Edward James Kendrick, better known as Eddie Kendricks, was an American tenor singer and songwriter.
17 Facts About Eddie Kendricks
2.
Eddie Kendricks was born to Johnny and Lee Bell Kendrick in Union Springs, Alabama on December 17,1939.
3.
Eddie Kendricks had one sister, Patricia, and three brothers, Charles, Robert, and Clarence.
4.
Eddie Kendricks's family moved to the Ensley neighborhood of Birmingham, where he met and began singing with his best friend Paul Williams in their church choir in the late 1940s.
5.
Eddie Kendricks leads on "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me", a popular duet with Diana Ross and the Supremes, and on the Temptations' version of the Christmas classic "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer".
6.
Eddie Kendricks remained in the group through the rest of the decade, but a number of issues began to push him away from it in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
7.
Eddie Kendricks was uncomfortable with singing the psychedelic style that Whitfield was now crafting for the group as opposed to the romantic ballads they had sung under the direction of Smokey Robinson; his friend Paul Williams was often too ill to perform with the group; and Kendricks often found himself at odds with bandmates Otis Williams and Melvin Franklin.
8.
Eddie Kendricks stated that his relationship with Berry Gordy was less than cordial.
9.
Eddie Kendricks moved first to Arista Records, and later to Atlantic Records.
10.
Eddie Kendricks sang a few lead lines on the song but had no leads on any of the LP's other tracks.
11.
However, Eddie Kendricks reportedly refused to undergo chemotherapy at the time because of fear that he would lose his hair.
12.
Eddie Kendricks believed the disease was caused by his 30 years of smoking.
13.
Eddie Kendricks continued to tour through the summer of 1992, when he fell ill again and was hospitalized.
14.
Eddie Kendricks died of lung cancer at Baptist Medical Center-Princeton in Birmingham on October 5,1992, at age 52.
15.
Eddie Kendricks was survived by his three children: Parris, Aika, and Paul Kendricks.
16.
Eddie Kendricks was nominated for four Grammy Awards, winning one for "Cloud Nine" with the Temptations in 1969.
17.
In 1989, Eddie Kendricks was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Temptations.