– This year marks the 60th Anniversary celebration of The Temptations, the legendary, Grammy Award-Winning group known as the “No. 1 R&B Artists of All Time.”
And releasing on Friday, September 24, is their brand-new single, “Is It Gonna Be Yes or No,” a duet between the group and the equally legendary Smokey Robinson, the man who delivered their first hits.
The song, also written and produced by Smokey, is a preview of the upcoming TEMPTATIONS 60 album.
The single, lyric video and taster of their 2022 album, executive produced by Temptations’ founding and sole surviving original member Dr. Otis Williams, is available, HERE.
Robinson brought in stellar studio musicians to play on the ballad, including his longtime associate Dave Garfield on keyboards, bassist Freddie Washington and drummer Steve Ferrone.
And in all the years Robinson has delivered such timeless Temptations classics as “The Way You Do the Things You Do,” “My Girl,” “Since I Lost My Baby,” “Get Ready” and more, the duet marks the only time he and the Temptations have sung lead together, save for a recording of “The Christmas Song” in 1989.
“It’s wonderful to be back together. When The Tempts first met Smoke we were teenagers, young black men in Detroit who had no clue that our partnership at Motown would produce ‘My Girl,’ one of the greatest hits of all time,” says Williams.
“And our success together didn’t stop there. We had chart hit after chart hit and, soon after, our music was heard around the world.
“Now, 60 years later, as I turn 80, Smoke and I have come full circle. I never imagined we would have the opportunity to get back in the studio and do it all again.”
The Temptations’ 60th Anniversary campaign launched this summer and will run through June 2022, in a celebration befitting one of the most revered and prolific musical institutions of all time.
The year-long campaign includes the new album in 2022; a 50-city tour through the end of this year, with more global dates to be announced; remastering of their music videos, including “Standing on the Top” with Rick James and their No. 1 hit “Stay;” a new content series; the Imperial Theatre re-opening on October 16th of the Broadway musical, Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations, based on Otis Williams’s personal journey that was nominated for 12 Tony Awards, including Best Musical and won the Tony Award for Best Choreography at the 73rd Tony Awards ceremony in June 2019 and whose UMe cast album was GRAMMY-nominated; and celebratory events along the way including Otis Williams’ 80th birthday on October 30th. Their Emmy Award-Winning Television mini-series, The Temptations, which first aired to rave reviews in 1998, is still on air or streaming every day somewhere in the world.
