Kell Osborne (March 12, 1939 – January 29, 2012) was an American singer best known as a member of The Primes, a group which would later be known as

The Temptations The Temptations are an American vocal group from Detroit, Michigan, who released a series of successful singles and albums with Motown Records during the 1960s and 1970s. The group's work with producer Norman Whitfield, beginning with the Top ...

Early years

Kell Osborne was born in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

on March 12, 1939, he was raised by his deeply religious stepfather. His stepfather had wanted him to become a minister. However, he decided to be a singer. In 1955 he and his friends

Eddie Kendricks Edward James Kendrick (December 17, 1939 – October 5, 1992), better known as Eddie Kendricks, was an American singer and songwriter. Noted for his distinctive falsetto singing style, Kendricks co-founded the Motown singing group the Temptation ...

, Paul Williams, and Willy Waller started a singing group known as The Cavaliers, and they began performing in Birmingham. In 1957 Waller left the group, and they were reduced to a trio. In 1958 they left Birmingham to break out into the music business. They settled in Cleveland, Ohio, where Milton Jenkins would become their manager. They later moved to

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

, not too long after that Jenkins changed the group's name to The Primes, and they got a spin-off group known as The Primettes, members of that group included Diane (later Diana) Ross,

Florence Ballard Florence Glenda Chapman (''née'' Ballard; June 30, 1943 – February 22, 1976) was an American singer and a founding member of the Motown vocal female group the Supremes. She sang on 16 top 40 singles with the group, including ten number-o ...

, Mary Wilson, and Betty McGlown. In 1960 Kell left the group and moved to

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

to start a solo career, and as a result the group disbanded, Kendricks, and Williams would go on to become members of

Career

Kell signed with

Lester Sill Lester Sill (January 13, 1918 – October 31, 1994) was an American record label executive, best remembered as Phil Spector's partner in Philles Records (the name came from the first parts of their names, Phil and Les), and also as the head of bot ...

and

Lee Hazlewood Barton Lee Hazlewood (July 9, 1929 – August 4, 2007) was an American country and pop singer, songwriter, and record producer, most widely known for his work with guitarist Duane Eddy during the late 1950s and singer Nancy Sinatra in the 1960 ...

's Trey label, and

Phil Spector Harvey Phillip Spector (born Harvey Philip Spector; December 26, 1939January 16, 2021) was an American record producer and songwriter, best known for his innovative recording practices and entrepreneurship in the 1960s, followed decades later by ...

became his producer. He recorded the songs "Bells Of St Mary's", and "That's Alright Baby". Atlantic Records picked up the songs for national distribution, they were both a hit in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

. Osborne later got out of his contract with the Trey label and signed with Class Records. There he recorded the songs "Chickadee", "Do You Mind", "Would You Laugh", and "Eye Of The Fire". In 1963 he signed with Capitol Records, however, he was drafted that year ending hopes of a future with Capitol. During this time his close friend and fellow soldier Billy Revis became his manager, Osborne recorded the songs "Yaya Yaya", and "Something For The Books". In 1965 his draft was up and he got out of the military. Osborne later signed with

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

. There he recorded the song "You Cant Outsmart A Woman". That was the only song to come of this record deal and Osborne left Warner Bros. not too long after. Many labels were interested in Osborne, however, his close friendship with Billy Revis held him back, keeping him from many good opportunities. The ABC label was interested in Osborne but not Revis, so Osborne got out of his management contract with Revis and signed with Mercury Records. But he wasn't very successful there so he left the Mercury label. In 1995 Osborne left the music business and took a job driving buses in order to keep a stable income. He returned in 2005 releasing an album of new material with some initial interest shown by

Universal Records Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch–American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

. Kell Osborne has made many contributions to music over the years. He died on 29 January 2012.

References

External links

The Kell Osborne Story by Karl White

Kell Osborne at AOL music

{{DEFAULTSORT:Osborne, Kell 20th-century African-American male singers American male singers American soul musicians Musicians from Birmingham, Alabama 1939 births 2012 deaths Musicians from Cleveland Musicians from Los Angeles Singers from California Singers from Detroit Loma Records artists 21st-century African-American people