In the new historical film Detroit, the city is reeling during the upheaval of the Civil Rights Movement, culminating in a brutal raid at the Algiers Motel that left three teenagers dead. One of those teens, Fred Temple, was a friend and the valet for the R&B group, The Dramatics, who happened to be performing in Detroit on that very night. The Dramatics retell the experience in the latest episode of TV One’s Unsung, airing Sunday, July 30 at 10 p.m.
Watch Dramatics surviving member Larry “Squirrel” Demps recount the Detroit Riots: http://bit.ly/2v3eOpm
Adding to the chaos, Dramatics members Rod David and Larry Reed were terrorized and bloodied by police. They had all been downtown performing a show at the Fox Theater and took refuge at the Motel once the concert ended that fateful July night in 1967. They had no idea what lay ahead in the upcoming hours.
“The effect on us was tremendous,” says Larry “Squirrel” Demps. “It brought us closer together, first of all, and we started to take much more seriously what we were doing.”
The quintet went on to record some of the most catchy hits of the 1970’s – starting with “Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get,” a Top Ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100. They continued producing chart-toppers though the decade, including “Hey You! Get Off My Mountain” and “In The Rain,” making them one of the most distinct R&B groups of all time.
Insights from family and friends are provided by members Willie Ford, Larry “Squirrel” Demps, and L.J. Reynolds; Al Bell, Marcus Chapman, Tony Green, Gerald McBride, David Washington, Cedric The Entertainer, and Snoop Dogg.
About Unsung: Unsung is narrated by actor Gary Anthony Williams and is Executive Produced by Arthur Smith and Frank Sinton of A. Smith & Co. Productions. Mark Rowland is Executive Producer. For TV One, Jubba Seyyid is Executive in Charge of Production and Sr. Director of Programming; Robyn Arrington Greene is Vice President, Original Programming and Production; and D'Angela Proctor is Head of Original Programming and Production.
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