Music
Elbridge "Al" Bryant
1939–1975 · singer
Original tenor of the Temptations, who came from Otis Williams's Detroit group the Distants and was replaced by David Ruffin in 1964.
- Born
Thomasville, Georgia- Died
Flagler County, Florida
aged 36- Birth name
- Elbridge Bryant
- Also known as
- Al Bryant
- Detroit years
- 1950s–1960s
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Bryant was part of Otis Williams's teenage Detroit groups from 1957, first the Siberians, then the El Domingoes and the Distants, who cut singles for Johnnie Mae Matthews's Northern label. In 1960–1961 he, Williams and Melvin Franklin merged with Eddie Kendricks and Paul Williams of the Primes as the Elgins, who auditioned for Motown in March 1961 and signed as the Temptations. In the early years Bryant occasionally sang lead, as on "Isn't She Pretty", but the group had no hits yet, and he grew restless, preferring his day job as a milkman to rehearsals. After a fight in which he struck Paul Williams with a beer bottle and a second onstage clash at a Christmas show, he was fired; David Ruffin took his place in January 1964, just before the group's breakthrough. Bryant kept singing with local groups and died of liver cirrhosis in Florida in 1975, aged 36.
Highlights
- Member of the Distants (1957–1960)
- Founding member of the Temptations (1961–1963)
- Replaced by David Ruffin in 1964
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 2
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Recorded here · 1961–1963
Motown Museum
The early Temptations recorded here.
Performed here · late 1950s–1960s
Graystone Ballroom
Demolished · 1922–1980
Otis Williams and the Distants were among the acts who played the ballroom. Demolished in 1980.