Geez, first Vandross and now one of the 4 Tops. There must be a Motown musical reunion in heaven. Obie Benson, one of the Four Tops, dies at 69 BY BRIAN MCCOLLUM Knight Ridder Newspapers DETROIT - (KRT) - Motown lost a musical pillar Friday. Renaldo ``Obie'' Benson, who for more than half a century provided the bass vocal foundation to the Four Tops' lush harmonies, died Friday morning at Harper Hospital in Detroit. He had turned 69 on June 14. R.I.P. Obie (on the far right)
I always thought it wasn't Levi's voice so much as Levi and Obie combined... Levi was concrete and Obie was rebar.... always wished I could hear him sing with Linda Ronstadt...
RIP to my namesake. Unbelievably great songs. One of the great things about the Four Tops was that until Payton died in '97 they actually were the Four Tops for over 40 years -- unlike so many 50s and 60s groups that kept the name with only one or two original members. I think there were three or four acts touring as The Drifters for a while, each with one original Drifter.