Janice Brooks
From:
Pleasant Gap Pa
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Posted 2 Jul 2005 5:24 am |
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Obie Benson, 69, the Original Bass Voice of the Four Tops
BYLINE: By MICHELINE MAYNARD
DATELINE: DETROIT, July 1
Obie Benson, an original member of the Motown singing group
the Four Tops and a lyricist best known for the antiwar song
''What's Goin' On,'' died here this morning. He was 69.
The cause was lung cancer, said Matt Lee, the group's
publicist. Doctors discovered cancer a few weeks ago during
surgery to amputate one of Mr. Benson's legs, Mr. Lee said.
He also had a heart attack during the surgery.
Born in Detroit in 1936, Mr. Benson, whose real first name
was Renaldo, formed the group that became the Four Tops with
four fellow high school students -- Levi Stubbs, Abdul
(Duke) Fakir and Lawrence Payton -- in 1954. The quartet
stayed together for 43 years, until Mr. Payton's death in
1997. Mr. Stubbs, who suffered a series of illnesses, left
the group in 2000.
But the Tops continued to perform. The group celebrated its
50th anniversary last year with two replacement Tops, Ronnie
McNair and Theo Peoples, performing alongside Mr. Benson and
Mr. Fakir.
Perennially popular in Las Vegas, the group is scheduled to
perform this Saturday night at the Belleayre Music Festival
in Highmount, N.Y., with the Temptations, in a show billed
as ''Motown Royalty.''
Mr. Benson, a bass, joined Mr. Fakir and Mr. Payton in
singing harmony behind the emotion-charged solos of Mr.
Stubbs. The four were always identically dressed, and their
act featured crisp choreography
''They were the group you aspired to be like,'' said Lamont
Dozier, co-writer of many of the Tops' biggest hits.
But success was initially elusive. The group, which began
life as the Four Aims, spent nearly a decade singing in New
York jazz clubs and performing with the balladeer Billy
Eckstein and the Count Basie orchestra.
Their break came with a 1963 appearance on the ''Tonight''
show, when they sang a jazz arrangement of ''In the Still of
the Night.''
The founder of Motown Records, Berry Gordy, saw the Tops on
the show and signed them to a recording contract. A string
of hits followed, beginning with ''Baby, I Need Your
Lovin''' in 1964. Other hits included ''Standing in the
Shadows of Love,'' ''Bernadette'' and ''Can't Help Myself
(Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch).''
Like the rest of Motown's acts, the Four Tops toured widely
in Europe and Asia, developing a big following in Britain.
But they split with Motown in 1972, when Mr. Gordy moved the
company to Los Angeles. While they had a few more
top-selling records, the Tops' last hit was
''Indestructible,'' which reached No. 35 on the pop charts
in 1988.
But they still drew crowds at venues like the Apollo Theater
in Harlem, where they performed in March. They made their
first appearance this year on ''Late Show With David
Letterman,'' performing their 1966 hit ''Reach Out (I'll Be
There).''
Clearly excited during the song, Mr. Benson
uncharacteristically fell out of step with the other Tops,
then warmly greeted Mr. Letterman when he came over to
congratulate the group.
''He enjoyed every moment,'' Mr. Fakir said today of Mr.
Benson. Mr. Peoples, who joined the group in 1998, described
Mr. Benson as ''a live wire'' who taught him the Tops' dance
routines after he stepped in for Mr. Payton.
But Mr. Benson had a more serious side. One afternoon in the
Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, he was sitting
with a friend, enjoying the street life. He was stunned when
police descended on a crowd of hippies, pummeling them for
no apparent reason, Mr. Benson recalled in an interview last
year.
Returning to Detroit, Mr. Benson wrote the lyrics for what
became the protest song ''What's Goin' On.'' Knowing the
tune did not fit the Tops' upbeat style, he offered it to
Marvin Gaye, who embraced it despite the initial objections
of Mr. Gordy, who doubted the tune would sell, Mr. Benson
said.
Mr. Benson, who was divorced, is survived by two daughters,
Ebony and Toby.
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