Throughout the mid-to-late 1960s The Five Heartbeats receive numerous awards, chart several hits, and are featured on magazine covers. Eddie, however, starts abusing alcohol and cocaine, affecting his performance and prompting his girlfriend Baby Doll to break up with him. Convinced that Jimmy intends to replace him due to his deteriorating condition, he cuts a deal with Big Red to have Jimmy cut out of his contract. In retaliation, Jimmy threatens to go to the authorities with information about bootlegged LPs, cooked books, and payola that could have Big Red arrested, leading Red to have Jimmy killed in a hit disguised as an accident. Soon after Jimmy's funeral, the group learns that Eddie's deceit caused the fallout between Jimmy and Big Red. Big Red is eventually convicted of Jimmy's murder, forcing the group to sign with a new record label, and causing a guilt-ridden Eddie to leave in disgrace. By the early 1970s, Eddie has turned up at several Heartbeats concerts to try to convince his friends to let him back into the group, but his substance abuse has taken its toll on him by this time, and all the other Heartbeats can do is supply him with money out of sympathy; Duck later hears on the radio that Eddie was involved in an armed robbery and, after a shootout with the police, was in critical condition.