Temptations Singer Otis 'Damon' Harris Dead at 62

Richard Street, Melvin Franklin, Otis Williams, Dennis Edwards and Damon Harris of the Temptations.

Otis "Damon" Harris, a singer with the Temptations who joined the group in the 1970s, died on Monday at the age of 62, the Baltimore Sun reports. A family spokesman told the paper that Harris had been fighting prostate cancer for 14 years.

Harris grew up in Baltimore and was a fan of the Temptations as a teenager. Along with three high school friends, he formed a Temptations cover band called the Young Tempts, which changed its name to the Young Vandals after releasing their first singles on the Isley Brothers' T-Neck label. In 1971, he auditioned to join his idols when one of the original lead singers, Eddie Kendricks, left the band. Since the group already had one Otis in founding member Otis Williams, Harris changed his first name to Damon.

100 Greatest Artists: The Temptations

Harris sang lead vocals on several Temptations hits, including "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone," "Take a Look Around" and "Masterpiece." The group won three Grammy awards with Harris on board as first tenor. In 1975, Harris left the Temptations and rejoined his high school friends, now renamed Impact. The group recoorded two disco and funk albums, Impact and The Pac is Back and scored a hit with their 1976 track "Give a Broken Heart a Break." In 1978, Harris released a solo album titled Silk, before retiring from music to finish college.

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The Temptations File Class Action Royalty Suit Against Universal

The Temptations are the latest act to file a class action lawsuit seeking unpaid royalties on digital downloads. The singing group had filed a suit against Universal Music Group in a California federal seeking millions of dollars in revenue for downloads and ringtones, claiming that these sales count as licenses, which entitles them to half of the net receipts.

The Temptations' suit goes beyond their contract to cover other artists on the UMG roster with similar contracts, including James Brown, Eric Clapton, Guns N' Roses, Nirvana, the Police and the Who. Contracts with different rates for physical sales and licenses were extremely common at major labels between 1976 and 2001.

Photos: Random Notes
A lawsuit on behalf of Eminem last year set a precedent that digital sales count as a license rather than a traditional sale, as is the case with LPs and CDs. A number of other artists, including Peter Frampton, Toto, Public Enemy and Kenny Rogers, are also pursuing similar legal battles hoping to score unpaid royalties and improve their rate in the future. Sony recently paid an $8 million settlement to dismiss a class action lawsuit that included artists such as Cheap Trick, the Allman Brothers Band and the Youngbloods.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon MP3 Download Center

Read more »

The Temptations File Class Action Royalty Suit Against Universal

The Temptations are the latest act to file a class action lawsuit seeking unpaid royalties on digital downloads. The singing group had filed a suit against Universal Music Group in a California federal seeking millions of dollars in revenue for downloads and ringtones, claiming that these sales count as licenses, which entitles them to half of the net receipts.

The Temptations' suit goes beyond their contract to cover other artists on the UMG roster with similar contracts, including James Brown, Eric Clapton, Guns N' Roses, Nirvana, the Police and the Who. Contracts with different rates for physical sales and licenses were extremely common at major labels between 1976 and 2001.

Photos: Random Notes
A lawsuit on behalf of Eminem last year set a precedent that digital sales count as a license rather than a traditional sale, as is the case with LPs and CDs. A number of other artists, including Peter Frampton, Toto, Public Enemy and Kenny Rogers, are also pursuing similar legal battles hoping to score unpaid royalties and improve their rate in the future. Sony recently paid an $8 million settlement to dismiss a class action lawsuit that included artists such as Cheap Trick, the Allman Brothers Band and the Youngbloods.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon Music and MP3 Center

Read more »