Lawrence Albert Payton Sr. (March 2, 1938 – June 20, 1997) was an American

tenor A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

, vocal arranger,

musician A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...

, and

record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

for the popular

Motown Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...

quartet, the

Four Tops The Four Tops are an American vocal group formed in Detroit, Michigan in 1953 as the Four Aims. They were one of the most commercially successful American pop music groups of the 1960s and helped propel Motown Records to international fame. The ...

Career

Payton and Obie Benson both attended a Northern High School in Detroit and met

Levi Stubbs Levi Stubbs (born Levi Stubbles, June 6, 1936 – October 17, 2008) was an American baritone singer, widely known as the lead vocalist of the R&B group the Four Tops, that released a variety of Motown hit records during the 1960s and 1970s. He ...

and Duke Fakir at a school birthday party. The four teenagers began singing in 1953 as The Four Aims but later changed their name to the Four Tops to avoid confusion with the

Ames Brothers The Ames Brothers were an American singing quartet, consisting of four siblings from Malden, Massachusetts, who were particularly famous in the 1950s for their traditional pop hits. Biography The Urick brothers were born in Malden, Massachus ...

. With the help of Payton's songwriter cousin Billy Davis, the Aims signed to

Chess Records Chess Records was an American record company established in 1950 in Chicago, specializing in blues and rhythm and blues. It was the successor to Aristocrat Records, founded in 1947. It expanded into soul music, gospel music, early rock an ...

in 1956. Although successful in the local area as a performance group, recording success eluded them until signing with the newly established Motown label in 1963. They then became one of the biggest recording acts of the 1960s, charting more than two dozen hits through the early 1980s. Payton is credited for the vocal arrangements and the "smooth seamless harmony" of the Four Tops' sound. He also sang lead on several songs such as the 1975 single "We All Gotta Stick Together", "Feel Free" (from the ''

Catfish Catfish (or catfishes; order (biology), order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Catfish are common name, named for their prominent barbel (anatomy), barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, though not ...

'' album) and "Love Feels Like Fire" and "Until You Love Someone" (from their Motown days), but he was often overshadowed as lead by the more popular Stubbs. Stubbs praised Payton's contribution saying, "He could pick notes out of the air. He had that gift. He was responsible for our harmonies."

Personal life

The original Four Tops enjoyed continued success as a headline performance act and remained together for 43 years until Payton's death on June 20, 1997, from

liver cancer Liver cancer, also known as hepatic cancer, primary hepatic cancer, or primary hepatic malignancy, is cancer that starts in the liver. Liver cancer can be primary in which the cancer starts in the liver, or it can be liver metastasis, or secondar ...

Southfield, Michigan Southfield is a city in Oakland County, Michigan, Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring suburb of Detroit, Southfield borders Detroit to the north, roughly northwest of downtown Downtown Detroit, Detroit. As of the 2020 Uni ...

aged 59. He was interred in Detroit's Woodlawn Cemetery. Payton had 11 children. One of his sons, Lawrence Jr., nicknamed "Roquel", went on to sing with the

who continue to perform as of , and still featuring original member Duke Fakir until his death in 2024.

Accolades

As a member of the Four Tops, Payton was inducted into the

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), also simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum and hall of fame located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the shore of Lake Erie. The museum documents the history of rock music and the ...

in 1990, received a star on the

Hollywood Walk of Fame The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a landmark which consists of 2,813 five-pointed terrazzo-and-brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in the Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood dist ...

shortly before his death in 1997, was posthumously inducted into the

Vocal Group Hall of Fame The Vocal Group Hall of Fame & Museum Company Inc. was an American-based hall of fame that honored vocal groups throughout the United States. James E. Winner Jr. was the financial and managing partner of the For-profit corporation. Winner and ...

in 1999, the

Grammy Hall of Fame The Grammy Hall of Fame is a hall of fame to honor musical recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance. Inductees are selected annually by a special member committee of eminent and knowledgeable professionals from all branches of ...

in 1998, received the

Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award The Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award is a special Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achiev ...

in 2009,Entertainment , Four Tops to get lifetime Grammy
. BBC News (2008-12-22). Retrieved on 2012-05-13. and was ranked at number 77 in the ''Billboard'' magazine Top 100 Recording Artists of All Time.Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists list
. Listal.com (2008-09-12). Retrieved on 2012-11-10. 2013 the group was inducted into the

National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame The National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame is an independent organization whose mission is to educate and to celebrate, preserve, promote, and present rhythm and blues music globally. History The National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame was founde ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Payton, Lawrence 1938 births 1997 deaths American soul musicians Four Tops members American tenors Deaths from liver cancer Deaths from cancer in Michigan Burials at Woodlawn Cemetery (Detroit) Singers from Detroit 20th-century African-American male singers 20th-century American male singers 20th-century American singers