Detroit Michigan, 1953: At a backyard birthday party off of Detroit’s Seven Mile Rd, four Pershing High students stand on a makeshift stage and sing popular jazz hits to a crowd of friends. The four men, Levi Stubbs, Abdul “Duke” Fakir, Renaldo Benson, and Lawrence Payton, decided to perform at the insistence of their friends. It’s the first time they had ever “performed” before a “real” audience and afterwards, due to the crowd’s praise, they decide to begin performing together professionally as the Four Aims. Though they were well received, no one at the party could predict what would come in the years to follow, as the group would morph into one of Motown’s most famous vocal acts; The Four Tops.
Initially after their decision to begin performing, the Four Aims saw minimal success and played only in small local clubs for the first three years of their career. They booked as many shows as possible, singing jazz hits usually accompanied by the house band. The group became a local favorite in Detroit “Supper Clubs”, catching the attention of Raquel Davis, who got the group a contract with Chess records in 1956. It was during this time that the group changed their name to the Four Tops, as a way to avoid being confused for the Ames Brothers, another popular Detroit act.
Despite having a contract and a fresh new name, the Four Tops failed to chart any songs by the early 60’s, and changed labels five different times. They continued performing extensively in clubs, refining and perfecting their on stage presence and interaction as a group. In 1963, Berry Gordy Jr successfully convinced the group to sign to his growing record label; Motown. At Motown, the Four Tops sung backup for famous acts such as Martha and the Vandellas and Diana Ross and the Supremes.
In 1964, Motown’s main songwriting group Holland-Dozier-Holland decided to give the Four Tops a solo song to record. Levi Stubbs sung lead vocals on the track “Baby I Need Your Loving”, which was seen as unusual at the time; Stubbs was a baritone singer and virtually all vocal groups were led by tenors at that time. The song reached number 11 on the Billboard charts and became a nationwide hit. In June of 1965, the group released “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)”, which became their first number one hit. Their career soon took off afterwards.
In 1966, the Four Tops released their biggest hit “Reach Out, I’ll Be There”, which hit number one on the US pop and R&B charts, and on the UK charts. The group’s success continued into 1967 with the top ten hit “Bernadette”, as well as many notable cover versions of songs of the era. In late 1967, after a falling out with Berry Gordy, Holland-Dozier-Holland left Motown, causing the Four Tops’ hits to become less and less frequent. In 1972, when Motown moved to Los Angeles, the Four Tops stayed in Detroit and signed with ABC’s record division.
The group saw success with ABC, releasing over eight top hits by 1976. In 1983 they returned to Motown and released several top 40 hits in the mid 80’s. In the late 80’s, the group began to focus on touring and stopped recording regularly. In December of 1988, the group was scheduled to take Pan Am flight 103 from Frankfurt back to the US after finishing their tour of Europe. They overslept and missed the flight, which was brought down by a terrorist bomb later that night. Motown chartered the group a private flight to return home in the next day.
From 1953-1997, the group performed without any change in personnel or any break periods. In 1997, Payton died of cancer and the group began performing as a trio, changing their name to “the Tops”. Payton’s position was filled in 2000 and later that year, Stubbs gave his spot to Theo Peoples after suffering a stroke and a cancer diagnosis. He passed away in October of 2008. The group underwent slight changes in the lineup after the deaths of Benson and Peoples in the late 2000’s, and today the Four Tops continue to perform, with Duke Fakir as the only surviving founder of the band. The original Four Tops are regarded as one of the greatest soul and R&B groups of the Motown era, earning numerous awards and recognition.
My Picks
- Baby I Need Your Loving-1964
- Bernadette-1967
- I Can’t Help Myself-1965
- Reach Out, I’ll be There-1966
- When She Was My Girl-1981
This was another post in which the artists were incredibly persistent in achieving their goals. It really shows hard it is to make it in the industry and gives an appreciation for celebrities that have to work tirelessly to succeed in their fields. It also shows that talent is not everything, and it takes the right combination of hard work and luck to succeed in this, and any, industry.
I have never heard about Four Tops before this blog. Their music seemed really inspiring and the story about how they missed their plane which eventually blew up is frightening. Your blog was really well organized and a great read.
I’ve never heard about the four tops before, but I will definitely have to check them out since one of their songs is my mom’s name. I like how their backstory is a bit different than some of the other artists you have written about. It is not inherently tragic which give me some hope that not all artists must come from despair.