Four Facts About Four Tops

Abdul “Duke” Fakir (tenor) was a teenager when he became friends with Levi Stubbs (baritone). The two first sang with Renaldo "Obie" Benson (bass) and Lawrence Payton (tenor) at a birthday party hosted by a local female group, the Shahrazads.

“We told Levi to just pick a song and sing the lead. We’d just back him up,” remembers Duke Faikr. “Well, when he started, we all fell in like we’d been rehearsing the song for months! Our blend was incredible. We were just looking at each other as we were singing, and right after we said, ‘Man, this is a group! This is a group!’”

They originally called themselves the Four Aims but soon renamed themselves the Four Tops to avoid confusion with the white harmony quartet, the Ames Brothers.

Four Tops, with a polished stage act and versatile vocal style, had been together for a decade when Berry Gordy signed them to Motown in 1963. This gave them access to the hitmaking trio of Holland–Dozier–Holland, who were responsible for their breakthrough smash BABY I NEED YOUR LOVING in 1964. It was the start of an incredible run of success, culminating in the 1966 masterpiece REACH OUT I’LL BE THERE. 

Holland–Dozier–Holland wrote most of Levi Stubbs' vocals in a tenor range, close to the top of his baritone range, to create a sense of strained urgency in his leads. They also composed additional background vocals for a female group, the Andantes, on many of the songs to enhance the high end of the low-voiced harmony of the Tops.

While the Temptations and other peer groups faced drug issues, internal conflict, and personnel changes, the Four Tops stayed united and intact until Lawrence's death in 1997.

1. Originally inspired by an incident of police brutality witnessed by Obie Benson, Marvin Gaye’s WHAT’S GOING ON was co-written by Benson, Al Cleveland, and Gaye.

2. Levi Stubbs turned down a lead role in Lady Sing the Blues alongside Diana Ross because there weren’t roles for his three bandmates. But, he did provide the voice of the carnivorous plant Audrey II in the 1986 film version of the musical Little Shop of Horrors, in which he sang the Oscar-nominated MEAN GREEN MOTHER FROM OUTER SPACE. 

3. In the mid-1960s, Duke Fakir was briefly engaged to Mary Wilson of the Supremes. However, as their music careers were still developing, they decided it would be best to end the engagement.

4. After completing their European tour in December 1988, Four Tops were scheduled to return to the U.S. for Christmas on the ill-fated Pan Am Flight 103. However, they missed the flight due to extended filming of their performance on the British television show Top of the Pops. Their original flight was, tragically, destroyed over Lockerbie, Scotland, after a bomb was detonated on board.