Ralph Pruitt, the last original member of the Detroit singing group The Fantastic Four, has died of natural causes in Detroit at age 74.
The Fantastic Four was formed in 1965 by Pruitt along with his brother Joseph, James Epps and Wallace “Toby” Childs. They scored a top 10 R&B hit in 1967 with “The Whole World is A Stage” and then joined the Motown subsidiary Soul label as part of Motown’s purchase of the Tic-Toc label. The group continued to record with moderate success over the next half decade, landing the hits “You Gave Me Something” and “I Love You Madly” before joining the upstart Westbound label and landing the big, early disco hit, “Alvin Stone” in 1975.
Pruitt most recently performed as part of The New Fantastic Four, playing sporadically nearly until the time of his death. He will be missed.
