Damon Harris (born Otis Robert Harris, Jr. on July 17, 1950 in Baltimore, Maryland) is an African-American soul and R&B first tenor/falsetto singer. While he is most notable as a member of The Temptations from 1971 to 1975, Harris had formed a Temptations tribute band named The Young Tempts (AKA The Young Vandals) as a teenager; they had charting singles released on T-Neck Records, and later had a few minor hits under the name Impact. Twenty years old when he joined the group, Harris was the youngest member of The Temptations during his tenure in the group. July 17 is the 198th day (199th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 167 days remaining. ... 1950 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... City nickname: Charm City Location in the state of Maryland Founded 30 July 1729 County Independent city Mayor Martin OMalley ( Dem) Area  - Total  - Water 1,214. ... African Americans, also known as Afro-Americans or Black Americans, are an ethnic group in the United States of America whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Sub-Saharan Africa. ... For other uses, see Soul music (disambiguation). ... Rhythm and blues (or R & B) is a musical marketing term introduced in the United States in the late 1940s by Billboard magazine. ... In music, a tenor is a male singer with a high voice (although not as high as a countertenor). ... Falsetto (fall-SET-oh) is a singing technique that produces sounds pitched higher than the singers normal range. ... In music a singer or vocalist is a type of musician who sings, i. ... The Classic 5 lineup of The Temptations, circa 1965. ... 1971 is a common year starting on Friday (click for link to calendar). ... 1975 was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1975 calendar). ... A tribute band (sometimes tribute group) is a musical group created in order to specifically play the music of a well-known band, often one which has disbanded or ceased touring. ... A separate article is about the punk band called The Adolescents. ...

Today, Harris is the founder and CEO of The Damon Harris Cancer Foundation, deciated to promoting the awareness, diagnosis, and treatment of prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer in men in the United States. ...

Biography

The Young Tempts/The Young Vandals

As a teenager growing up in Baltimore, Maryland, Otis Harris, Jr. was a major Temptations fan, and idolized in particular the group's falsetto, Eddie Kendricks. Patterning himself after Kendricks, Harris and his friends John Quinton Simms, Charles Timmons, and Earlington "Donald" Tighman, formed a Temptations-inspired vocal group during his high school years called The Young Tempts ("Tempts" being the a nickname for the Temptations). The Young Tempts recorded covers of two 1966 Temptations' songs, "I've Been Good to You" and "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby," for The Isley Brothers' T-Neck Records in 1970. Motown Records filed an injunction against T-Neck because of the group's name; the 45 was withdrawn and re-issued with the group credited as The Young Vandals, and reached #46 on the R&B charts. After two more T-Neck singles, The Young Vandals broke up, because Harris fel that college would be a more sensible endeavor than a singing career. City nickname: Charm City Location in the state of Maryland Founded 30 July 1729 County Independent city Mayor Martin OMalley ( Dem) Area  - Total  - Water 1,214. ... Eddie Kendricks (Edward James Kendricks) (December 17, 1939, - October 5, 1992) was an African-American tenor singer. ... Japanese high school students in uniform High school, or Secondary school, is the last segment of compulsory education in Australia, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and the United States. ... -1... The Isley Brothers are an American pop, R&B, funk and soul group who began their musical career in Cincinnati in the early 1950s. ... 1970 was a common year starting on Thursday. ... Motown, also known as Tamla-Motown outside the U.S., is a record label founded on December 14, 1959 by Berry Gordy, Jr. ... An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a court order that either prohibits or compels (enjoins or restrains) a party from continuing a particular activity. ... A college ( Latin collegium) can be the name of any group of colleagues; originally it meant a group of people living together under a common set of rules (con-, together + leg-, law). As a consequence members of colleges were originally styled fellows and still are in some places. ...

The Temptations

In April 1971, a friend convinced Harris to audition for The Temptations, who were doing a series of shows in nearby Washington, D.C.. The group had just replaced Eddie Kendricks with Ricky Owens from The Vibrations, who was giving uneven performances, and The Temptations were again looking for a replacement. Harris performed first for Temptations Melvin Franklin, Richard Street, and Dennis Edwards before auditioning for group leader Otis Williams. Williams was hesitant about taking on the young singer, who was nearly a decade younger than he and the other Temptations. Franklin, Street, and Edwards voted to accept Harris, however, and he made his onstage debut a few weeks later. April is the fourth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of four with the length of 30 days. ... 1971 is a common year starting on Friday (click for link to calendar). ... Aerial photo (looking NW) of the Washington Monument and the White House in Washington, DC. Washington, D.C., officially the District of Columbia (also known as D.C.; Washington; the Nations Capital; the District; and, historically, the Federal City) is the capital city and administrative district of the United... The Vibrations were an American soul vocal group from Los Angeles, California, active from 1960 to 1976. ... Melvin Franklin was the bass voice for The Temptations until his death in 1995. ... Dennis Edwards (born February 3, 1943 in Birmingham, Alabama) is an African-American soul and R&B singer, most noted for being one of The Temptations lead singers. ...

When he joined the Temptations, Otis Harris changed his name to Damon Harris, because, in his words, "the group already had an Otis" [1] (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=ADFEAEE4791FDB46AD7220E2872D4DC6A160D41BDB47FE973E21455992B63E45915B5BC944E593ADB6B671AB7DB0FD2EA45F43D2C8E456F8D663392DED93&uid=CAW020504041204&sql=11:nmklu325an8k~T1).

Harris continued to perform with the Temptations for four years, providing Kendricks-esque lead vocals on hits such as "Superstar (Remember How You Got Where You Are)" (1971), "Take a Look Around" (1972), the #1 pop hit "Papa Was a Rolling Stone", (1972, a three-time Grammy Award winner), the #1 R&B hit "Masterpiece" (1973), "Plastic Man" (also 1973), and "Glasshouse" (1975). He was fired from the group in 1975 because of differences between him and the rest of the group. 1971 is a common year starting on Friday (click for link to calendar). ... 1972 was a leap year that started on a Saturday. ... Papa Was a Rolling Stone (also spelled Papa Was a Rollin Stone) is a soul song, written by Motown songwriters Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong as an album track for Motown act The Undisputed Truth in 1971. ... 1972 was a leap year that started on a Saturday. ... Grammy Award statuette The Grammy Awards, presented by the Recording Academy (an association of Americans professionally involved in the recorded music industry) for outstanding achievements in the recording industry, is one of four major music awards shows held annually in the United States (the Billboard Music Awards, the American Music... 1973 was a common year starting on Monday. ... 1975 was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1975 calendar). ...

Impact

A dejected Harris decided to reform The Young Vandals with Simms, Timmons, and Tighman, renaming the group Impact, and singing a deal with Atco Records in 1976. Working with a Philadelphia soul production team, Impact recorded a number of minor soul and disco hits, including "Happy Man" and the #5 disco hit "Give a Broken Heart a Break". The group released only one album on Atco, 1976's Impact, before being dropped from the label because of low sales. Impact signed with Fantasy Records in 1977, and issued the album The Pac is Back, which also suffered from slow sales. The group disbanded, and Harris recorded some solo singles of his own, including 1978's "It's Music", and the album Silk. Atco Records was a United States based record label. ... 1976 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... For the American indoor football team, see Philadelphia Soul. ... Discothèque redirects here. ... Fantasy Records is a United States based record label, which was was founded by Max and Sol Weiss in 1949 in San Francisco, California. ... For the album by Ash, see 1977 (album). ... Events January January 1 - The Copyright Act of 1976 takes effect, making sweeping changes to United States copyright law. ...

Later years

Damon Harris soon retired from music, and moved to Reno, Nevada to complete college. In the 1990s, he returned to music and began touring, sometimes billing himself as The Temptations Review Starring Damon Harris. Richard Street, another ex-Temptation, periodically performs with Harris' Temptations review. Reno is the county seat of Washoe County, Nevada. ... Events and trends Technology Explosive growth of the Internet; decrease in the cost of computers and other technology Reduction in size and cost of mobile phones leads to a massive surge in their popularity Year 2000 problem (commonly known as Y2K) Microsoft Windows operating system becomes virtually ubiquitous on IBM...

At the age of 47, Harris was diagnosed with prostate cancer, which he learned he had had for five years prior. After successfully being treated for the disease, Harris founded The Damon Harris Cancer Foundation in 2001. The organization is a non-profit company, designed ot heighten awareness of prostate cancer diagnoses and treatments. The organization has a special focus in reaching African-American audiences, as African-American men have an approximately 60% higher chance of contracting prostate cancer than white men,and are twice as likely to die from the disease [2]  (http://www.dhcancerfoundation.com/articles.htm). Prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer in men in the United States. ... 2001 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A non-profit organization (often called non-profit org or simply non-profit or not-for-profit) can be seen as an organization that doesnt have a goal to make a profit. ...

Young Tempts/Impact Discography

Singles

• 1970: "I've Been Good to You" b/w "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby" (R&B #46)
• 1976: "Give A Broken Heart A Break" (R&B #36, disco #5)
• 1976: "Happy Man [Part 1]" (US #94, R&B #42)
• 1977: "Rainy Days, Stormy Nights [Part I]" (R&B #90)
• 1978: "Sister Fine" (R&B #49)

Albums

• 1976: Impact
• 1977: The Pac is Back

Solo discography

Singles

• 1978: "It's Music"

Albums

• 1978: Silk

External link

• The Damon Harris Cancer Foundation homepage (http://www.dhcancerfoundation.com/)
• Impact (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=ADFEAEE4791FDB46AD7220E2872D4DC6A160D41BDB47FE973E21455992B63E45915B5BC944E593ADB6B671AB7DB0FD2EA45F43D2C8E456F8D666382DED93&sql=11:n8jvea104xd7~T1) at the All Music Guide.
• Damon Harris biography (http://www.glp.at/cont/artistroaster/biographie.asp?ID=32)