Richard Street, Ex-Temptations Singer, Dead at 70

LAS VEGAS— Former Motown vocalist Richard Allen Street (born October 5, 1942) a member of the Temptations from 1971 to 1993, has died. He was 70. Street’s wife, Cindy, says her husband died early Wednesday at a hospital in Las Vegas after a short illness.

Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, Street was the first member of the Temptations to actually be a native of the city which served as Motown’s namesake and hometown; all of the previous members were born and at least partially raised in the southern United States.

Richard Street sang as a young man with Temptations members Otis Williams and Melvin Franklin, but didn’t join the famed Motown group until the early 1970s. He later made the move from his native Detroit to Los Angeles with other Motown acts and stayed with the group until the mid-1990s.

Funeral arrangements are incomplete, but Cindy Street expects services to be held sometime next week in Cypress, Calif.

She says her husband “was a really good person” who should be remembered for his work with the Temptations.