At the age of 74, former lead singer of the hit Motown band Temptations Dennis Edwards passed away at a hospital in Chicago. His longtime booking agent Rosiland Triche Roberts confirmed he had been battling a long illness. She did not give further specifics on the cause.

Edwards became the front man of the band in 1968, replacing founding member David Ruffin. Edwards was on and off the group for about two decades, and released hits such as “Ball of Confusion (That’s What the World is Today)” and “Cloud Nine.”

Shortly after Mr. Edwards joined the group, the Temptations won their first Grammy, for the propulsive, upbeat “Cloud Nine”; they won another for the funk anthem “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone.” That song, like two other Temptations hits from that period — “I Can’t Get Next to You” and “Just My Imagination” (on which Mr. Kendricks sang lead) — reached No. 1 on the Billboard pop singles chart.

In 1989, Edwards was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with the rest of the Temptations band.

In the 1990s, a federal judge barred him from performing under his former band’s name. Otis Williams, the band’s lone original member, sued Edwards for trademark infringement after he had used variations that included “The New Temptations.” He was allowed to use “The Temptations Review featuring Dennis Edwards,” and performed under that name for nearly two decades, according to Roberts.

“He is now at peace, and our love and prayers go out to his family,” Williams said in a statement Friday. “At this moment and always, we acknowledge his extraordinary contribution to The Temptations legacy, which lives on in the music.”

Motown star Smokey Robinson said in a statement that he was saddened “that another Motown soldier is gone.”

“Rest in Peace my brother,” he said. “You were a great talent.”

He possessed a “voice for the ages,” with great range, energy and artistry, said Paul Riser, a Motown arranger and musician who worked with Edwards during the label’s Detroit heyday and on subsequent projects. “That voice was just flat-out outstanding – very well-defined.”

Mr. Edwards told The Tallahassee Democrat in 2013 “Marvin Gaye was a friend of mine, and he used to say, ‘Man, I wish I could sing like you, if I could have that growl in my voice.’ And I said, ‘Man, are you kidding me? I want to sing like you. Everybody wants to sing like you.’”

Before joining the Temptations, Mr. Edwards sang with another Motown group, the Contours, best known for their 1962 hit “Do You Love Me” (recorded before he joined them). The Contours opened for the Temptations in the late 1960s.

Born in Birmingham, Alabama, and as a teenager he sang in a gospel group and studied music at the Detroit Conservatory of Music before signing with Motown in the late 1960s.

Edwards lived near St. Louis with his wife, Brenda. He would have turned 75 on February 3rd.