CHAMPAIGN — More than 70 years ago, legendary singing group The Four Tops formed because the members were asked to perform for a girls’ group club.
Lawrence Payton Jr., who now is part of the group, reminisced about the group’s early days, when it included Payton Jr.’s father, Lawrence; Levi Stubbs; Abdul “Duke” Fakir; and Renaldo “Obie” Benson.
Payton Jr. said Duke was approached because they knew he had a lot of friends and could perform at this party in Detroit.
“They all got together. Previously to that they had known each other and they had, you know, dibbled and dabbed and rehearsed a little bit with each other and other groups too but never as a solid group,” Payton Jr. said on WHMS. “When they went to the party and started singing for the girls, the girls just went mad. Right then, they knew that they had something.
“It was just like magic. Their voices fit just perfectly. They never left each other’s side from that moment.”
He added that everyone too was in that neighborhood, including Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson and record producer Berry Gordy, who was Lawrence Payton’s cousin’s songwriting partner.
The Four Tops’ Motown hits included “Baby I Need Your Loving,” “Bernadette,” “Shake Me, Wake Me” and “Can’t Help Myself.”
“It’s the Same Old Song” was a quick follow-up when the bass line was reversed of “Can’t Help Myself” by Motown’s main production team Holland–Dozier–Holland. Lamont Dozier was sitting at the piano playing around and started humming it’s the same old song, and Gordy told him, “That’s it, that’s it,” Payton Jr. said.
Payton Jr. said his father loved the group’s more intricate music, such as “Maria” from “The West Side Story” off their Broadway album, and their version of “In the Still of the Night.”
“They were naturals at their positions,” he said of the original members, adding that the original arrangements also transformed well to the stage.
Payton Jr. said all the hits for “an authentic Motown show” can be heard Thursday night during The Four Tops performance, headlining alongside The Temptations, at the State Farm Center in Champaign.
The group’s current members — Payton Jr., Theo Peoples, Ronnie McNeir and Michael Brock — are blessed to carry the historic torch, and they give it their all every night, he said.
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