Kell Osborne

Kell Osborne (March 12, 1939 – January 29, 2012) was an American singer best known as a member of The Primes, a group which would later be known as The Temptations.

Early years Kell Osborne was born in Birmingham, Alabama on March 12, 1939, he was raised by his deeply religious stepfather. His stepfather had wanted him to become a minister. However, he decided to be a singer. In 1955 he and his friends Eddie Kendricks, Paul Williams, and Willy Waller started a singing group known as The Cavaliers, and they began performing in Birmingham. In 1957 Waller left the group, and they were reduced to a trio. In 1958 they left Birmingham to break out into the music business. They settled in Cleveland, Ohio, where Milton Jenkins would become their manager.

They later moved to Detroit, Michigan, not too long after that Jenkins changed the group's name to The Primes, and they got a spin-off group known as The Primettes, members of that group included Diane (later Diana) Ross, Florence Ballard, Mary Wilson, and Betty McGlown. In 1960 Kell left the group and moved to Los Angeles, California to start a solo career, and as a result the group disbanded, Kendricks, and Williams would go on to become members of The Temptations.