He Said Keep On Truckin’

I wouldn’t say that Eddie’s 1973 self-titled album was an outstanding album. However, it is his most memorable album because it includes his greatest #1 hit of his career. The song is called “Keep On Truckin’ (1973).” This song was boss back in the day. It stayed number one for two consecutive weeks! Every Black and Pro Black radio station was playing this song! In fact, I remembered the song being so popular, it seemed as though they played it with the same frequency as the commercials.

The late Eddie Kendricks was once a talented member of a legendary group called The Temptations! However, I don’t recall Eddie singing lead on too many songs. Well, I only remembered the couple of huge hits he sang, such as “Get Ready (1966),” “Just My Imagination (1971),” and “The Way You Do The Things You Do (1964).” Despite the climbing success of The Temptations, Both Eddie (and Jimmy Ruffin as well) wanted to pursue a solo career. When Eddie finally left the group, he had a very difficult time. Because as The Temptations continued to spill out hit after hit, Eddie didn’t even make the top ten list, barely Top 40.

I’ve read that The Temptations publicly taunted Eddie as a result of his mediocre success. In fact, The Temptations produced a song called “Superstar (Remember How You Got To Where You Are) (1971),” as a direct response to both Eddie’s departure, and the firing of Ruffin. In the end, everything worked out for both of them (despite the bad blood).

Boogie Down, Was Eddie’s Second Biggest Hit

The second biggest hit of Eddie’s career was a song called “Boogie Down (1974),” which reached #2 on the Top 100 Charts. Let me tell you, I heard soooooo many different LP versions of this song back in the day, it wasn’t even funny. I loved this song though. It was almost like listening to a revamped disco version of the late Curtis Mayfield’s “Super Fly.” Eddie had a very distinct falsetto, and was one of the very few people who could put his falsetto to dance music. Eddie died early in his 50s of lung cancer.