Songoftheday 6/7/14 - You've got a smile so bright, you know you could have been a candle...

Daryl Hall & John Oates with David Ruffin & Eddie Kendrick - "A Nite At The Apollo Live!: The Way You Do The Things You Do/My Girl"
from the album Live At The Apollo (1985)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #20 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 7

Today's Song of the Day stars the biggest pop duo of the 80's, Hall & Oates, who in 1985 were coming off of a very successful tour behind their Big Bam Boom album. That record had spun off four top-40 hits, including the #1 "Out Of Touch" and top-5 follow-up "Method Of Modern Love". While they were on a break between studio album that lasted four years and had the pair switching record labels, Hall & Oates recorded a special live concert at New York's famous Apollo Theater, and brought along two very very special guests - two of the most revered members of the long-standing Motown group the Temptations, David Ruffin and Eddie Kendrick. While both of them had left the vocal band under dubious circumstances (Ruffin for his drug use and Kendricks left after conflict with other bandmates), they still stood for the best of the best the Tempts ever, with Ruffin's gruff, soulful tone a good counterpoint to to Eddie's angelic falsetto. The live album starts out with a medley of songs from the Temptations, and after editing things down to just Kendrick's "The Way You Do The Things You Do" and Ruffin's "My Girl", a radio-friendly single was born....

"A Nite At The Apollo Live!" made the top-20 on the American pop chart in October of 1985, while also denting the R&B chart at #40 and doing even better on the adult contemporary chart at #12. Internationally, the single made the top-40 in Canada at #35, and was a minor hit for the collab at #58.

While Hall & Oates would of course go on to have more success, this would be the last time for both Ruffin and Kendrick on the chart. They would break ties with the duo because of Ruffin's increasing drug habit again, which led to his death from cocaine in 1991. A year later, Kendrick would also pass away from cancer.

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In better times, here's the foursome in Philly for Live Aid in 1985...

Up tomorrow: The Boss is heading south.