The Four Tops

by Steve Huey
The Four Tops story is one of longevity and togetherness: these Motown legends teamed up in high school and spent over four decades without a single personnel change. In between, they became one of the top-tier acts on a label with no shortage of talent, ranking with the Temptations and the Supremes as Motowns most consistent hitmakers. Where many other R&B vocal groups spotlighted a tenor-range lead singer, the Four Tops were fronted by deep-voiced Levi Stubbs, who never cut a solo record outside of the group. Stubbs had all the grit of a pleading, wailing, gospel-trained soul belter, but at the same time, the Tops creamy harmonies were smooth enough for Motowns radio-friendly pop-soul productions. From 1964-1967, the Four Tops recorded some of the Holland-Dozier-Holland teams greatest compositions, including Reach Out, Ill Be There, I Cant Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch), Standing in the Shadows of Love, Bernadette, and Baby I Need Your Loving. The groups fortunes took a downturn when their chief source of material left the label, but they enjoyed a renaissance in the early 70s, which saw them switching to the ABC-Dunhill imprint. Regardless of commercial fortunes, they kept on performing and touring, scoring the occasional comeback hit.
The Four Tops began life in 1953 (some accounts say 1954), when all of the members were attending Detroit-area high schools. Levi Stubbs and Abdul Duke Fakir went to Pershing, and met Northern students Renaldo Obie Benson and Lawrence Payton at a friends birthday party, where the quartet first sang together. Sensing an immediate chemistry, they began rehearsing together and dubbed themselves the Four Aims. Paytons cousin Roquel Davis, a budding songwriter who sometimes sang with the group during its early days, helped them get an audition with Chess Records in 1956. Although Chess was more interested in Davis, who went on to become Berry Gordys songwriting partner, they also signed the Four Aims, who became the Four Tops to avoid confusion with the Ames Brothers. The Four Tops lone Chess single, Kiss Me Baby, was an unequivocal flop, and the group moved on to similarly brief stints at Red Top and Riverside. They signed with Columbia in 1960 and were steered in a more upscale supper-club direction, singing jazz and pop standards. This too failed to break them, although they did tour with Billy Eckstine during this period.
In 1963, the Four Tops signed with longtime friend Berry Gordys new label, specifically the jazz-oriented Workshop subsidiary. They completed a debut LP, to be called Breaking Through, but Gordy scrapped it and switched their style back to R&B, placing them on Motown with the Holland-Dozier-Holland songwriting team. After a full decade in existence, the Four Tops finally notched their first hit in 1964 with Baby I Need Your Loving, which just missed the pop Top Ten. Early 1965 brought the follow-up ballad hit Ask the Lonely, and from then on there was no stopping them. I Cant Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch) went all the way to number one that spring, and the follow-up Its the Same Old Song reached the Top Five. The hits continued into 1966, with Something About You Shake Me, Wake Me (When Its Over), and Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever all coming in succession. The fall of 1966 brought the groups masterpiece in the form of the virtual soul symphony Reach Out, Ill Be There; not only did it become their second number one pop hit, it also wound up ranking as the creative peak of the groups career and one of Motowns finest singles ever. During this period, the Tops also earned a reputation as one of Motowns best live acts, having previously honed their performances for years before hitting the big time.
The Four Tops kicked off 1967 with the dramatic Top Ten smash Standing in the Shadows of Love, which was followed by the Top Five Bernadette. 7-Rooms of Gloom and You Keep Running Away reached the Top 20, but toward the end of the year, Holland-Dozier-Holland left Motown over a financial dispute, which didnt bode well for the Four Tops impressive hit streak. Their next two hits, 1968s Walk Away Renee and If I Were a Carpenter, were both covers of well-known recent songs (by the Left Banke and Tim Hardin, respectively), and while both made the Top 20, they heralded a rough couple of years where top-drawer material was in short supply. They enjoyed a resurgence in 1970 under producer Frank Wilson, who helmed a hit cover of the Tommy Edwards pop standard Its All in the Game and a ballad co-written by Smokey Robinson, Still Water (Love). The Tops also recorded with the post-Diana Ross Supremes, scoring a duet hit with a cover of River Deep-Mountain High in 1971.
When Motown moved its headquarters to Los Angeles in 1972, the Four Tops parted ways with the company, choosing to remain in their hometown of Detroit. They signed with ABC-Dunhill and were teamed with producers/songwriters Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter, who did their best to re-create the groups trademark Motown sound. The immediate result was Keeper of the Castle, the Four Tops first Top Ten hit in several years. They followed it in early 1973 with Aint No Woman (Like the One Ive Got), a gold-selling smash that proved to be their final Top Five pop hit. That year they also recorded the theme song to the film Shaft in Africa, Are You Man Enough. Several more R&B chart hits followed over the next few years, with the last being 1976s Catfish; after a final ABC album in 1978, the Tops largely disappeared from sight before resurfacing on Casablanca in 1981. Incredibly, their first single, When She Was My Girl, went all the way to number one on the R&B charts, just missing the pop Top Ten. The accompanying album, Tonight!, became their last to hit the Top 40.
The Four Tops rejoined Motown in 1983, the year of the companys 25th anniversary, and toured extensively with the Temptations. They also recorded a couple albums of new material that failed to sell well, and wound up leaving Motown amid confusion over proper musical direction. Meanwhile, Levi Stubbs provided the voice for Audrey the man-eating plant in the film version of Little Shop of Horrors. The Four Tops next caught on with Arista, where in 1988 they scored their last Top 40 pop hit, the aptly titled Indestructible. The Four Tops were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990, and continued to tour the oldies circuit. In 1997, Lawrence Payton passed away due to cancer of the liver, which proved to be the only thing that could break up the Four Tops. After some consideration, the remaining members hired Theo Peoples to take Paytons place on tour.