The Four Tops were the next group to have a top song in 1966. This time their hit was “Reach Out I’ll Be There.” It would be the #4 song of 1966. It would also end up being their signature song. That is Levi Stubbs on the lead vocal. The song was written by the Motown team of Holland-Dozier-Holland who wrote the majority of Motown songs at that time.

The group (Levi Stubbs, Abdul “Duke” Fakir, Renaldo “Obie” Benson and Lawrence Payton) had been together since High School but originally had served as a back-up group. In 1964 they released “Baby I Need Your Loving” which had only made it to #11 on the Billboard chart. The group was able to stay together until 1997 when Payton died. Then in 2000, Stubbs suffered a stroke and was replaced. Benson died in 2005. The group occasionally preforms but only Fakir is an original member.

“Reach Out… ” would be the top song on the Cash Box record chart for the week of Oct. 9 – 15, 1966. It was the top song on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for two weeks (Oct. 9 – 22).