Damon Harris (July 17, 1950 – February 18, 2013) – It's Music (1978)
From the youngest-ever member of the Temptations' only solo album, this superb disco-funk jam was arranged by Patti Labelle and became a Paradise Garage fave.
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Damon Harris became the youngest-ever Temptation when he joined the group in 1971 at age twenty, as Eddie Kendricks’ replacement. He sang with them on their classic early 70s albums until he was fired four years later, and released a solo album in 1978.
Born in Baltimore, Otis Robert “Damon” Harris Jr. idolized the Temptations and Eddie Kendricks in particular. He formed a Temptations tribute band in high school called The Young Tempts. The group recorded a single containing two Temptations covers for the Isley Brothers’ new label T-Neck Records in 1970, which led to a lawsuit from Motown. In response, the single was withdrawn and reissued with the group billed as The Young Vandals. They put out two more singles on T-Neck before breaking up.
When Kendricks left the Temptations in late 1970, they hired Ricky Owens as his replacement, formerly of the Los Angeles R&B group The Vibrations. But his performances were uneven and by the spring of 1971 they were again searching for another tenor/falsetto replacement singer. A friend convinced Harris to audition, and he got the gig, despite Otis Williams’ hesitation to hire someone who was so young. He was outvoted by the group’s other members at the time, Melvin “Blue” Franklin, Richard Street, and Dennis Edwards.
Harris spent the next four years with the group as the youngest-ever Temptation, wowing audiences with his voice, especially since he sounded almost exactly like Eddie Kendricks. He appeared on several of their classic early 70s albums, including All Directions (1972) and Masterpiece (1973), and was one of the four vocalists trading verses on their 1972 triple Grammy-winning, #1 Billboard Hot 100 hit “Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone.”
Temptations, mid-70s (clockwise L-R): Richard Street, Otis Williams, Melvin “Blue” Franklin, Dennis Edwards, Damon Harris.
But according to Otis Williams in his 1988 autobiography, things took a turn for the worse once Harris had been a Temptation for a few years. Williams claimed he started out “respectful, easy to work with, and a generally great guy to have around. Once the probation ended and the big money started coming in, things changed.”
After a show at the Apollo Theater at which Harris inexplicably thanked the audience for helping the Temptations “buy these fine mink coats and beautiful cars and homes and diamonds,” he was fired from the group in 1975.
Harris immediately put the Young Vandals back together, changing the group’s name to Impact. They released two albums on WMOT Records and Fantasy Records over the next two years.
For his 1978 debut solo LP Damon, Harris enlisted Patti Labelle to arrange most of the tracks’ backing vocals, featuring the Sweethearts of Sigma (Barbara Ingram, Carla Benson, and Yvette Benton). This included the album’s disco-funk masterpiece, the opening cut “It’s Music.” Co-written by the LP’s producer James “Budd” Ellison, songwriters Murray Swartz and Theodore McLean, and guitarist Charles Buie, it became a Paradise Garage fave thanks to DJ Larry Levan.
The single release of “It’s Music” was issued with two different B-sides, both of them co-produced by Harris and Larry James, who led Fat Larry’s Band, and were both included on the album. One was the laid back love song “Funday,” and the other, the superb funky jam “Ride On.” Another of the album’s highlights was the epic slow jam “I Fell In Love,” written by the talented Chicago singer/songwriter Keith Barrow.
#soul #funk #disco #Temptations #DamonHarris