The Four Tops Biography, Photos and Posters

The Four Tops

Biography

Started: 1954
City and Country of Origin: Detroit, Michigan
Music Training:
Awards: 1990 inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; 1999 inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame
Top Recordings: "Baby I Need Your Loving," "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)," "It's the Same Old Song," "Something About You," "Shake Me, Wake Me (When It's Over)," "Reach Out I'll Be There," "Standing in the Shadows of Love," "Bernadette," "7-Rooms of Gloom," "Walk Away Renée," "Still Water (Love)," "Ain't No Woman (Like the One I've Got)," "When She Was My Girl"
The Four Tops Biography: The Four Tops are a versatile American Motown musical quartet, whose repertoire has included doo-wop, jazz, soul music, R&B, disco, adult contemporary, and showtunes. The group which started in Detroit, Michigan as The Four Aims, with lead singer Levi Stubbs (a cousin of Jackie Wilson), and groupmates Abdul "Duke" Fakir, Renaldo "Obie" Benson and Lawrence Payton, has remained together for over four decades. It was finally forced to endure a lineup change when Payton died in 1997. At that time, Theo Peoples was added to the lineup; Peoples later replaced Stubbs, who suffered a stroke, and Ronnie McNair assumed Peoples' spot. In July 2005, Benson died of lung cancer with Payton's son Roquel replacing him. As of September 11, 2006, Fakir, McNair, Payton and Peoples still perform together as the Four Tops.

They were among a number of groups who helped define the Motown Sound of the 1960s, including The Miracles, The Marvelettes, Martha and the Vandellas, The Temptations, and The Supremes. The Four Tops were notable for having Stubbs, a baritone, as their lead singer; most groups of the time were fronted by a tenor. The group was the main male vocal group for the songwriting and production team of Holland-Dozier-Holland, who crafted for the group a stream of hit singles, including two Billboard Hot 100 number-one hits: "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)" and "Reach Out I'll Be There". After Holland-Dozier-Holland left Motown in 1967, the Four Tops were assigned to a number of producers, primarily Frank Wilson. When Motown left Detroit in 1972 to move to Los Angeles, California, the Tops stayed in Detroit and moved over to ABC Records, where they continued to have charting singles into the late-1970s. Since the 1980s, the Four Tops have recorded for, at various times, Motown, Casablanca Records and Arista Records.

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