Four Tops

Biography

The Four Tops are an American vocal group formed in Detroit, Michigan, in 1953 as the Four Aims. They were one of the most commercially successful American pop music groups of the 1960s and helped propel Motown Records to international fame. The group's repertoire has incorporated elements of soul, R&B, disco, adult contemporary, doo-wop, jazz, and show tunes. Lead singer Levi Stubbs, along with backing vocalists Abdul "Duke" Fakir, Renaldo "Obie" Benson and Lawrence Payton remained together in the group for more than four decades, performing until 1997 without a change in personnel. Along with fellow Motown groups the Miracles, the Marvelettes, Martha and the Vandellas, the Temptations, and the Supremes, the Four Tops helped to establish the "Motown sound"; pop-friendly soul and R&B with a clean, polished production quality. They were notable for having Stubbs, a baritone, as their lead singer, whereas most other male and mixed vocal groups of the time were fronted by tenors.
The group was the primary male vocal group for the highly successful songwriting and production team of Holland–Dozier–Holland, who wrote numerous hit singles for Motown. 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×Reach Out I'll Be There17 December 2007 · Album · CompilationSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 25 tracks · 2 discsDisc 11Reach Out I'll Be There4:042Papa Was a Rollin' Stone3:123When She Was My Girl3:164All Night Long5:445My Girl5:016Ride Like the Wind4:167For Your Love3:448That's the Way Love Goes (interlude)1:089Your Turn to Cry4:4210Ain't No Woman (Like the One I Got)3:1011It's All the Game2:5512Whenever I'm With You6:0413The Lover in Me and You4:37Disc 21Bernadette2:312I Can't Help Myself3:323Walk Away Renee2:214Baby I Nedd Your Loving4:565It's the Same Old Song1:356McArthur Park5:487Still Water (Love)3:108Always and Forever10:569Something About You1:3810Keeper of the Castle1:5811Ask the Lonely4:2512In the Still of the Night2:54" in 1966. The group continued to chart singles into the 1970s, including the million-seller "Ain't No Woman" (1973). The Four Tops were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990, the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1999, and the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame in 2013. In 2010, Rolling Stone ranked them number 79 on its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time".
On July 20, 2024, the last surviving original member, Fakir, retired. He died two days later.

Early years

All four members of the group began their careers together while they were high-school students in Detroit. At the insistence of their friends, Pershing High students Levi Stubbs and Abdul "Duke" Fakir performed with Renaldo "Obie" Benson and Lawrence Payton from Northern High at a local birthday party. The quartet decided to remain together and named the group the Four Aims. With the help of Payton's songwriter cousin Billy Davis, the Aims signed to Chess Records in 1956, changing their name to the Four Tops to avoid confusion with the Ames Brothers.
Over the next seven years, the Tops had unsuccessful tenures at Chess, Red Top, Riverside Records and Columbia Records. Without any hit records to their name, they toured frequently, developing a polished stage presence as an experienced supper club act, as well as supporting Billy Eckstine. In 1963, Berry Gordy, who had worked with Davis as a songwriter in the late 1950s, convinced the Tops to join the roster of his growing Motown record company.

Joining Motown

During their early Motown years, the Four Tops recorded jazz standards for the company's Workshop Jazz Records label. In addition, they sang backup on Motown singles by the Supremes ("Run, Run, Run", 1964), Martha and the Vandellas (on the 1966 hit "My Baby Loves Me") and others.
In 1964, Motown's main songwriting and production team, Holland–Dozier–Holland, created a complete instrumental track without any idea of what to do with it. 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 instrumental track. On its release in mid-1964, "Baby I Need Your Loving" made it to number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The first follow-up single, "Without the One You Love (Life's Not Worth While)" (1964), just missed both the pop and R&B Top 40 charts, but "Ask the Lonely" (1965), written and produced by Motown A&R head William "Mickey" Stevenson with Ivy Jo Hunter, was a Top 30 pop hit and a Top 10 R&B hit in early 1965.

Success

After their first number 1 hit, "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)" in June 1965, the Four Tops released a long series of successful hit singles. Among the first wave of these hits were the Top 10 "It's the Same Old Song×It's The Same Old Song9 July 1965 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAIt's The Same Old Song2:43BYour Love Is Amazing2:24" (1965), "Something About You" (1965), "Shake Me, Wake Me (When It's Over)" (1966), and "Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever" (1966).
Holland–Dozier–Holland wrote most of Stubbs' vocals in a tenor range, near the top of his range, in order to get a sense of strained urgency in his gospel preacher-inspired leads. They also wrote additional background vocals for a female group, the Andantes, on many of the songs, to add a high end to the low-voiced harmony of the Tops. Ivy Jo Hunter's "Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever" (1966) was one of a few exceptions.
August 1966 brought the release of the Four Tops' all-time biggest hit and one of the most popular Motown songs ever. "Reach Out I'll Be There×Reach Out I'll Be There17 December 2007 · Album · CompilationSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 25 tracks · 2 discsDisc 11Reach Out I'll Be There4:042Papa Was a Rollin' Stone3:123When She Was My Girl3:164All Night Long5:445My Girl5:016Ride Like the Wind4:167For Your Love3:448That's the Way Love Goes (interlude)1:089Your Turn to Cry4:4210Ain't No Woman (Like the One I Got)3:1011It's All the Game2:5512Whenever I'm With You6:0413The Lover in Me and You4:37Disc 21Bernadette2:312I Can't Help Myself3:323Walk Away Renee2:214Baby I Nedd Your Loving4:565It's the Same Old Song1:356McArthur Park5:487Still Water (Love)3:108Always and Forever10:569Something About You1:3810Keeper of the Castle1:5811Ask the Lonely4:2512In the Still of the Night2:54" reached number 1 on the U.S. pop and R&B charts and the UK chart and soon became the Tops' signature song. It was almost immediately followed by the similar-sounding "Standing in the Shadows of Love×Standing in the Shadows of Love28 November 1966 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAStanding in the Shadows of Love2:36BSince You’ve Been Gone2:38"; its depiction of heartbreak reflecting the opposite of the optimism in "Reach Out×Reach OutJuly 1967 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracksA1Reach Out I'll Be There2:58A2Walk Away Renee2:42A37-Rooms of Gloom2:31A4If I Were a Carpenter2:47A5Last Train to Clarksville2:38A6I'll Turn to Stone2:33B1I'm a Believer2:36B2Standing in the Shadows of Love2:34B3Bernadette3:00B4Cherish3:00B5Wonderful Baby2:30B6What Else Is There to Do (But Think About You)2:28". It was another Top 10 hit for the Tops. The band recorded the first live album, Four Tops Live×Four Tops LiveFebruary 1967 · Album · LiveSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 14 tracks1Introduction0:032It’s The Same Old Song2:333It’s Not Unusual2:524Baby I Need Your Loving5:425Reach Out I’ll Be There3:156I’ll Turn To Stone2:197I Left My Heart In San Francisco5:038You Can’t Hurry Love2:389Ask The Lonely4:1010Climb Ev’ry Mountain4:1511The Girl From Ipanema2:4012If I Had A Hammer7:2813I Can’t Help Myself5:5214I Like Everything About You3:20! at two dates in mid-1966 and Motown released the recording in November of that year.

The Top 10 U.S. hit "Bernadette" centered around a man's all-consuming obsession with his lover, continued the Four Tops' successful run into April 1967, followed by the Top 20 hits "7-Rooms of Gloom×7-Rooms of Gloom2 May 1967 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracks17‐Rooms of Gloom2:312I’ll Turn to Stone2:33", and "You Keep Running Away". 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. 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. These singles and the original "I'm in a Different World×I'm in a Different World19 September 1968 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAI'm In A Different World2:54BRemember When2:58" were their last hits produced by Holland–Dozier–Holland, who left Motown in 1967 after disputes with Berry Gordy Jr.

Late Motown period

Without Holland–Dozier–Holland, the hits became less frequent. The group worked with a wide array of Motown producers during the late 1960s, including Ivy Jo Hunter, Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson, Norman Whitfield and Johnny Bristol, without significant chart success.
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. Wilson and the Tops began working on a number of innovative tracks and albums together, echoing Whitfield's psychedelic soul work with the Temptations. Their 1970 album Still Waters Run Deep×Still Waters Run Deep1970 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracks1Still Water (Love)3:112Reflections3:273It's All in the Game2:464Everybody's Talking2:555Love Is the Answer2:286I Wish I Were Your Mirror3:117Elusive Butterfly3:098Bring Me Together3:019L.A. (My Town)3:0410Still Water (Peace)2:47 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' Benson.
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 7 in 1970, and The Return of the Magnificent Seven and Dynamite! in 1971. While the albums themselves did not perform really well on the charts, The Magnificent 7 featured a Top 20 version of Ike & Tina Turner's "River Deep – Mountain High", produced by Ashford & Simpson.
The 1971 single "(A) Simple Game" was a Moody Blues cover and featured backing vocals from members of that band. The song did not fare well on the U.S. charts, but reached number three on the UK chart.

ABC/Dunhill Records and Casablanca Records

Motown as a company began to change during the early 1970s. 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. In addition, the company moved its operations from Detroit to Los Angeles, California, where Berry Gordy Jr. planned to break into the motion picture and television industries. In 1972, it was announced that the entire company would move west and that all its artists had to move as well. 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 Tops departed Motown for ABC-Dunhill, where they were assigned to writer-producers Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter and the label's head of A&R, Steve Barri as producer, with The Tops' own Lawrence Payton later also serving as a producer and writer. He also took over lead vocal duties on several tracks.
The group's first release on the label, "Keeper of the Castle×Keeper of the Castle1972 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracksA1Keeper of the Castle3:00A2Ain’t No Woman (Like the One I’ve Got)3:04A3Put a Little Love Away3:03A4Turn on the Light of Your Love3:36A5When Tonight Meets Tomorrow3:41A6Love Music3:35B1Remember What I Told You to Forget3:50B2(I Think I Must Be) Dreaming2:55B3The Good Lord Knows4:04B4Jubilee With Soul3:20B5Love Makes You Human4:42B6Keeper of the Castle (reprise)1:25" (1972) was their first pop Top 10 hit since "Bernadette" in 1967. Follow-ups included the 1973 million-selling "Ain't No Woman (Like the One I've Got)×Ain't No Woman (Like The One I've Got)1991 · Album · CompilationSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracks1Keeper of the Castle2:572Are You Man Enough3:263Sweet Understanding Love3:014Ain't No Woman (Like the One I've Got)3:065Medley: Love Music/Reach Out, I'll Be There/Standing in the Shadows of Love5:156Baby I Need Your Loving4:437All My Love4:288I Just Can't Get You Out of My Mind3:599Seven Lonely Nights3:0010We All Gotta Stick Together4:51", also a top 10 pop hit and their third R&B number 1, and the Top 20 hit, "Are You Man Enough" (1973), (from the 1973 movie Shaft in Africa). "Sweet Understanding Love" (1973); "Midnight Flower (1974); and "One Chain Don't Make No Prison" (1974) all reached the R&B Top 10 between 1972 and 1974. 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.
After the release of "Catfish×Catfish1976 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 8 tracksA1Catfish6:35A2Feel Free6:00A3You Can't Hold Back on Love4:22A4I Know You Like It3:45B1Strung Out for Your Love5:37B2Love Don't Come Easy6:46B3Disco Daddy3:40B4Look at My Baby3:50" (a top 10 R&B hit) in 1976, the major hits started to dry up and the Tops left ABC after an album recorded in Philadelphia with the MFSB musicians resulted in only minor chart success in 1978. The group disappeared from the recording scene until the early 1980s. Signing a deal with Casablanca Records, the Tops made a comeback in 1981 with the number 1 R&B hit "When She Was My Girl×When She Was My Girl1981 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAWhen She Was My Girl3:25BSomething to Remember4:48". Produced by David Wolfert, it just missed the Billboard pop Top 10, peaking at number 11. The group also scored a UK Top 10 hit with the song and had another hit there with the follow-up, "Don't Walk Away×Don't Walk Away1981 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracks1Don't Walk Away2I'll Never Ever Leave Again". In 1982, their song "Back to School Again" appeared in both the movie Grease 2 and its soundtrack.

Return to Motown

By 1983, The Tops had rejoined Motown, where their former ABC-Dunhill producer, Barri was vice-president of A&R. They were featured on the company's 1983 television special Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever, taking part in one of the highlights of the show—a battle of the bands between The Tops and The Temptations, patterned after similar competitions Berry Gordy Jr. had staged during the 1960s. Stubbs and Temptation Otis Williams decided the Temptations/Tops battle would be a good one to take on the road, and both groups began semi-regular joint tours.
The first of The Tops' albums under their new Motown contract was Back Where I Belong×Back Where I Belong6 October 1983 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 8 tracksA1Make Yourself Right at Home4:06A2I Just Can't Walk Away4:19A3Sail On4:14A4Back Where I Belong4:45B1What Have We Got to Lose4:54B2The Masquerade Is Over4:28B3Body & Soul4:15B4Hang4:28 (1983). A whole side of the album was produced by the Holland–Dozier–Holland production team, including the R&B Top 40 single "I Just Can't Walk Away". Only one more Tops album would be released by Motown, Magic×Magic15 May 1985 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 9 tracksA1I Can Feel the Magic4:45A2Don’t Tell Me That It’s Over4:32A3Sexy Ways5:00A4Easier Said Than Done5:56B1Don’t Turn Away5:00B2I’m Ready for Love3:17B3Again4:44B4Maybe Tomorrow4:01B5Remember Me3:38 in 1985. The lead single from that album, "Sexy Ways", was almost a Top 20 R&B hit, peaking at number 21 in mid-1985. In July of that year, the group performed at the Live Aid concert, singing five of their hit songs.
The group re-entered the studio in 1986 with producer Wolfert, who had previously produced them in many non-Motown releases. Despite working on the release for several months and issuing the single "Hot Nights" in July, the sessions did not result in a new album and the group signed to Arista Records in 1987. The title track of 1988's Indestructible was the group's final Top 40 hit, reaching number 35. It was also featured in the 1988 science-fiction cop film Alien Nation. Another track, "Loco in Acapulco×Loco in Acapulco1988 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 3 tracksALoco in Acapulco (pH Balance mix)6:28B1Loco in Acapulco (pH dub)6:43B2The Four of Us4:12", written and produced by British pop musician Phil Collins and former Motown composer-producer Lamont Dozier, climbed into the UK Top 10 and made number 7 in early 1989. The Arista contract provided an opportunity to pair Levi Stubbs with fellow Arista artist, another R&B vocalist from Detroit, Aretha Franklin, who was at the height of her own 1980s hit streak. This pairing resulted in the 1988 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 1988 motion picture I'm Gonna Git You Sucka.
After completing their European tour in December 1988, the group was scheduled to return to the U.S. for Christmas on the ill-fated Pan Am Flight 103, which was destroyed over Lockerbie, Scotland, after a terrorist bomb was detonated on board. The group missed the flight due to a last-minute invite and prolonged filming of their performance at the British television show Top of the Pops; they instead took a later British Airways flight.

Later years

From the late 1980s, the Four Tops focused on touring and live performances. The group made guest appearances on labelmate Aretha Franklin's 1989 release Through the Storm and the 1992 Grover Washington Jr. album Next Exit, but they recorded only one album, returning again to Motown for 1995's Christmas Here with You×Christmas Here With You1995 · Album · CompilationSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Christmas Here With You5:082White Christmas4:213The Christmas Song3:584Away in a Manger2:455This Christmas4:336Silent Night5:037Little Drummer Boy7:458Christmas Delight3:499Merry Christmas Baby5:0610Merry Christmas to You4:0711Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas3:5112Twas the Night Before Christmas6:28. 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 other Motown groups, never had a single lineup change until then. At first, Stubbs, Benson and Fakir toured as a trio called The Tops. In 1998, they recruited former member of the Temptations Theo Peoples to restore the group to a quartet. By the turn of the century, Stubbs had become ill from cancer; Ronnie McNeir was recruited to fill the Lawrence Payton position and Peoples stepped into Stubbs' shoes as lead singer. Stubbs died on October 17, 2008, at his home in Detroit.
The group was featured in several television specials during this time, including Motown 45, and several by PBS, including a 50th-anniversary concert dedicated to the group (available on DVD). The concert featured a brief appearance of Stubbs using a wheelchair, and a memorial to Payton announced by Benson. Benson appeared on one more PBS special and died on July 1, 2005 from lung cancer. He was replaced by Payton's son, Lawrence Jr. The final PBS special, titled Motown: The Early Years, featured a message of Benson's passing following the credits.

The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990, and into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1999. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked them number 79 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. The Four Tops were inducted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame in 2005.
The Four Tops sang the National Anthem before the start of game 5 for the 2011 baseball American League Championship Series (ALCS) between the Texas Rangers and Detroit Tigers on October 13, 2011, in Detroit, Michigan. 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". The Four Tops were honored with an induction into the Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame at the Inaugural ceremony held at Cleveland State University's Waetejen Auditorium on Saturday August 17, 2013.

The Four Tops career awards

The Four Tops have won many awards, including the following:

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1990)
Vocal Group Hall of Fame (1999)
Hollywood Walk of Fame (1997)
Grammy Hall of Fame (Reach Out I'll Be There – 1998)("I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch-2018)
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (2009 – 51st Annual Grammy Awards)
Rhythm and Blues Foundation Pioneer Award (1997)
Billboard magazine Top 100 Artists of All Time (number 77)
Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame Induction (2013)
100 Greatest Artists of All Time (number 79 – Rolling Stone)
Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time (2003)
Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award

Current members

Theo Peoples – lead vocals (2000–2010; 2025–present); second tenor vocals (1998–2000)
Ronnie McNeir – second tenor vocals (1999–present)
Lawrence Payton Jr. – bass-baritone vocals (2005–present)
Michael Brock – first tenor vocals (2024–present)

Former members

Levi Stubbs – lead vocals (1953–2000, 2004; died 2008)
Abdul "Duke" Fakir – first tenor vocals (1953–2024; died 2024)
Renaldo "Obie" Benson – bass-baritone vocals (1953–2005; his death)
Lawrence Payton – second tenor vocals (1953–1997; his death)
Harold "Spike" Bonhart – lead vocals (2010–2018)
Alexander Morris – lead vocals (2018–2025)