The Dramatics then moved to another local Detroit label, Sport Records, where they garnered their first minor hit single, "All Because of You".
[9] The Dramatics signed with Stax Records of Memphis, Tennessee in 1968, but moved on after one unsuccessful release, the 1969 Temptations-inspired tune "Your Love Was Strange" (Volt VOA 4029), written by group members Ron Banks, William "Wee Gee" Howard, and Elbert "Al" Wilkins, which got regional airplay, but never charted nationally.
[11] However, producer Don Davis re-signed them to Volt, a Stax subsidiary, in 1971 after the group teamed up with Detroit writer-producer, Tony Hester.
[1] Their members at this time were Ron Banks,[12] William "Wee Gee" Howard, Elbert Wilkins, Willie Ford, and Larry Demps.
[7] At the urging of Don Davis and Stax Records, the original group changed its billing to "Ron Banks and the Dramatics".
[14] Through the 1970s, the group continued to have successful songs, including the Top 10 Pop, number 1 R&B hit, "In the Rain" in 1972, "Hey You!
[7] Many of the Dramatics' songs initially were written and produced by Tony Hester, including all the tracks on the first two Volt albums.
Reynolds left to go solo in 1981[7] and Larry Demps decided to go into teaching and spend more time with his family, after having joined the group's original line-up in 1964 with Banks.
The other group was led by the original member of the Dramatics, Willie Lee Ford, with Rick Littleton, Michael Brock, Douglas Gaddy and Gregory Finley,[17] in 2017 long time member Paul Hill, of funk legend George Clinton's Parliament Funkadelic band joined Willie Ford's Dramatics.
[19] The Dramatics were officially inducted into the R&B Music Hall of Fame at Cleveland State University's Waetejen Auditorium on Saturday August 17, 2013.