Born Davis Eli “David” Ruffin January 18th 1941.  Ruffin was the lead singer for the Motown group The Temptations from 1964 to 1968.  The era was called the groups “Classic 5″.

Ruffin sang lead on Temptation hits like “My Girl” “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” and “I Wish it Would Rain”.  He left the Hall of Fame group in 1968 when Mowtown wouldn’t give him top billing in the group as Berry Gordy had done with Diana Ross in the Surpremes and Smokey Robinson and the Miracles.

A year later, Ruffin had his first solo hit with “My Whole World Ended”.  However, drugs would plague the former Motown star for the rest of his life.  His only other top 10 solo hit was “Walk Away From Love” in 1975.

David Ruffin died of a cocaine overdose on June 1st 1991 at the age of 50.