Norman Whitfield: Death of a soul icon

[CelticsWhat35]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2008/sep/18/normanwhitfield

He co-wrote/produced many classics such as:

Marvin Gaye: Heard it Through the Grapevine
Temptations: Aint Too Pround to Beg; Papa Was a Rollin' Stone; Just My Imagination; Ball of Confusion; Cloud Nine
Edwin Starr: War

The music business has lost a lot of legends recently.

[CelticsWhat35]

C'mon, even the voiceover guy got a reply.   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9qUZHIpJAw

[Redz]

Stumbled on this looking for some "Papa Was A Rolling Stone" video.  The song still gives me goosebumps.  This just happened to give you a little "made for TV" insight to the Norman Whitfield dynamics with the Temptations.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfrau7zzc3E

[CelticsWhat35]

Great find Redz.  I have that DVD.  It was a 5-part mini-series, so it's about 2.5 hrs long, but it's a great movie.  It's what got me into The Temps.

[mainevent]

The Temptations are my favorite all time singing group. I am a Temps junkie, so of course I have the movie as well. Norman was genius and wrote the hits that will live on forever.

RIP Whit

[arambone]

Nice Redz,

I'm a big Norman fan too. After the Temptations he founded Rose Royce, which had Car Wash, as well as these two minor hits that were stuck in my head all last winter:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VvSFl4GpHw

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSBT81E5oiM&feature=related

[Redz]

Nice Redz,

I'm a big Norman fan too. After the Temptations he founded Rose Royce, which had Car Wash, as well as these two minor hits that were stuck in my head all last winter:

Wow, hadn't heard those in a while. That first one, could have been called "Stalkers at a Cafe"!  Smooooth

[CelticsWhat35]

If you have Rose Royce - "I Wanna Get Next to You" playing in the background when you're alone with a girl and you can't close the deal, you've got the worst game in the world. 

[Redz]

If you have Rose Royce - "I Wanna Get Next to You" playing in the background when you're alone with a girl and you can't close the deal, you've got the worst game in the world. 

Sho Nuff!

Of course, "back in the day", I could lay claim to being the king of "missing the layup"...Rose Royce or none!~

[arambone]

I've missed some layups myself. In that Carwash scene, the guy with the afro ends up getting a date with the waitress in charming fashion. There was a longer clip of the scene on youtube last winter.