Obie Benson

Obie Benson was the bedrock of the Four Tops during the legendary Motown group's decades-spanning career, singing bass and choreographing their smooth-as-silk dance routines. Heard to brilliant effect behind lead vocalist Levi Stubbs on classic singles like "Reach out, I'll Be There" and "Standing in the Shadows of Love," Benson was also a celebrated songwriter in his own right, most famously authoring Marvin Gaye's landmark "What's Goin' On." Born Renaldo Benson in Detroit on June 14, 1936, he cut his teeth singing doo wop and gospel alongside high school classmate Lawrence Payton. In 1954, they met Stubbs and Abdul "Duke" Fakir at a party, soon after forming the Four Alms. After earning a fan following on the local talent show, the quartet changed its name to the Four Tops in 1956 in an effort to avoid confusion with the Ames Brothers. Early singles for Chess, Columbia, and others went nowhere, and the group spent nearly a decade on the New York jazz club circuit, performing in support of balladeer Billy Eckstein and the Count Basie Orchestra. While singing a jazz arrangement of the perennial "In the Still of the Night" on NBC's The Tonight Show in 1963, the Four Tops captured the attention of Motown Records owner Berry Gordy, Jr., who immediately extended a contract offer. The jazz-flavored Breaking Through album appeared on Motown's Workshop imprint and went nowhere, however, and while determining what direction to next steer the group's career, Gordy assigned them to backing sessions headlined by the Supremes and other Motown stars. When teamed with the songwriting and production trio of siblings Eddie and Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier the Four Tops literally and figuratively found their groove. With Stubbs' emphatic leads couched in stunning harmonies anchored...