Truth

Truth was a Cleveland group created by ex-O'Jay Bobby Massey that formed around 1976; the original lineup consisted of Larry Hancock, Leo Green, Al Boyd, and Russell Watts. They cut "Excedrin Headache #24" b/w "Come Back Home" on Sound of Cleveland Record, the latter, a ballad written by Massey, Boyd, and Walter Johnson, clones the O'Jays' dramatic ballad sound.

Truth's members were musical veterans. Hancock wrote "Working on Your Case," for the O'Jays in-between studies at Thomas Edison High, and later recorded "Gotta Find Myself a Girl" and "Glad I Found You" with the Intertains on Uptown Records (1966-1967); he fronted S.O.U.L. in the early '70s ("This Time Around"). Boyd and Green started with the Imperial Wonders, a flashy group patterned after the Temptations who recorded good but neglected tunes including "Trying to Get to You," "Turned Around Over You," and "Just a Dream"; Boyd also sung with the Rotations, who released a couple of singles.

When Otis Williams booted Dennis Edwards from the Temptations in 1977, Edwards moved to Cleveland and gigged at his late Uncle's construction company. He teamed with Massey and Truth members for one helluva road show which included Margaret Foxworth. They recorded Coming Home on Devaki Records; two singles, "Understanding" and "Coming Home," both co-written by Edwards, received some local play.

When it hit the streets, only Hancock and Green were on the cover. The liner notes say that Will Thomas, William Grover, Phil Coghill, Doris Wallace, and Foxworth assisted on vocals. Actually, Wallace only did a talking part on "Coming Home"; she didn't sing. People at the sessions insist that Watts and Boyd also contributed vocals. Coghill had sung with the short-lived True Movement ("Lovely Way to Meet"), who evolved into Avatarr ("I'm So Glad I Found You").

It didn't matter, the singles never clicked nationally and didn't make that big of a splash in Cleveland. When Edwards returned to the Temptations he took "Coming Home," which appeared on their Power album as "I'm Coming Home," with the writing credited to the Temptations. Hmmmm?

By 1980, Truth was history. Hancock remained involved in music and has appeared in a Broadway play. Boyd became a staff writer at Motown; his biggest cut was "Shaky Ground" on the Temptations, a song Phoebe Snow took to even greater heights. Foxworth backed Reverend Al Green on occasion, something she did before Truth, and ran a bar in Cleveland. The others became Joe lunch buckets.