Renaldo ‘Obie’ Benson, 69; Member of Motown’s Legendary Four Tops

Renaldo “Obie” Benson, a member of the legendary Motown singing group the Four Tops, died Friday. He was 69.

Benson died at a Detroit hospital, said the group’s road manager, Fred Bridges.

Benson’s publicist, Matt Lee, said the singer died of lung cancer that was discovered several weeks ago when he was hospitalized to have a leg amputated because of circulation problems. The Four Tops sold more than 50 million records and recorded such hits as “Baby I Need Your Loving,” “Reach Out (I’ll be There),” “I Can’t Help Myself” and “Standing in the Shadows of Love.”

Benson’s death leaves two surviving members of the original group: Levi Stubbs and Abdul “Duke” Fakir. The fourth original Top, Lawrence Payton, died of liver cancer in 1997, but the group carried on as a trio and later recruited Theo Peoples.

“When we lost Lawrence, it was like losing part of your body,” Benson told the Washington Post in 2000. He also spoke of the group’s continued performing.

“This is what keeps us alive,” he said. “The music, to me, is like vitamins and stuff. You know what I’m saying, it gives me energy.”

The Four Tops were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.

The group began singing together in the 1950s under the name the Four Aims and signed a deal with Chess Records. They later changed their name to the Four Tops to avoid being confused with the Ames Brothers.

The group signed with Motown Records in 1963 and produced a string of hits over the next decade, making music history with the other acts in producer Berry Gordy’s Motown lineup.

Even after their heyday, they continued to work in clubs, arenas and in Las Vegas showrooms. In the 1980s, they had a hit with “When She Was My Girl.”