Motown Singer Jimmy Ruffin Dies at Age 78

Jimmy Ruffin, whose poignant What Becomes of the Brokenhearted is regarded by many as one of Motown’s greatest works, died Monday afternoon in a Las Vegas hospital. He was 78. Ruffin had been hospitalized in September, where he developed pneumonia and further complications. An official cause of death has not been released, daughter Philicia Ruffin said.

A Collinsville, Miss., native and the older brother of the late Temptations singer David Ruffin, who died in 1991 at age 50, Jimmy Ruffin did backup work with Motown in the early ’60s before being drafted into the U.S. Army and stationed in Germany.

Upon returning to Motown in 1964, he cut material with little success before striking it big in 1966 with Brokenhearted, which took him to No. 7 on Billboard’s pop chart.

The two brothers collaborated on the 1970 album I Am My Brother’s Keeper, and while Jimmy Ruffin ultimately notched eight solo songs on Billboard’s R&B chart, his biggest success came in England, where he lived for a stretch and continued to perform frequently in later years.

His final major hit came with 1980’s Hold on to My Love, produced by the Bee Gees’ Robin Gibb.

“All of his songs were about love, so that spoke to the kind of spirited guy he was, and spiritual too,” said Philicia Ruffin. “He came up in the church, and that’s where he started singing.”

Ruffin had lived in the metro Detroit area as recently as 2010, but returned to his home in Las Vegas, where he was planning to begin performing again before taking ill, his daughter said.

“He had a good voice, kind of unique,” said Mickey Stevenson, Motown’s A&R director at the time. “And a great heart, a very sensitive guy. He wasn’t the hungry, demanding guy — he wasn’t that kind of artist. Everything was patience, everything was OK. It was never, ‘Look, man, I’ve gotta have my time in the studio right now!’ “

While David Ruffin became an international success with the Temptations, Stevenson said he never witnessed the sort of jealousy or rivalry that often crops among artist siblings.

“(Jimmy Ruffin) was in the shadow of his brother and was OK with it, and that’s kind of rare,” said Stevenson. “I liked him because he was very calm. Which was good for me, because it was panic around that place all the time. So to run into him always made my day.”

Funeral arrangements have not been set, Philicia Ruffin said.

Source: USA Today