Gilles Petard/RedfernsLate Temptations singer David Ruffin will receive multiple honors as part of a special celebration in his hometown of Meridian, Mississippi, later this month.
The festivities will take place on Saturday, October 26, and will start at 11 a.m. with the unveiling of Ruffin’s on the Walk of Fame at the Mississippi Arts + Entertainment Experience, a.k.a. The MAX.
That event will be followed by a street parade from The MAX to the Temple Theatre, where a noon ceremony will be held renaming a four-block stretch of 8th Street near the theater as “David Ruffin Boulevard.”
The parade, which will be led by led by Jackson State University’s marching band, will continue on to Meridian’s City Hall Lawn, where a party will kick off at 1 p.m. All the events are free and open to the public.
“We are proud to honor this music legend with a street being named after one of the greatest R&B singers of all time, and we want to invite family and friends to Meridian for a day of celebrating his career,” Mayor Percy Bland says in a statement, according to the Meridian Star.
Ruffin was a member of The Temptations from 1964 to 1968, and was the lead singer on many of the legendary Motown group’s hits, including “My Girl,” “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” and “(I Know) I’m Losing You.”
He died in 1991 at the age of 50 of an accidental drug overdose.
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