Senate Concurrent Resolution 517

(As Adopted by Senate and House)

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION MOURNING THE LOSS OF FAMOUS MISSISSIPPI MOTOWN SINGER JIMMY RUFFIN OF COLLINSVILLE, MISSISSIPPI.

WHEREAS, Mississippi native Jimmy Ruffin, the Motown singer whose hits include "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted" and "Hold on to My Love," passed away November 17, 2015. He was 78. Philicia Ruffin and Jimmy Lee Ruffin, Jr., the late singer's children, confirmed Wednesday that Ruffin died. There were no details about the cause of death; and

WHEREAS, Ruffin was the older brother of the Temptations' lead singer David Ruffin, who died in 1991 at age 50; and

WHEREAS, Jimmy Ruffin was one of the biggest stars in the Motown artist group of the 1960s and 1970s, which also included, among many others, the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, the Four Tops, the Jackson 5 and the Temptations, whose million-selling 1965 single "My Girl" featured his brother David Ruffin as lead singer. In 1966 and 1967, he was a reliable hitmaker; and

WHEREAS, the elder of those two Ruffin brothers, he followed up "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted" with records including "I've Passed This Way Before," also released in 1966; "Gonna Give Her All the Love I've Got," in 1967; and "Farewell Is a Lonely Sound," in 1969. In the hiatus between then and his last big hit, "Hold On to My Love," released in 1980 and written and produced by Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees, Mr. Ruffin performed regularly in the United States and made several albums, including one with his brother, "I Am My Brother's Keeper." He moved to England, where he found an enduring audience for his work, in 1981 and settled there for many years; and

WHEREAS, Jimmy Lee Ruffin was born in Collinsville, Mississippi, on May 7, 1936, to Eli and Ophelia Ruffin. His father, Eli Ruffin, was a sharecropper, preacher and gospel singer. His mother, Ophelia, who bore several children before him and after him, died when Jimmy was about 5, soon after the birth of his brother, Davis, who later adopted the name David; and

WHEREAS, the boys' father enlisted them in a traveling family gospel group when they were children. By the time they were teenagers, Jimmy and David had begun performing in the south as a Gospel Duo, the Ruffin Brothers, according to "Ain't Too Proud to Beg," a 2010 history of the Temptations by Mark Ribowsky. The two went their separate ways after several years but reunited in Detroit in 1959, when Jimmy arrived to seek his fame in the nascent recording industry emerging from the city's rhythm-and-blues nightclub circuit. David, who was already part of the circle of talent recruited by Motown's founder Berry Gordy, helped Jimmy get a job as a backup singer there. In various versions of the Temptations' history, either Jimmy or David Ruffin was the founding members' first choice to join them in 1963, when another of the founding members was being replaced. By most accounts, David was their choice, an account Jimmy Ruffin supported in several interviews, saying that he had always planned on being a solo performer; and

WHEREAS, in an interview with the BBC in 1999, Mr. Ruffin recounted how he came to record "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted." The song, written by James Dean, William Weatherspoon and Paul Riser, was originally intended for the Spinners, another Motown group. When told that the Spinners were scheduled to cut the song, he said, "I told him to give it to me instead, and Mr. Dean liked my version enough to let me have it"; and

WHEREAS, it is with sadness that we note the passing of a Mississippi music icon who brought recognition to Mississippi's musical heritage and honor to our state:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING THEREIN, That we do hereby mourn the loss of famous Mississippi Motown Singer Jimmy Ruffin of Collinsville, Mississippi, and extend the condolences of the Mississippi Legislature to his surviving family.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That this resolution be presented to the surviving family of Mr. Ruffin, forwarded to the Mississippi Arts Commission and made available to the Capitol Press Corps.