Dr. Phillips Center Presentsin association with AEG Presents
The Temptations & The Four Tops
December 9, 2021 | Frontyard Festivalâĸ, Presented by AdventHealth | Mainstage at Seneff Arts Plaza
THE TEMPTATIONS
For more than fifty years, The Temptations have prospered, propelling popular music with a series of smash hits, and sold-out performances throughout the world.
âThe crowds are bigger, the sales are sizzling,â says one industry report. âThe outpouring of affection for this super-group has never been greater.â
The history of The Temptations is the history of contemporary American pop. An essential component of the original Motown machine, that amazing engine invented by Berry Gordy, The Temps began their musical life in Detroit in the early sixties. It wasnât until 1964 however, that the Smokey Robinson written-and-produced âThe Way You Do the things You Doâ turned the guys into stars.
An avalanche of hits followed, many of whichââMy Girl,â for instanceâattained immortality. âItâs Growing,â âSince I Lost My Baby;,â âGet Ready,â âAinât Too Proud to Beg,â âBeauty Is only Skin Deep,â âI Wish It Would Rainâ...the hits kept coming.
THE FOUR TOPS
The quartet, originally called the Four Aims, made their first single for Chess in 1956, and spent seven years on the road and in nightclubs, singing pop, blues, Broadway, but mostly jazzâfour-part harmony jazz. When Motownâs Berry Gordy Jr. found out they had hustled a national âTonight Showâ appearance, he signed them without an audition to be the marquee act for the companyâs Workshop Jazz label. That proved short-lived, and Stubbsâ powerhouse baritone lead and the exquisite harmonies of Fakir, Benson, and Payton started making one smash after another with the writing-producing trio Holland-Dozier-Holland.
Their first Motown hit, âBaby I Need Your Lovingâ in 1964, made them stars and their sixties track record on the label is indispensable to any retrospective of the decade. Their songs, soulful and bittersweet, were across-the-board successes. âI Canât Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch),â a no. 1 R&B and Pop smash in 1965, is one of Motownâs longest-running chart toppers. It was quickly followed by a longtime favorite, âItâs The Same Old Songâ (no. 2 R&B/no. 5 pop). Their commercial peak was highlighted by a romantic trilogy: the no. 1 âReach Out Iâll Be There,â âStanding In The Shadows Of Loveâ (no. 2 R&B/no. 6 pop) and âBernadetteâ (no. 3 R&B/no. 4 pop)âan extraordinary run of instan classics. Other top hits from the decade included âAsk The Lonely,â âShake Me, Wake Me (When Itâs Over),â âSomething About You,â âYou Keep Running Away,â â7-Rooms Of Gloomâ and their covers of âWalk Away Reneeâ and âIf I Were A Carpenter.â