✦ A VOICE THAT NEVER NEEDED TO SHOUT TO BE HEARD
Jimmy Ruffin was never the loudest man in the room. He didn’t need to be. Born in Collinsville, Mississippi, in 1936, Jimmy grew up in the deep cradle of gospel, where voices weren’t trained—they were shaped by devotion, hardship, and hope. His voice carried all three. By the time he reached adulthood, that voice had become a vessel capable of holding both strength and sorrow.
Yet he didn’t chase fame with reckless ambition. Jimmy’s rise was slow, patient, and humble—gigs at local clubs, singing in church choirs, and absorbing the sounds of Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson, and Ray Charles. In those years, he learned something vital: soul music wasn’t about vocal acrobatics. It was about telling the truth.
His truth was quiet.
But when he stepped up to a microphone, it rang louder than thunder.
✦ ENTERING THE MOTOWN UNIVERSE
Detroit in the early 1960s was a dream machine. Musicians, producers, and songwriters moved through Motown’s studios as if powered by electricity. Berry Gordy’s empire was polishing the soundtrack of a new America—sleek, bright, and burning with youth.
Jimmy Ruffin walked into this world not as its chosen star, but as a young singer with promise. His younger brother, David Ruffin, would soon join The Temptations and become one of Motown’s most explosive frontmen. But Jimmy wasn’t jealous. He wasn’t in a race. He had a different flame—slower, steadier, completely his own.
At first, Motown wasn’t sure what to do with him. Jimmy’s voice didn’t fit neatly into the pop-soul mould the label was pushing at the time. It was too emotional, too wounded, too human. Producers were used to glossy perfection; Jimmy offered raw truth.
And then came the song that changed everything.
✦ “WHAT BECOMES OF THE BROKENHEARTED” – A SOUL ANTHEM FOR EVERYONE LEFT BEHIND
When Jimmy first heard “What Becomes of the Brokenhearted,” he immediately understood it in his bones.
It wasn’t just a song.
It was a confession.
He sang it for the lonely.
For the grieving.
For the overlooked.
For the people who stood just outside the sunshine of life.
When he stepped into the studio to record it in 1966, something happened that startled even the Motown producers. Jimmy wasn’t performing—he was unraveling. His voice cracked in all the right places. He dragged certain lines like they weighed too much. He lifted others like they were breaking free from despair.
Most singers try to sound strong.
Jimmy sounded real.
The song soared to the top of the charts. Suddenly, Jimmy Ruffin—once considered “too emotional” for mainstream soul—became the voice of every heart that had ever been bruised.
People didn’t just listen.
They held on to that song.
They used it to survive breakups, loss, disappointment, and nights they didn’t know how to navigate.
To this day, “What Becomes of the Brokenhearted” remains one of soul music’s most enduring prayers.
✦ THE ARTIST WHO NEVER CHASED THE SPOTLIGHT
With fame came expectation—but Jimmy remained the same humble Mississippi man who learned to sing in a church pew. He wasn’t fascinated by the glamorous Motown lifestyle. While other artists filled rooms with wild celebration, Jimmy preferred quiet conversations, slow laughter, and the comfort of close friends.
He once said, “I’m not here to be a star. I’m here to be honest.”
That honesty infused his follow-up singles:
• “I’ve Passed This Way Before”
• “Gonna Give Her All the Love I’ve Got”
• “Farewell Is a Lonely Sound”
Each track returned to the same emotional universe—songs for people who had been hurt but kept moving anyway. Jimmy didn’t dress heartbreak in bright colors. He let it stay tender, heavy, and unpolished.
And audiences loved him for it.
✦ BROTHERHOOD, RIVALRY, AND A SHARED PAIN
The world often compared Jimmy Ruffin to his younger brother David, the fiery voice of The Temptations. But their relationship wasn’t competition—it was tragedy and triumph interwoven.
David burned brightly and dangerously, fighting demons Jimmy couldn’t pull him away from. Jimmy spent years worried, years hopeful, years praying that his younger brother would survive the storm that fame unleashed on him.
When David died in 1991, Jimmy was gutted.
He had lost not just a brother, but a second heartbeat.
But instead of collapsing, Jimmy poured his grief back into music—returning to the stage, his voice heavier but wiser. His performances gained new gravity. When he sang of loss now, it wasn’t interpretation. It was memory.
✦ THE QUIET YEARS AND A RESPECTED COMEBACK
The 1980s and 1990s were kind to Jimmy in a subtle way. He toured Europe, where his music received the deep appreciation it always deserved. British audiences embraced him, and Jimmy found a second home across the Atlantic.
His voice aged beautifully—still tender, still earnest, but now wrapped in a warm, smoky texture. He collaborated with younger artists, experimented with new sounds, and even enjoyed a resurgence of “What Becomes of the Brokenhearted” through film and radio, introducing him to new generations.
Jimmy Ruffin never faded.
He just moved at his own pace, unaffected by trends or impatience.
✦ NOVEMBER 17, 2014 – THE DAY THE SOUL WORLD WENT QUIET
Jimmy Ruffin passed away on November 17, 2014 in Las Vegas at the age of 78.
The news hit with an intimacy reserved for only a certain kind of artist—the ones who don’t sing to the world, but to the individual heart.
When fans grieved him, they didn’t talk about concerts or awards. They talked about personal moments:
• listening to “Brokenhearted” after a breakup
• hearing his voice during a lonely drive
• finding comfort in the gentleness he carried in every phrase
Jimmy didn’t just make music.
He made companionship for people who felt alone.
His legacy isn’t measured in platinum records.
It’s measured in the number of souls he soothed.
✦ THE LEGACY THAT STILL WHISPERS TODAY
Jimmy Ruffin’s magic was subtle.
He never dominated the spotlight.
He never chased headlines.
He never demanded attention.
Yet his voice continues to drift through time like a warm wind across an old memory.
He left us a toolkit for healing:
• honesty
• vulnerability
• gentleness
• emotional truth
And through “What Becomes of the Brokenhearted,” he left us a permanent shelter—a song that will outlive every heartbreak, every decade, every shifting trend.
Jimmy Ruffin’s gift was not power.
It was compassion.
And compassion echoes longer than fame.