Four Tops
Advertisement
Advertisement
Top Related Artists
Biography
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 âI Can't Help Myselfâ and âReach Out I'll Be There.â 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 âBaby I Need Your Loving,â 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 âI Can't Help Myselfâ but even this triumph was outstripped a year later by âReach Out I'll Be There,â a number 1 in both the US and the UK and now one of the all-time great Motown classics. Other hits like âStanding in The Shadow of Loveâ (1966), âBernadetteâ (1966), âIf I Were a Carpenterâ (1968), and âWalk Away Renéeâ (1968) followed - and at one point they teamed up with the Supremes for recordings. Even the groupâs albums â including On Top (1966), Reach Out (1967), Yesterdayâs Dreams (1968), and Still Waters Run Deep (1970) â 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 â70s hit with âAinât No Woman (Like the One Iâve Got)â (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 Topsâ last surviving original member, Abdul âDukeâ Fakir, died on July 22, 2024, at the age of 88.
Read All
Read Less
Albums
Top Tracks
- Track Popularity
- Reach Out I'll Be There
- Ain't No Woman (Like The One I've Got)
- Bernadette
- Baby I Need Your Loving
- I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)
- Standing In The Shadows Of Love
- Are You Man Enough
- The Fool On The Hill
- It's The Same Old Song
- Walk Away Renee
- Shake Me, Wake Me (When It's Over)
- Eleanor Rigby
- Ask The Lonely
- Light My Fire
- Michelle
- If I Were A Carpenter
- 7-Rooms of Gloom
- It's All In The Game
- River Deep, Mountain High by The Supremes
- Still Water (Love)
- Keeper Of The Castle
- This Can't Be Love
- Miles Away
- I'll Never Change
