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"What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted" is classic Motown, propelled by the emotional vocals of Jimmy Ruffin, who this time, brings sunshine and happiness to this one off disco single, "Fallin, In Love With You". For this upload, I was on the search for a mint copy of the original 12" single that was never included on an album. The resulting sound is crystal clear and has a punch. Jimmy was born May 7, 1936 in Collinsville, Mississippi to Eli and Ophelia Ruffin. Within the next five years, Ophelia gave birth to siblings Quincy, Rita Mae, Rosa and David. Once David was old enough to sing, they joined a local gospel group called the Dixie Nightingales. Jimmy caught the ear of Berry Gordy in 1961 was signed to Miracle records, a subsidiary of Motown Records but soon moved to the main label. Drafted in the Army, he completed his tour and then returned to Motown in 1964 with a promising offer to join the Temptations. He was then upstaged by his brother David, who famously led the Tempts into their golden era starting with "My Girl". Jimmy decided to continue his solo career and was relegated to the lesser Soul label imprint where he floundered until 1966 when he asked for the opportunity to record a song meant for the Spinners, "What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted". That song catapulted him to fame and it peaked at #7 pop and #6 R&B and became his most popular single, driving his next couple of singles to the upper reaches of the charts. A follow up LP "Ruff 'n' Ready" did not provide any major hits. Ruffin then decided to concentrate on the UK market where his singles there all made the Top 10. Subsequent releases were then met with diminishing returns. Leaving Motown, he bounced from label to label doing one off productions like 1974's "Tell Me What You Want" a #5 disco hit on Chess Records. Then in 1977, he was paired with producer Richie Rome who had developed a lush production style in the vein of MFSB and created hits like The Ritchie Family's "Brazil". Jimmy was then surrounded by the pseudo-Philadelphia orchestral disco sounds on "Fallin' In Love" and with the uncredited Larry Levan mix was released on the Epic label peaking at #22 disco. A few years later, Robin Gibb took an interest in Ruffin and the collaboration resulted in "Hold On (To My Love)" a #10 pop hit in 1980. In 1986 he worked with Heaven 17 on their double A side 12 single "A Foolish Thing To Do/My Sensitivity". He then recorded duets with Brenda Holloway and Maxine Nightingale before hosting his own radio show in the UK taking a strong anti drug message with him after the unfortunate death of his brother, David Ruffin. He released his 1970 LP "I Am My Brother's Keeper" on CD for the first time in 2010, then a compilation of his hits hit the market in 2012 and spurred him to start working on a new album for a 2013 release. His failing health prevented completion of the new material and Ruffin was taken ill in mid October, 2014 then he died on November 17, 2014. Ruffin was 78. He left behind this scooby dooby doo disco delight that still sounds as vibrant and fresh as the day it was released. "Scooby ooby do, I'm so in love with you" looks pretty lame in print, but the way he soulfully swings that lyric around does a better job than the straight reading Frank Sinatra did with the scooby ooby doo in "Strangers In The Night".