Formed in 1956 in Detroit, Michigan, the Four Tops included Levi Stubbs, Renaldo ‘Obie’ Benson, Lawrence Payton and Abdul ‘Duke’ Fakir. They equal only The Temptations in Motown’s incredible history for an all male vocal group. In 1963 they signed to Motown and immediately the Motown songwriting team of Holland/Dozier/Holland began pumping out one hit song after hit song for them.

Their first single — released in 1964 — was “Baby I Need Your Loving” and reached the Top 20 in the States. In 1965 they released “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)”, which went straight to the top of the charts for their first number one song. Backed by the legendary Funk Brothers combined with a killer songwriting team, The Four Tops battled The Supremes and The Rolling Stones for chart position in between 1964-1968 they scored 12 Top 20’s with songs like “It’s The Same Old Song,” “7 Rooms Of Gloom,” “Bernadette,” “Standing In The Shadows Of Love,” “Reach Out,” and “Walk Away Renee.” In 1973 they scored a top five single with the classic “Ain’t No Woman But The One I Got.”

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Vocal Group Hall of Fame page on the Four Tops