It has been five years since the Temptations were on top. “My Girl,” their first number one wa back in 1965. Since then they have had eighteen Top 40 hits, with nine of them going Top 10. But in mid-1968, David Ruffin who had been the lead singer of the Temptations, decided to leave the group for a solo career. That left the group a man short and so producer Norman Whitfield started looking for a replacement. He found him in Dennis Edwards.

Dennis Edwards was born in 1943 in Fairfield, Alabama, just outside of Birmingham, and was singing as early as two years old. Like many other R&B singers, his father was a minister and Dennis sang in the church when he was growing up. The family moved to Detroit, Michigan when Dennis was about ten years old and he continued to sing becoming an accomplished gospel singer. When he was a teenager, he joined a group called Crowns of Joy and studied music at the Detroit Conservatory of Music.

He auditioned for Motown, but didn’t get work immediately. When the lead singer of the Contours became ill, they called Dennis to fill in for him. Then David Ruffin left the Temptations and Dennis was asked if he’d like to replace him. That was an easy decision and Dennis Edwards became the lead singer of the group.

Dennis Edwards joined the Temptations in 1968 and sang on hits “Cloud Nine” (#6) and others before recording “I Can’t Get Next to You.”

“I Can’t Get Next to You” was written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong. The song starts with applause and then Dennis says, “Wait a minute,” before launching into the song. That gimmick was used on other songs as well. This song is unique in that it gives each of the five men a chance to sing lead for a few seconds.

Whitfield and Barrett wrote two other songs for the group which were Top 40 songs, “Runaway Child, Running Wild,” (#6) and “Don’t Let the Jones Get You Down,” (#20.) These are meant to be socially conscious songs.

Dennis Edwards left the group in 1977, then rejoined for a short time in the Eighties. He lived his life in the shadow of the Temptations. On February 1, 2018, he died in a Chicago hospital of meningitis which he had been battling most of his life. He died just two days short of his 75th birthday.

“I Can’t Get Next to You” entered the pop charts at number 84 on August 16, 1969 and went to number one nine weeks later, where it stayed for two weeks.