‘Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch’: The Four Tops’ Greatest Hits, 1965–1981
With the passing of Duke Fakir at 88, all four founding members of the Motown vocal group, the Four Tops, are now gone. Thick-voiced lead singer Levi Stubbs died in 2008, and Renaldo “Obie” Benson in 2005 and Lawrence Payton in 1997 proceeded them.
The Tops and the Temptations were Motown’s best male vocal groups. The label had a number of Hall of Fame male singers like Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and Smokey Robinson. And, of course, the Detroit-based R&B label sported several female groups like the Diana Ross and the Supremes and Martha Reeves and the Vandellas.
Motown paired the Tops with their №1 writing team, known as Holland-Dozier-Holland (H-D-H). They wrote and produced seven of the hits listed below.
- “Reach Out, I’ll Be There” — №1 Top 100, 1966; №1 R&B; H-D-H
Opening with orchestration and a horse-driven clop, then Stubbs enters: “If you feel that you can’t go on…” The driving beat leads to the first chorus as a locomotive tambourine shakes. The second verse continues with words of advice…
