Intro: by Gail Nobles
Story by: Gail Nobles
All photos: Public Domain/ Wikipedia.org

The Temptations & Four Tops
It was Motown 25 when I first saw the Temptations and Four Tops perform together. It was a battle between the two groups in a fun kind of way. I’ll never forget watching them on TV when I heard the announcer say: The Four Tops and The Temptations here to battle it out just like in the old days!

The Four Tops began first singing a little bit of their song, Reach Out (I’ll Be There). Then the Temptations began singing a little bit of their song, Get Ready. They kept on that way singing different songs in between.

The audience would applaud both groups, and you could hear the excitement in their voices shouting out for them. The Temptations would take over and sing Sugar Pie Honey Bunch by the Four Tops & The Four Tops would end up singing one of the Temptations’ songs. Before long, they were like one group singing one song, and the audience gave them a standing ovation.

Motown 25 was a 1983 TV Special. When Motown returned to the Apollo in 1985, The Temptations and the Four Tops had a battle again. Bill Cosby said: If you got a weak heart, you better leave now because I got a feeling something special is about to happen. We call it the battle of the groups.

In that battle Levi Stubbs was left in my mind. He was an awesome actor in singing. Melvin from the Temptations would sing something like: Bom dom dom dom dom.

And Levi would say: Shut up Melvin!
Melvin: Got you that time.
Levi: Okay! That’s enough! That’s enough!

But it was all love between the two. I’m Gail Nobles. Thank you for listening. Have a Happy New Year.