Post by Diamond Girl on Jun 17, 2005 13:19:53 GMT -5
Thanks for the music and memories...
Motown greats say Goodbye to Four Tops 'genius of sound' "Laurence Payton"
Abdul "Duke" Fakir of the Four Tops and his wife, Piper, enter the service for Payton on Wednesday at Oak Grove A.M.E. Church in Detroit. Motown's musical nobility reunited for 2 1/2 hours Tuesday to celebrate and eulogize the man known as the court magician of harmony, Lawrence Payton, one of the Four Tops. Payton, 59, died last Friday at his Southfield home of liver cancer.
Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, riveted the packed sanctuary of Oak Grove A.M.E. Church in Detroit with a moving vocal medley opening with Put Your Hand in the Hand (of the Man from Galilee and an original tribute to the Four Tops.
Berry Gordy Jr., the creative king of Motown Records, called Payton "a very special man, simple, laid-back, quiet ... with a cool genius about him. His passing in a sense is an end of an era -- the era that the Four Tops defined and maybe even invented. They had class. They had style."
All Detroiters, the Four Tops, originally called the Four Aims, began singing together as teen-agers. With their first contract at Chess Records, they became the Four Tops, but not until they signed with Gordy at Motown Records in 1963 did they record their first big hit, Baby, I Need Your Loving.
Calling Payton the creator of the Tops' smooth, seamless harmony, Gordy said much of the credit for the group's remarkable 43-year career together was Payton's "glue of integrity, honor, loyalty and love..."
"Their harmony in song was the best there is. Their harmony in life was even better."
Perhaps the biggest day of their singing careers was April 23, 1965, when the Motown label released the Tops' signature smash hit, I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch), which continued to delight their old and young fans through their 1997 concert tour.
But the blues hit the group hard on March 19 when Payton fell ill before a concert in Atlantic City, soon to learn he had liver cancer. He was hospitalized at the University of Michigan Hospitals in Ann Arbor for much of the past several months.
Motown's crown prince Smokey Robinson with his group the Miracles traveled the club and concert circuit with the Four Tops in the early '60s, often sharing early billings with the Four Tops. Wednesday, Robinson gave an unscheduled eulogy to Payton, his friend since childhood.
One of Motown's most successful and prolific songwriters and singers, Robinson called Payton "a genius of sound" who instructed not only the Four Tops but the Temptations and the Miracles in the nuances of harmony.
"He had a great, great, great stay here on earth," Robinson said. "I talked to him about two weeks ago in the hospital ... and he said, 'I'm getting out of here and I'm gonna be alright.' He did and he was."
Most mourners had tears in their eyes when the Rev. Dr. Jessica Ingram introduced a musical message to his longtime partners that Payton recorded not long before his death entitled The Four of Us.
His voice as vivid and elegant as the Tops' trademark pastel tuxedos, Payton sang to Levi Stubbs, Abdul "Duke" Fakir and Renaldo "Obie" Benson: "We're still the four of us. Remember when we tried to touch the sun, I remember on the way we had such fun ... There'll always be through eternity, there'll always be the four of us."
Obviously moved, the three walked silently from their front-row pew to touch Payton's white-rose draped coffin. None spoke at the funeral, but their comments were printed in the order of service:
"He was our inspiration on stage and off," said Benson.
Fakir, a member of the Oak Grove congregation, said, "Lawrence had a big heart for loving and sharing and 'Big Ears' as they say in the music world for the music he loved and taught and shared with us."
Stubbs said Payton "propelled us beyond our dreams and made sure we were tops in all our musical endeavors."
Jointly, they issued the following comment, "He's an unremovable part of us, a best friend, a brother, a teacher, a taskmaster and a gentle, caring soul.
"We will always remember every time we bow to applause, every time we hear four-part harmony, or someone sings a wrong note, we'll remember his songs of praise, as well as his looks of criticism which made us all excel in our music and, therefore, in our lives."
Born in his parents' home on Kenilworth Street in Detroit in 1938, Payton was married for 26 years to Yone Marie Woodfin. They had one child, Sunny Giovanni, and Payton adopted his wife's two children from a previous marriage, Kimberly and Larry. He had seven other children and was a surrogate father to five others. He had 26 grandchildren.
Payton's children joined in a poetic tribute published in the funeral program entitled Thank You for Being Our Father, which describes him as a committed, loving and involved parent.
Oak Grove's pastor, the Rev. Dr. Gregory Ingram, urged the mourners to celebrate Payton's "too-short life ... as a real man" not afraid to accept responsibility or take the harder path.
"When I was thinking of him, one song kept going over and over again in my mind -- Standing in the Shadows of Love, one of the Four Tops most haunting hits," he said.
Gregory Ingram promised the congregation,
"One day, when it's all over, there's going to be a Motown revue in heaven."
Motown greats say Goodbye to Four Tops 'genius of sound' "Laurence Payton"
Abdul "Duke" Fakir of the Four Tops and his wife, Piper, enter the service for Payton on Wednesday at Oak Grove A.M.E. Church in Detroit. Motown's musical nobility reunited for 2 1/2 hours Tuesday to celebrate and eulogize the man known as the court magician of harmony, Lawrence Payton, one of the Four Tops. Payton, 59, died last Friday at his Southfield home of liver cancer.
Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, riveted the packed sanctuary of Oak Grove A.M.E. Church in Detroit with a moving vocal medley opening with Put Your Hand in the Hand (of the Man from Galilee and an original tribute to the Four Tops.
Berry Gordy Jr., the creative king of Motown Records, called Payton "a very special man, simple, laid-back, quiet ... with a cool genius about him. His passing in a sense is an end of an era -- the era that the Four Tops defined and maybe even invented. They had class. They had style."
All Detroiters, the Four Tops, originally called the Four Aims, began singing together as teen-agers. With their first contract at Chess Records, they became the Four Tops, but not until they signed with Gordy at Motown Records in 1963 did they record their first big hit, Baby, I Need Your Loving.
Calling Payton the creator of the Tops' smooth, seamless harmony, Gordy said much of the credit for the group's remarkable 43-year career together was Payton's "glue of integrity, honor, loyalty and love..."
"Their harmony in song was the best there is. Their harmony in life was even better."
Perhaps the biggest day of their singing careers was April 23, 1965, when the Motown label released the Tops' signature smash hit, I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch), which continued to delight their old and young fans through their 1997 concert tour.
But the blues hit the group hard on March 19 when Payton fell ill before a concert in Atlantic City, soon to learn he had liver cancer. He was hospitalized at the University of Michigan Hospitals in Ann Arbor for much of the past several months.
Motown's crown prince Smokey Robinson with his group the Miracles traveled the club and concert circuit with the Four Tops in the early '60s, often sharing early billings with the Four Tops. Wednesday, Robinson gave an unscheduled eulogy to Payton, his friend since childhood.
One of Motown's most successful and prolific songwriters and singers, Robinson called Payton "a genius of sound" who instructed not only the Four Tops but the Temptations and the Miracles in the nuances of harmony.
"He had a great, great, great stay here on earth," Robinson said. "I talked to him about two weeks ago in the hospital ... and he said, 'I'm getting out of here and I'm gonna be alright.' He did and he was."
Most mourners had tears in their eyes when the Rev. Dr. Jessica Ingram introduced a musical message to his longtime partners that Payton recorded not long before his death entitled The Four of Us.
His voice as vivid and elegant as the Tops' trademark pastel tuxedos, Payton sang to Levi Stubbs, Abdul "Duke" Fakir and Renaldo "Obie" Benson: "We're still the four of us. Remember when we tried to touch the sun, I remember on the way we had such fun ... There'll always be through eternity, there'll always be the four of us."
Obviously moved, the three walked silently from their front-row pew to touch Payton's white-rose draped coffin. None spoke at the funeral, but their comments were printed in the order of service:
"He was our inspiration on stage and off," said Benson.
Fakir, a member of the Oak Grove congregation, said, "Lawrence had a big heart for loving and sharing and 'Big Ears' as they say in the music world for the music he loved and taught and shared with us."
Stubbs said Payton "propelled us beyond our dreams and made sure we were tops in all our musical endeavors."
Jointly, they issued the following comment, "He's an unremovable part of us, a best friend, a brother, a teacher, a taskmaster and a gentle, caring soul.
"We will always remember every time we bow to applause, every time we hear four-part harmony, or someone sings a wrong note, we'll remember his songs of praise, as well as his looks of criticism which made us all excel in our music and, therefore, in our lives."
Born in his parents' home on Kenilworth Street in Detroit in 1938, Payton was married for 26 years to Yone Marie Woodfin. They had one child, Sunny Giovanni, and Payton adopted his wife's two children from a previous marriage, Kimberly and Larry. He had seven other children and was a surrogate father to five others. He had 26 grandchildren.
Payton's children joined in a poetic tribute published in the funeral program entitled Thank You for Being Our Father, which describes him as a committed, loving and involved parent.
Oak Grove's pastor, the Rev. Dr. Gregory Ingram, urged the mourners to celebrate Payton's "too-short life ... as a real man" not afraid to accept responsibility or take the harder path.
"When I was thinking of him, one song kept going over and over again in my mind -- Standing in the Shadows of Love, one of the Four Tops most haunting hits," he said.
Gregory Ingram promised the congregation,
"One day, when it's all over, there's going to be a Motown revue in heaven."
