , Michigan, when he was nine years old . As a stage name he took the surname of his mother (Franklin). He was a member of a number of Detroit regional singing groups, including The Voice Masters with Lamont Dozier and David Ruffin (a distant cousin of Franklin), and sang with his cousin Richard Street .

One day, on the way home from school, he was followed by a tall, dark-skinned teenager who drew his attention. He thought the stranger was a gang member, so Franklin fled from him. However, it later emerged that the young man was Otis Williams , a singer in The Distans group . Franklin came to the group as a bass singer. In 1960 they formed The Elgins with Elbridge Bryant, Paul Williams and Eddie Kendricks . In March 1961, The Elgins signed a recording deal with Motown Records under a new name: The Temptations . He was enthusiastic about the color blue, so that his friends and acquaintances gave him the nickname "Blue" (German: blue).

After more than thirty years of friendship between Williams and Franklin, neither of them left the group. As one of the most famous bass singers in black music, Franklin's voice became the group's trademark.

Franklin was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in the late 1960s. The symptoms of the disease were treated with cortisone so that he could continue to perform and sing. Regular use of cortisone, however, damaged his immune system and made him susceptible to other infections and diseases. He developed diabetes in the early 1980s. In 1978 he was shot in the hand and leg while trying to stop a man who was trying to steal his car. Franklin fell into a coma on February 17, 1995 and died of a stroke six days later, at the age of 52. He left behind his wife, Kimberly English, and four children, David Jr., Davette, Felicia, and Niquos. Franklin was buried in an outside grave in Forest Lawn Memorial Park at Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles, California.

In 1998 Franklin was portrayed by actor DB Woodside in the NBC miniseries The Temptations .

Web links

• Melvin Franklin's Gravesite
• Obituary in the Los Angeles Times , accessed May 9, 2015