The Four Tops are an American R&B singing group. They began performing together in 1954 shortly after graduating from high school. The original group included four members: lead singer Levi Stubbs, Abdul Fakir (also known as "Duke"), Lawrence Payton and Renaldo Benson. A couple of years later they recorded their first song "Kiss Me Baby". At the time, the group was known as the Four Aims but later changed their name to avoid being confused with a similarly named group. As a group, they recorded their biggest hit songs under the Motown Records label. http://www.thefourtopsoriginal.com/history.html

Even though the group continues to tour, three of the original members have since died. Lawrence Payton died in 1997 from liver cancer. Renaldo Benson died in 2002 and Levi Stubbs passed away in 2008. Currently, the group consists of Abdul Fakir, Theo Peoples, Ronnie McNeir and Roquel Payton (the son of Lawrence).http://www.soulwalking.co.uk/Four%20Tops.html

All of the group's original members knew one another from high school. After recording for smaller companies, they signed with Motown in 1963.http://rockhall.com/inductees/the-four-tops/bio/ They released their first hit in 1964 with the song "Baby I Need Your Lovin'". It went to number 11 on the charts. The next year, the Four Tops had several more hits including: Ask the Lonely", "Same Old Song", and "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)". In 1966, the group had another hit song with "Reach Out I'll Be There".http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/thefourtops/biography

Success continued for the Four Tops in 1967 with the hits, "Bernadette" and "Seven Rooms of Gloom". When the group left Motown in 1972, they kept making popular songs, including "Ain't No Woman Like the One I've Got" in 1973 and "I Believe in You and Me in 1992.http://new.music.yahoo.com/four-tops/tracks/i-believe-in-you-and-me--578993