The Four Tops can be regarded as one of the most successful soul groups of the twentieth century.
The best-known songs by The Four Tops are 'Bernadette', 'If I Were A Carpenter', 'Indestructible' and 'Reach Out I'll Be There'. 'Loco In Acapulco' is a musical contribution to the Phil Collins film Buster. The group was very successful in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. The original line-up of the group was: Levi Stubbs (lead singer), Renaldo 'Obie' Benson (bass singer), Lawrence Payton and Abdul 'Duke' Fakir. During the most successful part of their career, they were part of the Detroit-based record label Motown.
The early years
The Four Tops have known each other since secondary school. It was there that they started singing together. They began under the name The Four Aims. In 1956 they were offered a contract with Chess Records. To avoid confusion with The Ames Brothers, they chose to change their group name to Four Tops. Under contract with Chess, the group failed to make a breakthrough. A meeting in 1963 with Berry Gordy was to change that. He offered them a contract with Motown.
At the start of their career with the Detroit record company, they mainly recorded jazz numbers for a company workshop. They also served as backing choir for some other Motown artists, such as The Supremes. When in 1964 the famous songwriting trio Holland-Dozier-Holland wrote an instrumental number but did not know what to do with it, they decided to add lyrics and make it a song for the Four Tops. This song became the famous 'Baby I Need Your Loving'. The song reached number eleven in the American top 100. This marked the beginning of a successful period for "The Tops".
Motown
After the great success of 'Baby I Need Your Loving', it was decided that the Four Tops no longer needed to do jazz. They now belonged to Motown's primary artists. From then on, singles were written for them. Their next two singles were 'Without The One You Love (Life's Not Worth While)' and 'Ask The Lonely'. Unable to continue the success of the first hit, it seemed as if the group failed to live up to their preferred position within Motown. However, it turned out well. The next single was 'I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)' and this song gave the group their first number 1 hit.
Even more success
Following this hit came other big hits such as 'It's The Same Old Song' and 'Something About You'. In 1966 Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Eddie Holland wrote the second number 1 hit for the Four Tops, 'Reach Out, I'll Be There', their biggest and most recognisable hit. When Holland-Dozier-Holland left Motown, this affected the success of the Four Tops and when Motown announced in 1972 that they were moving to Los Angeles, the group left the label. They signed a contract with ABC-Dunhill. Things improved again for the Four Tops there and they scored top 10 hits with 'Keeper Of The Castle' and 'Ain't No Woman Like The One I've Got'. After a while, the hits dried up at ABC-Dunhill as well and the group's career fizzled out like a candle in the night.
Top 2000
In the 23rd edition of the Top 2000, strangely enough, there are no songs by the Four Tops. It's high time to get them back in next time. On our Spotify channel, we have the Top 2000 Inspiration playlist.
Sunday Morning Classic
On Sunday 10 July 2022, it was the Four Tops' turn as Sunday Morning Classic with their 4th studio album "Reach Out" from 1967.
Reach Out is an incredibly good soul album and perhaps the best the Four Tops have made. Not only does it probably contain three of the best pop singles ever recorded (Reach Out ... I'll Be There, Bernadette and Walk Away Renee), it also contains great covers (I'm a Believer, If I Was A Carpenter) and other fantastic tracks (Seven Rooms of Gloom, I'll Turn To Stone). If you are interested in hearing Levi Stubbs (probably the most emotional male voice ever) with some of the best backing vocals from the rest of the Four Tops, put the album on today.
Levi Stubbs passed away on 17 October 2008 at the age of 72 after a long illness.
On YouTube, it's fun to watch The Battle of The Four Tops and The Temptations at Motown 25!
Below you will find a small selection of the many albums by The Four Tops. If you are looking for a specific album, please let us know!
