In the mid-1980s, he launched a solo career, recording the 1984 hit single "Don't Look Any Further" (featuring Siedah Garrett).

[2] After learning that Sam Cooke had switched from gospel to secular music, he organized his own soul/jazz group, Dennis Edwards and the Firebirds in 1961.

[5] From January 1961 to December 1963, Edwards served as a field artilleryman in the U.S. Army, spending most of his enlistment stationed in Europe.

[7][8] His last major duty assignment was with Headquarters Battery, 2nd Howitzer Battalion, 35th Artillery, Seventh Army.

Although Edwards intended to be a solo act, he was instead assigned to join The Contours after their lead singer, Billy Gordon, fell ill.[2][3] A year later, the Contours were the opening act for the Temptations; Temptations members Eddie Kendricks and Otis Williams took notice of Edwards and made his acquaintance.

[3] The Temptations' new lineup debuted in July 1968 at the Forum in Los Angeles, where the first half of the concert were performed by the four original members.

[2] The Temptations officially introduced Edwards on July 9, 1968, on stage in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.

However, Ruffin, who was attempting to make his way back into the group, crashed the stage during Edwards's lead vocal on "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" to significant applause.

[13] Edwards' first album with the Temptations was Live at the Copa, recorded at the group's return to the Copacabana nightclub.

A year later, their next studio album Cloud Nine marked a new musical direction into psychedelic soul by Norman Whitfield.

[15] Subsequent hit singles followed, including "I Can't Get Next to You" (1969), "Ball of Confusion (That's What the World Is Today)" (1970), "Superstar (Remember How You Got Where You Are)" (1971), and "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" (1972).

In 1976, while the Temptations were departing Motown for Atlantic Records, Williams fired Edwards because of his "intolerable attitude".

[26] With Edwards back, Motown decided to engineer a Temptations reunion album in 1982, bringing David Ruffin and Eddie Kendricks into the current lineup.

[29][33] In the spring of 1984, Motown re-launched Edwards's solo career, with the hit single "Don't Look Any Further", a duet with Siedah Garrett.

[39] Edwards left the group for a third and final time to join Ruffin and Kendricks; he was again replaced by Woodson in 1989.

When the European tour was finished, Ruffin had landed in Philadelphia with a briefcase containing $40,000 in British travelers' checks.

[45] On June 1, 1991, Ruffin suffered an overdose at a Philadelphia crack house and was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital hours later.

The surviving members, as well as relatives of Ruffin, Kendricks, and Paul Williams were in attendance at the induction ceremony and received plaques in their honor.

[1] In 1998, Edwards' Don't Look Any Further: the Remix Album was released, containing updated dance mixes and the original 1984 track.

[54] In 2013, Edwards (as a member of the Temptations) was inducted into the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame.

[57] Edwards had a relationship with singer Aretha Franklin, who stated he was the inspiration behind her 1972 soul song "Day Dreaming".

[58] Edwards was briefly married to Ruth Pointer, whom he wed in Las Vegas on December 21, 1980, and divorced in 1983.