As co-lead vocalist for the Temptations, David Ruffin was responsible for some of the most memorable recordings in soul history: “My Girl,” “I Wish It Would Rain,” “(I Know) I’m Losing You,” and “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg,” to name just a few. For those tracks alone, his place in that history is secure. He then embarked on a solo career – a calling he had prior to the Tempts – and further embellished his artistic reputation. Because his solo years were as tempestuous as his relationship with his prior bandmates, these albums have been somewhat overlooked the pantheon of soul. Here’s a chance to readdress the oversight and remember: he is, indeed, the great David Ruffin.

The Great David Ruffin: The Motown Solo Albums Vol. 1 collects four of the late Ruff’s out-of-print records in their entirety, beginning a series that will see all his solo work made available once again. Starting with his chart-topping My Whole World Ended, and proceeding through Feelin’ Good, David Ruffin (different than the out-of-print Motown/Hip-O Select release David), and Me ’N Rock ’N Roll Are Here to Stay, his catalogue has been painstakingly remastered from the original tapes. Rare photos have been excavated from the vaults to make the package look every bit as good as it sounds.

As noted author David Ritz says in the liner notes, “He sang with tremendous authority and open-hearted passion; he transformed the mysterious knowledge of dark love into light; he gave voice to pain; he left us a legacy of music charged with the electricity of emotional truth.”

While Ruffin’s solo career has been widely anthologized, his impact on soul music is too crucial for his catalogue to remain in the vaults.

Working with producers such as Norman Whitfield, Johnny Bristol, Ivy Jo Hunter, Bobby Miller, Hank Cosby and others, Ruffin reached into his angst-ridden soul to create music that, in Whitfield’s words, “kicks your ass. And that’s how it should be.”

Ruffin was known to the Motown family from the Fifties gospel circuit; he’d toured around as a teenager and appeared with gospel legend Mahalia Jackson at the age of six.