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David Ruffin was the man, the voice that made the Temptations a force to be reckoned with. Prior to him joining the group the Temptations had a little success with songs like “Dream Come True” & “Paradise” but once David joined them in 1964 the hits followed. Some consider David Ruffin to be one of if not the greatest male vocalist of all time and you get no argument here. His range and just the uniqueness of his voice puts him in a class of his own.

David was the definition of a star and in 1991 the world lost that star, but why? His death was ruled as an overdose but was it really?

In June of 1991 David had just completed a month long tour with Eddie Kendricks and Dennis Edwards. According to Dennis each of them were paid $50,000 a piece. They were to be given $5,000 in cash and the rest in a bank draft but David wanted all of his in cash and he decided to keep it all in his briefcase. Why is this important? Let’s get to it.

According to those who knew him, David would surround himself with “low lifes” who made him feel superior. Dennis Edwards said that on the day of his death David’s main “flunky” or right hand man called him and said “David overdosed but he’s going to be alright, I took him to the hospital.” David was taken to the hospital after he supposedly overdosed but what happened to the money?

Dennis Edwards said that he’d spoken to David earlier that day and when he asked him about the money David told him that he had it with him inside the briefcase. That information combined with what Nedra Ruffin(David’s daughter) said would make many wonder what really happened. Nedra’s words were “somebody set him up for that money.” That’s only the tip of the iceberg, she went on to say she felt like her father was set up by a lady named Diane Flowers.

Nedra also claimed that he had scratches all over his body and his head looked swollen. She also revealed that David’s clothes were bloody and destroyed in Philadelphia before his body was taken back to Detroit.

Now let’s look at this

It was said that he died of an overdose but those closest to him said he’d been clean for quite some time.

His clothes were bloody

His bloody clothes were thrown into the incinerator

He had scratches all over his body

His head looked swollen

That was enough to make his children want a second autopsy. They were about to but their minds were changed after their uncle Quincy (David’s brother) told them that if they did one of them would be lying next to him (David).

Most of this information came from Nedra during a 2019 interview in which she also revealed who she really thought murdered her father. We won’t get into that here but I will leave the links to the videos.

Part 1. https://youtu.be/rgDVR1sFckM

Part 2. https://youtu.be/pepEwa__yWA

What do you think happened to David Ruffin?