Free Women's Blog

Ali-Ollie Woodson (September 12, 1951 – May 30, 2010), the lead singer of The Temptations in the 1980s and 90s, with hit songs like ‘Treat Her Like A Lady’, has died aged 58.

He died in southern California Sunday, after battling cancer.

Woodson was not an original member of the band, but he had an integral part in preventing The Temptations of becoming just nostalgia act.

By the early 1980s, the group was no longer producing hit songs, one after the other as they previously did in the 1960s and 70s. Woodson was asked to replace Dennis Edwards, whose voice defined The Temptations in the 1970s.

Woodson helped the group mark such R&B hits as ‘Treat Her Like A Lady’ or ‘Lady Soul’ from 1984 to 1986.

“He had this swagger about himself. He was cool. He had a coolness about himself that was really very inviting,” said Motown Alumni Association President Billy Wilson.

Although, he was famous Woodson was “always a gentleman and always polite and kind to everybody. If we ever asked him to do anything, he never said, ‘well, it’s going to cost you.’ He’d always say, ‘yeah, let’s go,’” added Wilson, who founded the Detroit-based Motown association in the mid-1990s.

R.I.P.

Actor Dennis Hopper (May 17, 1936 – May 29, 2010), who managed to capture the spirit of a generation with the film Easy Rider, has died at age 74.

Hopper, famous for directing and starring in the 1969 cult classic, which exemplified the counter culture of the 60s, died at his home in Venice, California, after having prostate cancer.

Following the early success of appearing with James Dean in Rebel without a Cause (1955) and Giant (1956), Hopper experienced drink and drug problems in the 60s as well as several failed marriages.

He returned in 1979 with Apocolypse Now and was critically acclaimed for his roles in Blue Velvet and Hoosiers. Hopper also appeared as the villain in Speed (1994) starring Keanu Reeves.

He was born in Dodge City, Kansas, but the family moved to California when he was 13. Hopper attended high school in San Diego and begun his acting career in local theatres as a teenager.

He was not just an actor, but also a gifted photographer, painter and sculptor.

He married his fifth wife, Victoria Duffy, in 1996. From his previous marriages he had four children – three daughters and a son.

R.I.P.