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Biography
In 1953 while still attending high school Levi Stubbs and Lawrence Payton met Renaldo “Obie” Benson and Lawrence Payton at a friend’s birthday party where they sang together for the first time. Sensing that the group had something special they decided to stick together and named themselves The Four Aims before signing with Chess Records who suggested a change to avoid confusion with The Ames Brothers. The Four Tops were born although over seven years with Chess, Red Top, Riverside Records and Columbia Records the group failed to produce any hits until signing with Berry Gordy Jr.’s Motown record label subsidiary Workshop in 1963.
After appearing as backing vocals for the likes of The Supremes and Martha and the Vandellas, The Four Tops experiences their first hit single “Baby I Need Your Loving” in 1964. Narrowly missing out on the Top Ten the single made way for a string of other hits including “Ask the Lonely”, the No. 1 “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)” and the Top Five single “It’s the Same Old Song”. The ‘60s proved to be the Four Tops’ height of musical creativity with the 1966 singles “Something About You”, “Shake Me, Wake Me (When It’s Over)” and one of Motown’s greatest ever singles “Reach Out, I’ll Be There”.
Having had seven years of honing their skills before achieving a hit single meant Four Tops had an extremely tight and impressive live set. 1967 brought the singles “Standing in the Shadows of Love” followed by “Bernadette”, however writing and producing team Holland-Dozier-Holland left Motown and Workshop which left the band with an uncertain couple of years. Four Tops returned in 1970 with producer Frank Wilson with the singles “It’s All in the Game” and the cover “River Deep, Mountain High” in 1971.
Motown moved its headquarters in 1972 to Los Angeles and the Four Tops signed with ABC-Dunhill and produced the hits “Keeper of the Castle” and in 1973 “Ain’t No Woman (Like the One I’ve Got)” which proved the be the band’s last Top Five single. The rest of the ‘70s brought the group some success on the R&B singles chart, however it wasn’t until 1981 and signing with Casablanca that they resurfaced with the R&B No. 1 “When She Was My Girl”.
After resigning with Motown in 1983 the group toured relentlessly with the Temptations before issuing a number of albums that failed to perform well. In 1988 the Four Top’s earned their last Top 40 hit with “Indestructible” and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990. In more recent years the band has won other accolades including the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1997, the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998, the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1999 and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009.
Live reviews
Is there a more iconic vocal group on the planet than The Four Tops? Just the name alone is evocative of an American golden age of early rock and roll, R&B, jazz and, of course, doo-wop, but there’s more to The Four Tops than just what they’ve come to stand for; they are one of the most important popular acts of the last fifty years. Their sound is synonymous with the Motown label, but when they signed in the early sixties, they already had a leg-up on their stablemates; they’d already been performing live for the best part of a decade, and so quickly carved out a reputation as one of the finest live acts in the business. In the seventies, their shows would really expand as they toured the world; they incorporated brass sections that did their records justice, as they began to pursue a soul sound that reflected the changing tastes of the time. To say that The Four Tops were ahead of their time is an understatement; perhaps that’s why they’re still going today. There’s just the one original member - Abdul Fakir, also known as Duke - and, in fact, Lawrence Payton Jr. is part of the lineup, with his father a founding member. They continue to tour as Fakir approaches his eightieth birthday, having completed an extended arena jaunt of the UK earlier this year; they don’t come much more legendary than this.
Joeg_67
Ok .. so how many members of an original group do you need to still call it by the same name ... 1 ?
Well it was never going to be what it was 10 years ago let alone 40 years ago, but with now only 2 original members out of a line up of 9 ( one in each group ) was it ever going to rock the house. And didn’t help the “ Duke “ Fakir sang most of the set in a chair as he’s not long recovered from a broken hip.
I made the only gig that didn’t include Tavares .. Southend and they still have 3 original members I think.
It was maybe a sign of the times to see how many wheelchair users where being ushered in before the gig started and even a couple of punters with their portable dialysis machines ( fair play to them ). So I have to say my white hair didn’t look out of place.
Was the music up to scratch, shame to say not really and defiantly didn’t match the £50 a seat price tag but then it’s really a very good tribute band. Backing band where great , helped by Earl Van Dykes son .. Bigg T . Great version of Silent Night to end with by the Temps .
Shows that a lot of us are all nearing the end of our careers , and that you need your imagination to run away with you sometimes or was it my ball of confusion.
Stevegods
There are very few artists with the same amount of iconic weight as The Four Tops, the group were a key contributor to the Motown movement of the 1960s and became a household name in the following decade due to their runaway global commercial success. Unfortunately Abdul "Duke" Fakir is the last surviving member of the original lineup, yet supported by three equally talented musicians including second generation member Lawrence Payton, Jr. they continue to tour The Four Tops legacy around the world to fans of the group, Motown and the sounds of the 60s.
The vocals are still as rich and the harmonies just as tender as you would imagine during 'Baby I Need Your Loving' and for any moment the band begins to sound a little shaky they have the thousand strong choir made up of the audience to help them through. It is a fantastic evening celebrating music and an era in general and some of the more emotive numbers seem to have more weight when dedicated to the departed. The Four Tops were always known for their classic demeanour and this has remained a strong consistency within the group.
sean-ward
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