Sad News Renaldo Obie Benson

Renaldo Obie Benson, 68, co-founded the famed Motown group in 1954 in Detroit. He served as the group's bass voice and in the early days handled its choreography. Outside of the Tops, Renaldo Obie Benson was best-known for writing Marvin Gaye's 1971 classic What's Going On after witnessing a scuffle between police and peace demonstrators in San Francisco. Renaldo Obie Benson, 68, co-founded the famed Motown group in 1954 in Detroit. He served as the group's bass voice and in the early days handled its choreography. Outside of the Tops, Renaldo Obie Benson was best-known for writing Marvin Gaye's 1971 classic What's Going On after witnessing a scuffle between police and peace demonstrators in San Francisco.

Fellow Top Abdul Duke Fakir said Renaldo Obie Benson lived and enjoyed every minute of it. He put a smile on everyone's face, including my own.

Renaldo Obie  Benson is survived by two adult daughters, Ebony and Toby. Funeral arrangements were pending.

Early History

The Four Tops began life in 1953 (some accounts say 1954), when all of the members were attending Detroit-area high schools. Levi Stubbs and Abdul "Duke" Fakir went to Pershing, and met Northern students Renaldo "Obie" Benson and Lawrence Payton at a friend's birthday party, where the quartet first sang together. Sensing an immediate chemistry, they began rehearsing together and dubbed themselves the Four Aims.

Payton's cousin Roquel Davis, a budding songwriter who sometimes sang with the group during its early days, helped them get an audition with Chess Records in 1956. Although Chess was more interested in Davis, who went on to become Berry Gordy's songwriting partner, they also signed the Four Aims, who became the Four Tops to avoid confusion with the Ames Brothers. The Four Tops' lone Chess single, "Kiss Me Baby," was an unequivocal flop, and the group moved on to similarly brief stints at Red Top and Riverside. They signed with Columbia in 1960 and were steered in a more upscale supper-club direction, singing jazz and pop standards. This too failed to break them, although they did tour with Billy Eckstine during this period.

In 1963, the Four Tops signed with longtime friend Berry Gordy's new label, specifically the jazz-oriented Workshop subsidiary. They completed a debut LP, to be called Breaking Through, but Gordy scrapped it and switched their style back to R&B, placing them on Motown with the Holland-Dozier-Holland songwriting team.....

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