Try again later. Download our app through your apple or google play store to personalize your news alerts, swipe and scroll through stories faster, and bookmark them to save and read later. The Uptown Theater, on North Broad Street, was a prominent point on the circuit, an iconic part of Philadelphias Black community, and a venue where musicians could sometimes look out at an audience and see Black and white concertgoers enjoying music together. It aint nothin but another television show, he told them. Of particular interest was whether someone had robbed Ruffin, who had recently toured with Kendricks and another ex-Temptation, Dennis Edwards; one of Ruffins managers suggested he could have carried as much as $40,000 on him the night he died, but he arrived at the hospital with just $53. It was just called a bad habit. As the bands popularity grew, they toured relentlessly with other Motown artists along the Chitlin Circuit, a network of clubs and theaters on the East Coast, the Midwest, and the South that were welcoming to Black performers. This browser does not support getting your location. We who are left behind must not just clap our hands and weep and mourn, for he is out of trouble - you are still in it, said Nation of Islam leader the Rev. Translation on Find a Grave is an ongoing project. An email has been sent to the person who requested the photo informing them that you have fulfilled their request, There is an open photo request for this memorial. In some areas weve had ongoing challenges with our newspaper delivery caused by a variety of economic factors. The founding Temptations group member had shot himself on August 17, 1973 after an argument with his then-girlfriend. A year later, Ruffin released an album, My Whole World Ended, that was a modest success. The early 1980s saw Ruffin briefly jailed for tax evasion, but it also saw him join the Temptations' 1983 reunion tour. Failed to remove flower. You can easily find the terms and conditions for your subscription by visiting. Ruffin died of a crack overdose June 1 at age 50. In 1982, he paid $5,000 after a Wayne County circuit judge ordered him to serve 60 days in jail unless he did so.