- The Temptations & The Four Tops 40th Anniversary 2025
- Wednesday, November 19 at 7:30 p.m.
- The Paramount Theatre, Seattle
The Temptations
Dr. Otis Clayborn Williams, founding member of the world-renowned, Grammy Award-winning group, The Temptations, is a music legend. From award-winning singer, songwriter to critically acclaimed author, from television producer, and Broadway executive producer to executive producer of the group’s albums, Williams defied all odds, having gone from the dirt roads of rural Texas to the highest heights of Detroit, Motown, and beyond.
The Four Tops
The Four Tops started their musical career as the Four Aims at a house party in Detroit in 1954. Members included Levi Stubbs, Abdul “Duke” Fakir, Renaldo “Obie” Benson and Lawrence Payton. They changed the group’s name to The Four Tops to avoid confusion with a popular group of the day, the Ames Brothers. A smooth lounge act, the Tops stuck to standards and ballads and recorded for at least four other record companies before Berry Gordy signed them to Motown in 1964.
Their breakthrough hit, “Baby I Need Your Loving,” was produced by Holland-Dozier-Holland in 1964, and was followed by greater success with “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)” in 1965, the Tops’ first #1 hit. Other hits were released during this period, including “It’s the Same Old Song,” “Shake Me, Wake Me (When It’s Over)” and “Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever.” “Reach Out I’ll Be There,” released in 1966, was the group’s biggest Motown hit. It could also be considered The Four Tops’ theme song, as it musically expressed the feelings of solidarity and brotherly love group members felt for one another.
Entry deadline is November 10, 2025.
