In 1954 Levi Stubbs, Abdul "Duke" Fakir, Renaldo "Obie" Benson and Lawrence Payton started their musical career as the Four Aims at a house party in Detroit, changing the group's name to The Four Tops to avoid confusion with a popular group of the day, the Ames Brothers. Remarkably, The Four Tops were together without a personnel change for 43 years, from 1954 until 1997, when original group member Lawrence Payton died.
Lawrence Albert Payton was born March 2, 1938, passed away June 20, 1997, liver cancer.
Renaldo Benson was born June 14, 1936, passed away July 1, 2005, lung cancer.
Levi Stubbles was born June 6, 1936, passed away October 17, 2008, suffered a series of strokes.
Abdul Kareem Fakir was born December 26, 1935, passed away July 22, 2024, heart failure
