Post by Motown Honey on Jul 8, 2005 21:10:58 GMT -5
Another Motown voice is stilled, but the beat goes on
By Betty DeRamus / The Detroit News
They're burying another member of the old Motown clan today: Renaldo "Obie" Benson, 69, a founding member of the Four Tops. Nobody can say Benson didn't love his hometown, add passion to pop music and drink deep gulps of life.
If any All-Star Game visitors happen to read this, let me make something clear. Motown did indeed leave Detroit in the early 1970s in search of big-screen glory, but despite all the rifts and tiffs, lawsuits and losses, it remains a centerpiece of modern Detroit history.
This is why the 1998 filming in Pittsburgh of a miniseries about the Temptations sparked so much local outrage.
And that is why hordes of people, young and old, black and white, city-dwellers and suburbanites, lined up on Sunday in The Detroit Historical Museum. They came to see singer Mary Wilson's collection of beaded, bejeweled and fur-trimmed gowns worn by her and other members of the Supremes. They also came to buy Wilson's latest book, Supreme Faith.
"You're too young to know anything about the Supremes," I jokingly told 27-year-old LaNetta Nelson.
She gave me one of those are-you-crazy looks. "I grew up listening to them," she said. The Four Tops came of age in that same era, growing up on Detroit's North End, an area around Oakland Avenue. The neighborhood also produced Aretha Franklin, Smokey Robinson, Jackie Wilson and other superstars. The Tops were buddies and remained friends all their lives. The group stayed together, too, and lead vocalist Levi Stubbs never took star billing.
After Motown signed the group, a string of hits followed: "Baby I Need Your Loving," "I Can't Help Myself," "Reach Out," and many others. However, Obie Benson was also known for co-writing the song that became a Marvin Gaye classic, "What's Going On."
The Tops didn't follow Motown to Los Angeles, though.
"They were definitely part of Michigan's who's who," said photojournalist Tim Hughes. "They were always appearing at events." Lawrence Payton died in 1997, and Stubbs left the group in 2000 following a stroke. Benson and Abdul "Duke" Fakir recruited replacements and kept singing, preserving the legacy that they and others helped create.
Benson died last Friday, and his funeral was to begin at 11 a.m. today at Detroit's Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church, 2080 W. Grand Blvd. If all the celebrities expected show up, it could be a real Motown reunion.
Motown, after all, was more than a special sound, the drummers hammering out every beat, the bass thundering, the guitars, pianos and organs squeezed into the middle-range, the strings and horns in the background. It was people.
No matter how far they traveled or what paths they took, we felt they belonged to us. Now many are gone: David Ruffin, Paul Williams, Eddie Kendricks, Marvin Gaye, Junior Walker, Marv Johnson, Mary Wells, Florence Ballard, the list goes on and on.
Renaldo "Obie" Benson, a man who was never without a smile or a song, has joined that list. May he rest in harmonious, perfectly composed peace.
Betty DeRamus' column runs Monday, Wednesday and Friday in Metro. Reach her at (313) 222-2296 or bderamus@detnews.com.
By Betty DeRamus / The Detroit News
They're burying another member of the old Motown clan today: Renaldo "Obie" Benson, 69, a founding member of the Four Tops. Nobody can say Benson didn't love his hometown, add passion to pop music and drink deep gulps of life.
If any All-Star Game visitors happen to read this, let me make something clear. Motown did indeed leave Detroit in the early 1970s in search of big-screen glory, but despite all the rifts and tiffs, lawsuits and losses, it remains a centerpiece of modern Detroit history.
This is why the 1998 filming in Pittsburgh of a miniseries about the Temptations sparked so much local outrage.
And that is why hordes of people, young and old, black and white, city-dwellers and suburbanites, lined up on Sunday in The Detroit Historical Museum. They came to see singer Mary Wilson's collection of beaded, bejeweled and fur-trimmed gowns worn by her and other members of the Supremes. They also came to buy Wilson's latest book, Supreme Faith.
"You're too young to know anything about the Supremes," I jokingly told 27-year-old LaNetta Nelson.
She gave me one of those are-you-crazy looks. "I grew up listening to them," she said. The Four Tops came of age in that same era, growing up on Detroit's North End, an area around Oakland Avenue. The neighborhood also produced Aretha Franklin, Smokey Robinson, Jackie Wilson and other superstars. The Tops were buddies and remained friends all their lives. The group stayed together, too, and lead vocalist Levi Stubbs never took star billing.
After Motown signed the group, a string of hits followed: "Baby I Need Your Loving," "I Can't Help Myself," "Reach Out," and many others. However, Obie Benson was also known for co-writing the song that became a Marvin Gaye classic, "What's Going On."
The Tops didn't follow Motown to Los Angeles, though.
"They were definitely part of Michigan's who's who," said photojournalist Tim Hughes. "They were always appearing at events." Lawrence Payton died in 1997, and Stubbs left the group in 2000 following a stroke. Benson and Abdul "Duke" Fakir recruited replacements and kept singing, preserving the legacy that they and others helped create.
Benson died last Friday, and his funeral was to begin at 11 a.m. today at Detroit's Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church, 2080 W. Grand Blvd. If all the celebrities expected show up, it could be a real Motown reunion.
Motown, after all, was more than a special sound, the drummers hammering out every beat, the bass thundering, the guitars, pianos and organs squeezed into the middle-range, the strings and horns in the background. It was people.
No matter how far they traveled or what paths they took, we felt they belonged to us. Now many are gone: David Ruffin, Paul Williams, Eddie Kendricks, Marvin Gaye, Junior Walker, Marv Johnson, Mary Wells, Florence Ballard, the list goes on and on.
Renaldo "Obie" Benson, a man who was never without a smile or a song, has joined that list. May he rest in harmonious, perfectly composed peace.
Betty DeRamus' column runs Monday, Wednesday and Friday in Metro. Reach her at (313) 222-2296 or bderamus@detnews.com.
