Temps, Tops: Different voices, same old songs

Say the name Four Tops, and their hit song titles instantly come to mind: “Baby I Need Your Loving,” “I Can’t Help Myself,” “Reach Out, I’ll Be There,” and of course, “It’s the Same Old Song.”

The same goes for another classic Motown Records vocal group, the Temptations, with “My Girl,” “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” and “I Wish It Would Rain.”

Fans will hear them all when both groups perform Oct. 23 at the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts. The songs remain the same, but inevitably, the long-lasting groups themselves have changed.

The Tops, formed in 1954, maintained the same lineup until 1997, but three of the original four have died since then, leaving Abdul “Duke” Fakir, 78, the sole survivor. Still, the Four Tops continue to perform all over the world.

Fakir, born in Detroit of Ethiopian and Bangladeshi ancestry, marvels at the group’s longevity. He and his high school friend, Levi Stubbs, the Tops’ lead singer until he suffered a stroke in 2000, started the group after singing together at a party. Stubbs died in 2008.

“I never thought that at this age I’d still be touring and performing,” Fakir said by phone from his Detroit home.

“When Levi died, it took me a long time to accept that, but now we have a new lead singer named Harold Bonhart. We call him ‘Spike,’ and he sounds just like Levi.”

Before Bonhart joined, Theo Peoples of The Temptations sang lead with the Tops for a spell. The other original Four Tops were Lawrence Payton, who died in 1997, and Obie Benson, who died in 2005.

As the hit tune “Same Old Song” goes, the songs may have a different meaning since they’ve been gone, but not for the fans. The Motown sound goes on, Fakir said.

The current group also includes Ronnie McNeir, a longtime Motown soloist, and original member Lawrence Payton’s son, Lawrence (Roquel) Payton Jr.

“These are people we knew,” Fakir said. “They stepped right into the group.”

Even though the current Four Tops dedicate themselves to delivering the classics that fans know and love, Fakir doesn’t want to hold the group back.

“I want to see this new group have a hit on its own,” he said. “We’re still recording.”

Unlike the more tight-knit Four Tops, the Temptations have gone through nearly two dozen singers since the group got started 1960.

Baritone Otis “Big Daddy” Williams, 72, is not only the last founding member still in the group, but also the sole remaining member of its hit-making “Classic 5” line-up of the mid-1960s, which included David Ruffin, Melvin Franklin, Eddie Kendricks and Paul Williams (no relation to Otis).

The current lineup, featuring Otis Williams, Ron Tyson, Joe Herndon, Terry Weeks and Bruce Williamson, remains committed to maintaining the group’s traditional sound.

“We don’t change what’s been working wonderfully well for the past 50 years,” Williams said by phone from his home in Los Angeles.

“We still do the dance steps. It wouldn’t be the same if we just stood out there and sang.”

Williams serves as the group’s keeper of the flame now, he said.

“I told them we can do other people’s material, too, but there are certain songs we can never take out of the show - ‘My Girl,’ ‘Ball of Confusion,’ our hits.”

The two veteran singers from both groups offered almost identical theories about why the Motown hits have stayed popular for so long.

Williams: “You can relate to them. They’re not offensive. You don’t have to cover your child’s ears.”

Fakir: “The songs do last, and have lasted, because people can relate to them, and dance to them.”

You can reach staff writer Dan Taylor at 521-5243 or dan.taylor@pressdemocrat.com. Read his Arts blog at arts.blogs.pressdemocrat.com.