Four Tops

As one of the groups who defined the Motown sound in the 1950s and 1960s, the Four Tops were a huge influence on the wider music world with a series of immortal hit singles including “I Can't Help Myself” and “Reach Out I'll Be There.” They were originally formed by Levi Stubbs, Duke Fakir, Obie Benson, and Lawrence Payton when all were students in Detroit - originally performing as the Four Aims and changing their name to the Four Tops to avoid confusion with another group, the Ames Brothers. Signed to Chess Records in 1956, they released a series of records without any great success before Berry Gordy added them to the Motown stable in 1963, initially playing jazz and then singing back-up vocals for the Supremes. Their big breakthrough came in 1964 with the Holland-Dozier-Holland song “Baby I Need Your Loving,” which launched them on the path to a long series of international hits. In 1965, they hit the number 1 spot in the US with “I Can't Help Myself” but even this triumph was outstripped a year later by “Reach Out I'll Be There,” a number 1 in both the US and the UK and now one of the all-time great Motown classics. Other hits like “Standing in The Shadow of Love” (1966), “Bernadette” (1966), “If I Were a Carpenter” (1968), and “Walk Away Renée” (1968) followed - and at one point they teamed up with the Supremes for recordings. Even the group’s albums – including On Top (1966), Reach Out (1967), Yesterday’s Dreams (1968), and Still Waters Run Deep (1970) – were big sellers for Motown. As the hits dried up and Motown shifted focus in the 1970s, they left the label and signed with ABC-Dunhill, moving in an R&B direction. It was during this period that they scored their biggest ‘70s hit with “Ain’t No Woman (Like the One I’ve Got)” (1974), which reached number 4 on the Hot 100 Singles chart. They were back with Motown in the 1980s but, despite a return to the charts in 1988 with the Indestructible album on Arista Records, their hit-making days were effectively over. However, they still toured, continuing for a while as the Tops after the death of Lawrence Payton in 1997. He was eventually replaced by Theo Peoples, and they became the Four Tops again. However, original member Obie Benson died in 2005. Peoples took over the role of front man and lead singer when Levi Stubbs became ill with cancer (and died in 2008). The Four Tops’ last surviving original member, Abdul ‘Duke’ Fakir, died on July 22, 2024, at the age of 88.

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