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David Ruffin
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==Early life== {{More citations needed section|date=July 2023}} Ruffin was born '''Davis Eli Ruffin''' on January 18, 1941, in the rural [[Unincorporated area#United States|unincorporated community]] of [[Whynot, Mississippi]], 15 miles southeast of [[Meridian, Mississippi|Meridian]].<ref>{{Cite magazine|title=Former Temptations Singer David Ruffin to Be Honored in Mississippi Hometown|url=https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop/8532891/david-ruffin-former-temptations-singer-honored-mississippi-hometown|access-date=2021-04-26|magazine=Billboard|language=en}}</ref> He was the third born son of Elias "Eli" Ruffin, a [[Baptist]] minister, and Ophelia Ruffin. His siblings were Quincy B. Ruffin, Rita Mae Ruffin, and [[Jimmy Ruffin|Jimmy Lee Ruffin]]. Ruffin also had another sister Rosine, who died in infancy. ===Ancestry=== Ruffin's parents were both natives of Mississippi. His father, Eli, worked as a truck driver at numerous lumber mills, and his mother, Ophelia, worked out of their home. Eli's parents had moved from [[Alabama]] to Mississippi, because of the harsh circumstances of living after the [[American Civil War]]. Prior to living in Alabama, David Ruffin's great-grandparents, John and Clara Ruffin, had moved from [[Bertie County, North Carolina]]. John Ruffin was a Civil War Veteran, fighting with the 14th United States Colored Heavy [[Artillery]] Regiment. ===Childhood and adolescence=== Ruffin's father was strict and at times violently abusive.<ref name="RuffinEarlyYears"/> Ruffin's mother died from complications of [[childbirth]] 10 months after he was born; and his father later married Earline, a [[schoolteacher]], in 1942.<ref name=soulbot>{{cite web|url=http://www.soulbot.com/David%20Ruffin%20bad%20news.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090911052258/http://www.soulbot.com/David%20Ruffin%20bad%20news.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 11, 2009|title=Low notes for David Ruffin|last=Noriyuki|first=Duane|date=May 26, 1988|publisher=soulbot.com|access-date=December 28, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Ruffin, Davis Eli ("David") {{!}} Encyclopedia.com|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/ruffin-davis-eli-david|access-date=2021-04-26|website=encyclopedia.com}}</ref> As a young child, Ruffin, along with his other siblings (older brothers Quincy and [[Jimmy Ruffin|Jimmy]], and sister Reada Mae) traveled with their father and their stepmother as a family [[gospel (music)|gospel]] group, opening shows for [[Mahalia Jackson]] and [[The Five Blind Boys of Mississippi]], among others.<ref name="RuffinEarlyYears">{{cite book|first=Mark|last=Ribowsky|date=2010|title=Ain't Too Proud to Beg: The Troubled Lives and Enduring Soul of the Temptations|location=Hoboken, New Jersey|publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]]|pages=85β95|isbn=978-0-470-26117-0}}</ref><ref name="soul-patrol.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.soul-patrol.com/soul/temps.htm|title=Classic Soul|publisher=soul-patrol.com|access-date=December 28, 2009|archive-date=February 12, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100212195409/http://www.soul-patrol.com/soul/temps.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> Ruffin sang in the choir at Mount Salem [[Methodist]] Church, talent shows and wherever else he could.<ref name=soulbot/> In 1955, at age 14, Ruffin left home under the [[guardianship]] of a minister, Eddie Bush, and went to [[Memphis, Tennessee]], with the purpose of pursuing the [[minister (Christianity)|ministry]].<ref name="RuffinEarlyYears"/> At age 15, Ruffin went to [[Hot Springs, Arkansas]], with the jazz musician Phineas Newborn Sr. There, they played at the Fifty Grand Ballroom and Casino. Billed as Little David Bush, Ruffin continued to sing at talent shows, worked with horses at a jockey club and eventually became a member of [[The Dixie Nightingales]]. He also sang with [[The Soul Stirrers]] briefly after the departure of [[Johnnie Taylor]].<ref name="RuffinEarlyYears"/> After some of his singing idols such as [[Sam Cooke]] and [[Jackie Wilson]] had left [[gospel (music)|gospel music]] and gone secular, Ruffin also turned in that direction. Eddie Bush and his wife, Dorothy Helen, took the then-16-year-old Ruffin to [[Detroit]], [[Michigan]], where his brother, Jimmy, was pursuing a career in music while simultaneously working at the [[Ford Motor Company]].
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