The Temptations & the Four Tops
Backed by a tight rhythm section and blazing brass ensemble, every song is a solid gold hit (“My Girl,” “Baby I Need Your Loving,” “Papa Was a Rolling Stone,” “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg”). The Temptations, often referred to as “American Music Royalty,” are world-renowned superstars of entertainment, revered for their phenomenal catalog of music and prolific career. The group will be celebrating their 62 Anniversary in 2023. Named the “#1 R&B/Hip Hop Artists of All Time” and one of the “125 Greatest of All Time Artists” by Billboard magazine, as well as one of the “100 Greatest Artists of All Time” by Rolling Stone Magazine, the group is truly a beloved national treasure.
The Four Tops made their first single for Chess in 1956, and spent seven years on the road and in nightclubs, singing pop, blues, Broadway, but mostly jazz—four-part harmony jazz. When Motown’s Berry Gordy Jr. found out they had hustled a national “Tonight Show” appearance, he signed them without an audition to be the marquee act for the company’s Workshop Jazz label. Their first Motown hit, “Baby I Need Your Loving” in 1964, made them stars and their sixties track record on the label is indispensable: “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch),” is one of Motown’s longest-running chart toppers; it was quickly followed by a longtime favorite, “It’s The Same Old Song”. Their commercial peak was highlighted by a romantic trilogy: the no. 1 “Reach Out I’ll Be There,” “Standing In The Shadows Of Love” and “Bernadette” – an extraordinary run of instant classics.
