160 Hello Jimmy Ruffin - What Becomes Of The Broken-Hearted ?

Chart  entered : 27  October  1966

Chart  peak : 8  ( 4  on  reissue  in  1974 )

Number  of  hits : 10  ( 1  as  part  of  The  Council  Collective* )

*( I'll  clarify  the  point  here  because  "Soul  Deep"  isn't  his  goodbye  hit. I'm  not  normally  counting  appearances  on  charity  ensembles  in  artists'  hit  totals  mainly  because  it's  near-impossible  to  track  who's  on  which  record  and  what  their  contribution was ( for  instance Spandau  Ballet's  Steve Norman  is  not  credited  with  any  vocals  on   any  of  their  records, can  we  be  sure  that  his  voice  is  actually  in  the  mix on  Band  Aid ? )   In  the  case  of  The  Council  Collective  I'm  allowing  it  to  count   towards  Jimmy's  total  because  there  was  a  relatively  small  number  of  participants, it  was  an  original song  and  Jimmy's  participation  was  a  major  selling  point  in  the  promotion  of  the  record.)  

Jimmy  only  just  scrapes  in  here  but  as  this  is  my  favourite  of  the  Motown  classics I've  stretched  a point  to  include  him. He's  possibly  ( D.C.  might  correct  me )  the  only  Motown  artist  to  be  more successful  in  the  UK  than  the  US.

Jimmy  is  the  elder  brother  of  the  Temptations'  David  Ruffin  and  the  two  began  their  singing  in the gospel  group  Dixie  Nightingales. Jimmy  joined  Motown  in  1961  as  a  session  singer  but  was   allowed  to  cut  a  single - in fact  the  first -  on  its  subsidiary  label  Miracle, "Don't  Feel  Sorry  For  Me". Jimmy  wrote  the  song  himself  but  it's  fairly  typical  of  the  early  Motown  R &  B  sound  except  for  the  fact  that  Jimmy's  vocal  is  heavily  influenced  by  Gordy's  friend , Jackie  Wilson. Jimmy  himself  acknowledged  this.  It's   not  a  bad  first  effort  with  some  good  drumming  and  sax  although  the  chorus  could  definitely  be  stronger.

Jimmy  didn't  get  the  chance  to  cut  another  single  before  being  called  up  for  military  service. He  returned  to  Motown  when  his  tour  of  duty  ended  in  1964 ( not  a  bad  time  to  be  leaving  the  US  Army  actually ). He  was  apparently  considered  for  The  Temptations  when  Elbridge  Bryant  left  but  they  chose  David  instead.  Jimmy  was  again  shunted  on  to  a  subsidiary  label, this  time  Soul.

His  first  release  for  them  was  "Since  I've  lost  You", a  Norman  Whitfield  song. Whitfield  also produced. Jimmy  finds  his  own  voice , somewhere  between  Marvin  Gaye  and  Otis  Redding,  on  this medium  paced  soul  tune  with  unusually  heavy  brass  but  it  wasn't  a  success.

His  next  single  came  out  more  than  a  year  later  and  this  time  Smokey  Robinson  was  writer  and producer. "As  Long  As  There  Is  L-O-V-E  Love"  is  sweet  soul  pop  ( as  you'd  expect )  but  the arrangement  is  strange  with  a  stabbing  riff  punctuating  the  verses. The  aggression  in  it seems  out  of kilter  with  the  nature  of  the  song.

Months  went  by  and  then  Jimmy  heard  a  song  that  was  being  pitched  at  the  ( Detroit )  Spinners and  persuaded  its  writers  that  he  should  record  it  instead. "What  Becomes  Of  The  Broken-Hearted" was  written  by  three  of  Motown's  lesser-known  writers  William  Weatherspoon, James  Dean  and house  trombonist  Paul  Riser.  It's  a  plea  from  a  man  drowning  in  his  own  misery  after  being deserted. I  think  the  record  derives  much  of  its  impact  from  a  decision  by  Weatherspoon  and  fellow  producer  Mickey  Stevenson  to  drop  a  spoken  introduction  from  the  final  mix  and  allow  the  two  backing  groups  The  Originals  and  The  Andantes  to  hum  that  deathless  melody  before  Jimmy's  entrance. They  set  a  mood  of  warmth  to  offset  Jimmy's  woe  is  me  wailing  and  then  return  on  the  chorus  to  take  the  song  on  to  another  plane.

The  record  was  an  immediate  hit, making  the  Top  10  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic. It  has  been  continuously  covered  ever  since. Here,  it  surpassed  its  previous  peak  when  reissued  in  1974 , the  competition  not  being  quite  as  strong.