The Four Tops - Essay Example

production team comprised Lamont Dozier, Brian Holland, and Eddie Holland The Four Top came from Detroit and they began singing professionally in 1954 when they used to call themselves the Four Aims. They later decided to call themselves the Four Tops after the suggestion came that they were likely to be confused with the Ames Brothers. They signed with Motown records in 1963 (Johnson 2).
Even though the four tops are best remembered for the records they produced at Motown in the Sixties, they also had noteworthy success at such places as Casablanca, ABC, and Arista in the decades that followed. Although the four tops began their career at Motown, they had considerable prehistory before they arrived at the label Benson and Payton attended Detroit North High School While Fakir and Stubbs attended Pershing High School in the North end of Detroit. They first sang together at a friend’s birthday when they had met the four of them after graduating from high school; they formed the Four Aims in 1954 where they evolved into a versatile night club act.

Payton had a talent for arranging harmonies, and he became the group's musical director. His Cousin Roquel Davies also became closely affiliated with the group, and he provided management, material, and even vocal assistance during the formative years of the group. The four tops recorded several classics in Motown, which remain the most outstanding singles during the label’s mid-sixties. These impressive classics they recorded during their successful years included “Baby I Need Your Loving,” “Reach Out I’ll Be There,” “It’s the Same Old Song,” “Bernadette,” “I cannot Help Myself,” and “Standing in the Shadows of Love (Johnson 4).

The group signed to Chess Records in 1956 where they recorded “Kiss Me Baby” a single piece, they released a piece on the Columbia in 1960 “Ain’t That Love,” and “Pennies from Heaven,” in 1962. Four Tops made Billboard’s Hot 100 chart 45 times between 1964 and 1988 and fifty-two times in the R&B chart. Twenty-four of their singles managed the Top forty, and seven of those managed the Top ten. Throughout their career, they sang in close harmony, and not even a single voice stood apart from the others.

In 1962, the group was approached by Berry Gordy for a deal, but they failed to sign a deal with him since they said they wanted to be sure whether Gordy’s Independent Label would survive. Gordy described the group as very loyal to each other and their vocal blend as phenomenal. However, after two years, they signed a deal with Gordy and their first project was an album of show tunes named Breaking. At this point, the Four Top future seemed uncertain with failed singles on three labels and one unreleased album on a fourth label. Nonetheless, there followed a triumphant union with Holland-Dozier-Holland, which resulted in a hit, “Baby I Need Your Loving,” immediately.

It was decided that the Four Tops be reshaped from a close harmony group to one with a lead vocalist (Levis) while Benson, Fakir, and Payton provide background vocals, harmonies, and occasionally co-leads. In addition, it was resolved the need to emphasize Levis’s high range, where his croaky, anguished vocals most expressively communicated the passion of Eddie Holland’s lyrics The Four Tops Led in Mid-1965with ‘I cannot help Myself’ classic spotlighting the group. However, the climax of their work with Holland was ‘Reach Out I’ll Be There’ from its spectacular neoclassical arrangement to Levis's thunderous vocal. It was one of their greatest recordings. It remained in the charts for almost four months, and it was their second number-one hit (Jones 52).

The fruitful union of Holland-Dozier-Holland and the Four Tops lasted from 1964 to 1967 when the songwriters left Motown in a monetary row with Gordy. The Four Tops’ last work with the group included, “You Keep Running Away,” “Walk Away Renee,” If I Were a Carpenter,” and “7 Rooms of Gloom.” In 1972, the Four Top group moved to Dunhill/ABC where they joined hands with a dynamic songwriting and production trio consisting of Brian Potter, Dennis Lambert, and Steve Barr. Here, they enjoyed immediate success with the singles “Ain’t No Woman (Like "the one I got" as well as “Are You Man Enough.” They remained at Dunhill until the end of the decade when they moved to Casablanca in 1981. They recorded a final album for Motown in 1985, named Magic. Later, Stubbs served in the popular film Little Shop of Horrors in 1986 (Rock and Roll Museum 4).
Lawrence Payton died of cancer in 1997 and it's the only death that stopped the original lineup of the Four Tops.

The group sold more than 50 million records (Johnson 4). Read More