On June 20, 1997, 59-year-old Lawrence Payton died as a result of liver cancer, after singing for 44 years with the Four Tops who, unlike many Motown groups, never had a single lineup change until then. The Four Tops sind eine afroamerikanische Soul-Gesangsband aus Detroit. Formado em 1954 por Levi Stubbs, Lawrence Payton, Renaldo Benson e Abdul "Duke" Fakir nascidos e criados em Detroit, Michigan, Estados Unidos, "The Four Tops" foi o único grupo da época de ouro da gravadora Motown a permanecer na ativa e com sucesso. I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch), I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch), https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Hot_R%26B/Hip-Hop_Songs, https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Adult_Contemporary_(chart), Without the One You Love (Life's Not Worth While), https://encyclopedia.fandom.com/wiki/Four_Tops?oldid=18735, "Just Seven Numbers (Can Straighten Out My Life)", Grammy Hall Of Fame (Reach Out I'll Be There-1998), Billboard Magazine Top 100 Artists of All Time(#77). It was also featured in the 1988 science-fiction cop film, Alien Nation.. Another track, "Loco In Acapulco", written and produced by British pop musician, Phil Collins and former Motown composer-producer, Lamont Dozier climbed into the UK Top 10. The group was the main male vocal group for the highly successful songwritingand production team of Holland–Dozier–Holland, who crafted a stream of hit singles on Motown. Motown as a company began to change during the early 1970s. The Four Tops sind ein amerikanisches Vokalquartett aus Detroit , Michigan , das den Motown-Sound der Stadt der 1960er Jahre mitbestimmt hat. The original line-up of the Group was: Levi Stubbs (lead singer), Renaldo "Obie" Benson (), Lawrence Payton and Abdul "Duke" Fakir.. During the most successful part of their career they made part of the record company established in Motown Detroit. From the late 1980s, the Four Tops focused on touring and live performances, They recorded only one album, returning again to Motown for 1995'sChristmas Here With You. Four Tops - Reach Out (I'll Be There), ein Hit im Jahr 1966. However, the song proved to be much more popular on trend-setting radio stations in key U.S. markets and has since grown in popularity over the years to be one of the group's classic tracks. They decided to craft the song as a more mainstream pop song for the Four Tops and proceeded to create "Baby I Need Your Loving" from the lyric-less instrumental track. On July 1, 2005, Benson died of lung cancer with Payton's son Roquel Payton replacing him. As of 2014, fifty years after their first Motown hit, Fakir is the only surviving founding member of the original group and Payton is a second-generation member. The following singles reached the top thirty of the singles charts. The Four Tops are an American Motown musical quartet, whose repertoire has included doo-wop, jazz, soul music, RnB, disco, adult contemporary, showtunes, and even psychedelic rock.Founded in Detroit, Michigan as The Four Aims, lead singer Levi Stubbs and group mates Abdul "Duke" Fakir, Renaldo "Obie" Benson, and Lawrence Payton remained together for over four decades, … They scored hits with their versions of Tim Hardin's "If I Were a Carpenter" in late 1967 (mid-1968 in the U.S.) and the Left Banke's "Walk Away Renée" in early 1968. The Top 10 U.S. hit "Bernadette" centered around a man's all-consuming obsession with his lover,[2]continued the Four Tops' successful run into April 1967, followed by the Top 20 hits "7-Rooms of Gloom", and "You Keep Running Away". In 1998, they recruited former Temptation Theo Peoples toRESTORE the group to a quartet. It also served as an inspiration for Marvin Gaye's 1971 classic album What's Going On, the title track of which was co-written by the Tops' Obie Benson. The Four Tops were among a number of groups, including The Miracles, The Marvelettes, Martha and the Vandellas, The Temptations, and The Supremes, who established the Motown Sound around the world during the 1960s. Encyclopedia Wikia is a FANDOM Lifestyle Community. However, they were late getting out of a recording session and overslept, causing them to miss the ill-fatedFLIGHT which crashed in Lockerbie, Scotland, after a terrorist bomb was detonated on board.[3][4]. At the insistence of their friends, Pershing High students Levi Stubbs and Abdul "Duke" Fakir performed withRenaldo "Obie" Benson and Lawrence Payton from Northern High at a local birthday party. Four Tops includes the singles "Baby I Need Your Loving" , "Without the One You Love (Life's Not Worth While)", and "Ask the Lonely The Four Tops have won many awards during their long and distinguished career, including the following: After similar releases in the Motown "Definitive DVD" series on The Miracles, The Temptations, The Supremes, and Marvin Gaye, The Four Tops' Motown Definitive DVD, "Reach Out," was finally released on November 11, 2008. Four Tops je američki vokalni kvartet, čiji je repertoar uključivao doo-wop, jazz, soul, R&B, disco, hard rock i evergrine. The song did not fare well on the U.S. charts, but reached number three on the UK charts. In addition, they filled in time by singing backup on Motown singles[2] such as The Supremes' "Run, Run, Run." A change of line-up was finally forced upon the group when Lawrence Payton died on June 20, 1997. The Four Tops i action i 1967 på New Rochelle High School, New York. Levi Stubbs (originalni član) Renaldo "Obie" Benson (originalni član) Lawrence Payton (originalni član) Theo Peoples. "Reach Out I'll Be There" hit #1 on the U.S. pop and R&B charts[2] and UK chart and soon became The Tops' signature song. Which makes it easier for ME, because I truly miss Lawrence, 'Obie' AND Levi - I'd be lying if I said I didn't - and not one of them could EVER be replaced. But, you know, these new guys do perform well enough for the people to still enjoy the shows and still enjoy the music. Founded as The Four Aims, lead singer Levi Stubbs, and groupmates Abdul "Duke" Fakir, Renaldo "Obie" Benson and Lawrence Payton remained together for over four decades, having gone from 1953 until 1997 without a change in personnel. Four Tops. The Four Tops är en amerikansk vokal soul grupp. The group's repertoire has included soul music , R&B , disco , adult contemporary , doo-wop , jazz, and show tunes. These included two Billboard Hot 100 number-one hits for the Tops: "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)" in 1965 and "Reach Out I'll Be There" in 1966. The first follow-up single, "Without the One You Love (Life's Not Worth While)", just missed both the pop and R&B Top 40 charts, but "Ask the Lonely", written and produced by Motown A&R head Mickey Stevenson with Ivy Hunter, was a Top 30 pop hit and a Top 10 R&B hit in early 1965. By 1983, The Tops had rejoined Motown, where their former ABC-Dunhill producer, Steve Barri was vice-president of A&R. Peoples eventually took over the role of lead singer when Stubbs suffered a stroke in 2000, with Ronnie McNeir then joining the group. Four Tops er en amerikansk vokalkvartet, der siden midten af 1950'erne har optrådt og indspillet en lang række plader med musik inden for genrer som jazz, soul, R&B, disco og meget andet. By now, The Tops were the most successful male Motown act in the United Kingdom (in the United States, they were second to The Temptations), and began experimenting with more mainstream pop hits. The group's repertoire has included soul music, R&B, disco, adult contemporary, doo-wop, jazz, and show tunes. These singles and the original "I'm In a Different World" were their last hits produced by Holland-Dozier-Holland, who left Motown in 1967 after disputes with Berry Gordy over royalties and ownership of company shares. De Four Tops is een Amerikaanse muziekgroep van vier rhythm-and-blueszangers die succesvol was in de jaren 60, 70 en 80 van de twintigste eeuw. So for me, it kinda makes it bittersweet. Learn how and when to remove this template message, Without the One You Love (Life's Not Worth While), List of number-one R&B albums of 1965 (U.S.), "Motown Album Discography, Part 1 (1961-1981)", I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Four_Tops_(album)&oldid=1019161403, Articles needing additional references from April 2021, All articles needing additional references, Short description is different from Wikidata, Album articles lacking alt text for covers, Wikipedia articles with MusicBrainz release group identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 21 April 2021, at 20:53. Only one more Tops album would be released by Motown, Magic in 1985. ", In December 1988, the Tops had been scheduled to board Pan Am Flight 103 to return to the U.S. for Christmas after completing their European tour. He also took over lead vocal duties on several tracks. Follow-ups included the million-selling "Ain't No Woman (Like the One I've Got)", also a top 10 pop hit and their third R&B number 1, and the Top 20 hit, "Are You Man Enough", (from the movie "Shaft In Africa"). Levi Stubbs and Temptation Otis Williamsdecided the Temptations/Tops battle would be a good one to take on the road and both groups began semi-regular joint tours. 2 On July 4, 1987 performed on "Welcome Home (Viet Nam Veterans"), an all day music special seen on HBO US cable. The Four Tops were honored with an induction into the R&B Music Hall of Fame at the Inaugural ceremony held at Cleveland State University's Waetejen Auditorium on Saturday August 17, 2013. Four Tops je americká skupina, jejíž popularita kulminovala v 60. letech 20. století. In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked them #79 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.[5]. The following year, the Four Tops decided to leave for Arista Records, buying back several masters they had recorded for Hot Nights. Signing aDEAL withCasablanca Records, the Tops made a comeback in 1981 with the #1 R&B hit "When She Was My Girl". Their first major hit in a long time came in the form of 1970's "It's All in the Game", a pop Top 30/R&B Top Ten hit produced by Frank Wilson. Four Tops records often represented the epitome of the Motown Sound: simple distinctive melodies and rhymes, call-and-response lyrics, and the musical contributions of studio band, The Funk Brothers. Das Repertoire der Gruppe umfasst Soulmusik , R & B , Disco , Adult Contemporary , Doo-Wop , Jazz und Show .. In 1972, it was announced that the entire company would move west and that all its artists had to move as well. Le groupe, originaire de Détroit , est composé à la base des membres suivants : Levi Stubbs (un cousin du chanteur Jackie Wilson ), Abdul « Duke » Fakir, Renaldo « Obie » Benson et Lawrence Payton. HQ-Video. Abdul " Duke " Fakir (born December 26, 1935) is an American singer. In addition, H-D-H used additional background vocals from female background vocalists, The Andantes on many of the songs, to add a high end to the low-voiced harmony of The Tops. The album was written and produced by the Motown's main writing/producing team Holland-Dozier-Holland. Theo Peoples also left the Tops to form his own group and was replaced by Harold 'Spike' Bonhart as lead singer. When singing the last line of "The Star Spangled Banner", "...and the home of the brave", they quickly sang the words "Ain't No country Like the One I Got", before singing the last word, "brave". Recording mainly in Los Angeles, they continued to have chart singles into the late 1970s, including the million-seller, "Ain't No Woman", their second release on Dunhill, produced by Steve Barri and composers Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter. Older acts such as Martha and the Vandellas and The Marvelettes were slowly moved aside or dropped to focus on newer acts, such as Michael Jackson and The Jackson 5, Rare Earth, and the now-solo Diana Ross. Der Rolling … The title track of 1988's Indestructible was the group's final Top 40 hit, reaching No. The Four Tops est un quartet américain de la maison de disques Motown, dont le répertoire est principalement composé de styles doo-wop, jazz, musique soul, R&B et disco. The Four Tops is an American music group of four rhythm-and-blues singers which was successful in the 60 's, 70 's and 80 's of the 20th century. In addition to their own albums, the Tops were paired with The Supremes, who had just replaced lead singer Diana Ross with Jean Terrell, for a series of albums billed under the joint title The Magnificent Seven: The Magnificent Seven in 1970, and The Return of the Magnificent Seven and Dynamite! Many of the older Motown acts, already neglected by the label, opted to stay in Detroit, including The Funk Brothers studio backing band, Martha Reeves, and the Four Tops. The Four Tops. The album Hot Nights was completed in 1986, but was then cancelled, as the group and the Motown label began to disagree over marketing and musicalDIRECTION. Wilson and the Tops began working on a number ofINNOVATIVE tracks and albums together, echoing Whitfield's psychedelic soul work with The Temptations. 1960年代 の モータウン で「アイ・キャント・ヘルプ・マイセルフ」などのヒットを放った。. Lawrence Payton's son Roquel (real name Lawrence Payton, Jr.) replaced Benson as the new bass (Roquel could be seen in the pledge break interviews of Motown: The Early Years). 「 ローリング・ストーン の選ぶ歴史上最も偉大な100組のアーティスト」において第79位。. In addition to their own recordings, the Four Tops also worked in the fields of television and motion pictures. The group's first release on the label, "Keeper of the Castle" was their first pop Top 10 hit since "Bernadette" in 1967. He is a founding member of the Motown act the Four Tops, from 1953 to the present day. Ce groupe, originaire de Détroit , était composé à la base des membres suivants : Levi Stubbs (un cousin du chanteur Jackie Wilson ), Abdul « Duke » Fakir, Renaldo « Obie » Benson, et Lawrence Payton. The Arista contract provided an opportunity to pair Levi Stubbs with fellow Arista artist, another legendary R&B vocalist from Detroit, Aretha Franklin, who was at the height of her own 1980s hit streak. Benson appeared on one more PBS special and died on July 1, 2005, from lung cancer. Osnovan je u Detroitu pod imenom The Four Aims, od strane Levija Stubbsa (rođaka Jackieja Wilsona i brata Joea Stubbsa iz grupe The Falcons ), te Abdula "Dukea" Fakira, … The group as a whole performed a song for the 1982 film Grease 2, and Levi Stubbs provided the vocals for the man-eating plant Audrey II in the 1986 musical film, Little Shop of Horrors; and the voice of the evil Mother Brain on the Nintendo-based NBC Saturday morning cartoon Captain N: The Game Master from 1989 to 1991. The album was written and produced by the Motown's main writing/producing team Holland-Dozier-Holland. 1 Also Known As 2 American Dreams 2.1 Black and White 2.2 Real-To-Reel 2.3 Home Again Four Tops The Four Aims The Tops Add … In 1963, Berry Gordy, Jr., who had worked with Roquel Davis as a songwriter in the late-1950s, convinced The Tops to join the roster of his growing Motown record company. Fakir, McNeir, Payton, and Harold "Spike" Bonhart, who replaced Peoples in 2011, are still performing together as the Four Tops. The Four Tops sang the National Anthem before the start of game 5 for the 2011 ALCS between the Texas Rangers & Detroit Tigers on October 13, 2011 in Detroit, MI. Apart from theirIndestructible album (owned by Sony Music Entertainment), Universal Music Group controls the rights to their entire post-1963 catalog (through various mergers and acquisitions), as well as their 1956 single, "Could It Be You". The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990, and into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1999. It was another Top 10 hit for the Tops. The Four Tops consisted of the same four members (Abdul "Duke" Fakir, Renaldo "Obie" Benson, Lawrence Payton and lead singer Levi Stubbs) for over 40 years. in 1971. The Four Tops are an American vocal quartet from Detroit, Michigan who helped to define the city's Motown sound of the 1960s. Fra Wikipedia, den frie encyklopædi. During their early Motown years, the Four Tops recorded jazz standards for the company's Workshop label. Gruppens storhedstid var i 1960'erne, hvor de blev en del af Motown … 35. Gruppen bildades 1953 i Detroit, Michigan under namnet The Four Aims, innan de 1956 bytte till Four Tops. Produced by David Wolfert, it just missed the Billboard pop Top 10, peaking at #11. The 1971 single "A Simple Game" featured backing vocals from members of The Moody Blues. The quartet decided to remain together and christened themselves The Four Aims. Two ABC/Dunhill singles, 1974's "I Just Can't Get You Out Of My Mind" and 1975's "Seven Lonely Nights" have become popular tunes in the southeast Beach/Shag Club Dance circuit. Whilst the albums themselves did not perform really well on the charts, The Magnificent Seven featured a Top 20 version of Ike & Tina Turner's "River Deep - Mountain High", produced by Ashford & Simpson. Stubbs later died on October 17, 2008 at his home in Detroit. When Motown left Detroit in 1972 to move to Los Angeles, California, the Tops stayed in Detroit but signed a new recordingDEAL with ABC Records' Dunhill imprint. The Four Tops are a vocalquartet. Ivy Hunter's "Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever" was one of a few exceptions. In the 1980s, the Four Tops recorded for Casablanca Records, Arista Records and Motown, returning to that label on two occasions for brief stays. Founded as The Four Aims, lead singer Levi Stubbs, and groupmates Abdul "Duke" Fakir , Renaldo "Obie" Benson and Lawrence Payton remained together for … This pairing resulted in the song "If Ever A Love There Was", which became a popular R&B and Adult Contemporary hit, as well as being featured on the soundtrack of the motion picture "I'm Gonna Get You Sucka. A live performance by The Four Tops, of their last Billboard Hot 100 Top 20 hit, "When She Was My Girl". I Four Tops furono uno dei gruppi che aiutarono a definire il riconoscibile stile musicale della Motown degli anni Sessanta.Insieme a The Miracles, The Marvelettes, Martha and the Vandellas, The Temptations, e The Supremes, i Four Tops erano soprattutto famosi dato che il cantante, Stubbs, era un baritono, mentre la maggior parte degli altri gruppi avevano un tenore. It's not clear how many songs from Hot Nights were used on Indestructible, but the 2001 box set, Fourever includes the title track (previously released as a single), Red Hot Love and The Four Of Us (previously released outside the U.S. on a CD single of Loco in Acapulco), as well as Indestructible. A whole side of the album was produced by Holland-Dozier-Holland, including the R&B Top 40 single, "I Just Can't Walk Away." All four members of the group began their careers together while they were high school students in Detroit. Levi Stubbs died on October 17, 2008. After scoring their first #1 hit, "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)" in June 1965, the Four Tops began a long series of successful hit singles. The final PBS special, titled Motown: The Early Years, featured a message of Benson's passing following theCREDITS. After Holland-Dozier-Holland left Motown in 1967, the Four Tops were assigned to a number of producers, primarily Frank Wilson, but generally with less success.