Four Tops & Temptations

Announce Odyssey As Special Guest

For Their UK Tour

Motown legends The Four Tops and The Temptations have announced that Odyssey will join them as special guests on their UK tour in November. The UK chart-toppers have been confirmed as special guests for all dates except Liverpool. Native New Yorker was a UK Top 5 hit for Odyssey in 1977 and the trio fronted by Lillian Lopez followed up with a string of UK hits in the eighties.

The Four Tops and The Temptations will be performing some of their most popular and award-winning songs that continue to inspire musicians around the globe. The Tamla Motown label broke down cultural and social barriers and The Four Tops and The Temptations were at the very forefront of that transformative period. Original members, Duke Fakir and Otis Williams, of the Four Tops and Temptations respectively, hold a special place in the hearts of British fans, and they are both delighted to be returning to the UK for the 2020 8-date concert tour in October and November.

“We are thrilled to be coming back to the UK,” says Duke Fakir. “We always have such a great reception from our fans here, it always feels like home. It makes it so special to perform for the folks in Britain.”

“We want to thank our British fans for supporting and inspiring us over a half century. I’ve had such memorable trips to Britain dating as far back as the early 70’s, including meeting the Archbishop of Canterbury to recording our Live at London’s Talk of the Town album. As we mark our 60th Anniversary in 2020, the Temptations want to pay special tribute to fans in the UK and worldwide. We invite everyone to join us in celebrating this special milestone during next year’s tour,” says Otis Williams, founding member of the Temptations.

I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch), Reach Out I’ll Be There, Standing In The Shadows Of Love, Bernadette, and Walk Away Renee are all timeless Four Tops’ classics that need little, or no, introduction and they enjoyed a revival of fortunes when Loco In Acapulco, from the film Buster, was a UK hit in 1988. Four Tops founder member Duke Fakir is joined by Ronnie McNeir, Lawrence Payton Jr and Joseph Alex Morris a truly fine vocalist with a commanding delivery in the current line-up.

Temptations’ blockbuster No.1 hits Just My Imagination, Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone, and My Girl are among the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s ‘500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll’ The Temptations, throughout the group’s evolution, have produced 53 Billboard Hot 100 Hit singles, including four that became No.1 Pop singles. Additionally, they released 43 Top 10 R&B hit singles, 14 of which were No.1 R&B hits, including timeless classics such as Ain’t Too Proud to Beg, Beauty is Only Skin Deep, and I Wish It Would Rain. Otis Williams, the sole surviving original Temptation, Ron Tyson, a lead vocalist for 37 years, Terry Weeks, a lead vocalist for 23 years, and Willie Greene, Jr., base vocalist with the group for four years, are still serenading fans with their soulful voices, lighting up stages with their famous Temptations’ Walk, and bringing joy to audiences of all ages.

Following their initial 1977 UK success with Native New Yorker, Odyssey returned to the UK charts with Use It Up And Wear It Out which spent two weeks at Number 1 in 1980. If You’re Looking For A Way Out, Going Back To My Roots and Inside Out were all Top 10 smashes on this side of the Atlantic. Steven Collazo joined his mother Lillian Lopez in the band and they continued performing across the UK, Europe and the Middle East. Steven continues to lead Odyssey keeping the memory of his late mother very much alive. He says “We are so honoured and pleased to be joining the legendary Four Tops and Temptations in the UK as their special guest and support. These islands have always been, and continue to be, so very welcoming to us and appreciative of our music, even after 40 years. I can’t begin to convey how excited we are to be appearing with such great entertainers in front of such great people.”

The Full 2020 tour dates are as follows:

Thursday 29 October Cardiff Motorpoint Arena

Friday 30 October Nottingham Motorpoint Arena

Sunday 1 November Manchester Manchester Arena

Monday 2 November Liverpool** M&S Bank Arena

Tuesday 3 November Leeds First Direct Arena

Wednesday 4 November Birmingham Birmingham Arena

Saturday 7 November Bournemouth International Centre

Sunday 8 November London O2 Arena

Liverpool** show – Odyssey will not be performing at this show

Tickets available from: www.ticketline.co.uk, 24-hour ticket line 0844 888 9991, or from the venues direct.

About The Four Tops

The Four Tops were among the first wave of Tamla Motown artists to make an impact in the UK with their infectious R&B and soul influenced brand of pop. The line-up of Levi Stubbs, Duke Fakir, Obie Benson and Lawrence Payton teamed up with the Holland-Dozier-Holland writing and production team to score a constant string of hits for over a decade.

Baby I Need Your Loving gave them a US hit with their first Motown release in 1964 and they scored their first US Number 1 the following year with I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch). This also gave them their first UK top ten hit. In 1966, they topped the charts on both sides of the Atlantic with Reach Out I’ll Be There. The Four Tops trademark sound of baritone lead vocals and lush harmonies was complemented, on stage, with slick and well-rehearsed dance routines, also giving them a strong visual identity.

The Four Tops were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 and continue to tour regularly led by Duke Fakir, sole surviving member of the classic line-up.

In a Rolling Stone magazine article in 2004 Smokey Robinson remembered: “They were the best in my neighbourhood in Detroit when I was growing up (and) the Four Tops will always be one of the biggest and the best groups ever. Their music is forever.”

About The Temptations

World-renowned superstars of entertainment and revered for their phenomenal catalogue of music, The Temptations were named the #1 R&B/Hip Hop Artists of All Time and one of the 125 Greatest of All Time Artists by Billboard magazine and, by Rolling Stone magazine, one of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

The Temptations are the recipients of numerous other awards and honours. They have won four Grammy Awards, including the Recording Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award in 2013. They have been inducted into the Rock and Roll, Vocal Group and Rhythm and Blues Music Halls of Fame and have been honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and on the Apollo Theater’s Walk of Fame in Harlem, New York.

Currently the subject of a smash hit Broadway musical, Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations won the 2019 Tony Award for Best Choreography and negotiations are ongoing for the musical to come to London,

The original Broadway cast album for Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations was recently nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Musical Theater Album category. For the 2019 holiday season, Universal Music Enterprises released an original animated video featuring the Temptations’ Silent Night, one of the most popular holiday songs of all time. The Temptations will mark their 60th Anniversary, later in the year, with an international concert tour.

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