Former 'Temptations' Lead Singer Bruce Williamson Dead at Age 49
Bruce Williamson, part of The Temptations for nine years and their lead singer, has died at age 49.
Williamson was born in Compton, California, and got his start in music through a gospel choir.
Calling himself his own worst critic, Williamson told Chapter & Verse Network four years ago that he started with gospel music and then got into R&B before becoming part of a cover band. He had his sights set on something bigger, though.
“I never lost the dream of wanting to be a Temptation,” he said. “But I didn’t want to be an imitation or I didn’t want to impersonate my predecessors coming into the group. I wanted to be myself.”
Though he was not an original member of the group, he was with them for nine years, from 2006 to 2015, and during that time he said he experienced a lot.
According to TMZ, he said that he did “more in six months of being a Temptation than many artists have done in a lifetime.”
“After seven years as a Temptation I am still in awe,” he told the Las Vegas Black Image magazine in 2013.
“I can remember the first time I performed with the group: at a millionaire’s private birthday party, on a small stage that was erected on his tennis courts.”
“My favorite Temptation moment has to be when we visited the original Motown Record Corporation building in Detroit, which is now a museum. Otis Williams personally escorted me around the building, and told me personal stories of his time at Motown with the original members of the group.
“He recalled the time he and the group members had to stand outside the Motown building to come up with a name for the group. I will always treasure that time.”
According to TMZ, Williamson passed away in his own home in Las Vegas on Sunday night after contracting COVID-19.
His son has taken to social media to express his sorrow over the loss of his father and the man behind the musical legacy.
“There’s no words in the world that can express how I feel right now,” Bruce Williamson Jr., posted on Monday, “I love you Daddy thank you for being awesome thank you for being loving thank you for being Who You Are I pray to God and we will meet again. I love you Daddy. R.I.H KING WILLIAMSON.”
“In my eyes, we lost an icon,” he added in a Facebook Live video. “I’m going to make sure that his legacy lives on.”
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