Former 'Temptations' Lead Singer Bruce Williamson Dead at Age 49
Former Lead Singer Dead at Age 49: 'We Lost an Icon'
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.
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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.”
