The Temptations & The Four Tops
The Temptations & The Four Tops
American music royalty The Temptations and The Four Tops return to Detroit for a special hometown concert at the Fox Theatre on Thursday, October 5 at 7:30 p.m. Comerica Bank is the exclusive presenting partner of the Fox Theatre.
About The Temptations
The Temptations are world-renowned superstars of entertainment, revered for their phenomenal catalog of music and prolific career. They are one of the most iconic, bestselling brands in the entertainment world today. While the group has evolved over the years, Dr. Otis Williams has continued to lead the group and carry the torch forward for the next generation of Temptations’ fans. The Temptations are headlining concerts around the country throughout 2023. Their concerts include fan favorites such as “My Girl,” “Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me),” “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg,” “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone,” and more.
Ranked #1 in Billboard magazine’s most recent list of the “Greatest R&B/Hip-Hop Artists of All Time,” The Temptations also appear in the magazine’s 125th Anniversary list of the “125 Greatest of All Time Artists.” The group celebrated their 60th Anniversary in 2021-2022. To mark this milestone, The Temptations released a new album, Temptations 60, executive produced by founding member, Otis Williams. The new album consists of nearly all-original songs that are both modern and classic in feel and sound.
Throughout the group’s evolution, The Temptations have released more than 50 Gold, Platinum, and Multi-Platinum awards all combined, many of which are considered American masterpieces. The Temptations are the recipients of numerous awards and honors. They have been awarded five Grammy® Awards, including the Recording Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Grammy® Award. The Temptations delivered Motown’s and their first-ever, Grammy® for their song, “Cloud Nine.” “My Girl,” what many call their magnum opus, was inducted into the Grammy® Hall of Fame in 1998, followed by “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone” a year later in 1999. In 1989, The Temptations were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Blockbuster #1 chart hits “Just My Imagination,” “Papa was a Rollin’ Stone,” and “My Girl” are among the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s “500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll.” The Temptations have 16 No. 1 R&B chart albums, 44 Top 10 R&B chart hits, including, 14 No. 1 R&B singles, plus four No. 1 Hot 100 singles.
The Temptations’ heritage, influence, and contributions to, not only American culture and African American communities but also to the global music landscape are monumental. The Temptations’ presence in the world today has never been more vivid, and their popularity is ever-increasing.
About The Four Tops
The quartet, originally called the Four Aims, made their first single for Chess in 1956, and spent seven years on the road and in nightclubs, singing pop, blues, Broadway, but mostly jazz—four-part harmony jazz. When Motown’s Berry Gordy Jr. found out they had hustled a national “Tonight Show” appearance, he signed them without an audition to be the marquee act for the company’s Workshop Jazz label. That proved short-lived, and Stubbs’ powerhouse baritone lead and the exquisite harmonies of Fakir, Benson, and Payton started making one smash after another with the writing-producing trio Holland-Dozier-Holland.
Their first Motown hit, “Baby I Need Your Loving” in 1964, made them stars and their sixties track record on the label is indispensable to any retrospective of the decade. Their songs, soulful and bittersweet, were across-the-board successes. “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch),” a no. 1 R&B and Pop smash in 1965, is one of Motown’s longest-running chart toppers; it was quickly followed by a longtime favorite, “It’s The Same Old Song” (no. 2 R&B/no. 5 pop). Their commercial peak was highlighted by a romantic trilogy: the no. 1 “Reach Out I’ll Be There,” “Standing In The Shadows Of Love” (no. 2 R&B/no. 6 pop) and “Bernadette” (no. 3 R&B/no. 4 pop)—an extraordinary run of instant H-D-H classics.
After H-D-H split from Motown, producer Frank Wilson supervised the R&B Top 10 hits “It’s All In The Game” and “Still Water (Love)” at the start of the seventies. The Tops also teamed with Motown’s top girl group, the Supremes, post-Diana Ross. Billing themselves The Magnificent Seven for a series of albums, they hit with a cover of “River Deep - Mountain High.”
In 1990, with 24 Top 40 pop hits to their credit, the Four Tops were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. Though they would no longer have hits on record, the group continued to be a hit in concert, touring incessantly, a towering testament to the enduring legacy of the Motown Sound they helped shape and define. Original members include Abdul “Duke” Fakir, Lawrence Payton, Obie Benson, and Levi Stubbs.