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Obie Benson (Filed: 05/07/2005) Obie Benson, who died on July 1 aged 69, was for 50 years a member of The Four Tops, the group which provided the Motown label with some of its most enduring hits of the Sixties, among them Reach Out, I'll Be There and Walk Away Renee. The band was formed in 1954 when Benson and Lawrence Payton, a fellow student at Northern High in Detroit, were encouraged to show off their vocal talents at a birthday party in company with two pupils from Pershing High, Abdul Fakir and Levi Stubbs. Such was the reception that...

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. Benson had been battling a sudden onset of medical problems. Last month, he suffered a heart attack after the amputation of a leg because of circulation problems. He was subsequently diagnosed with lung cancer, and began intense, stage-four chemotherapy last week. Abdul ``Duke'' Fakir and Levi Stubbs remain the two surviving members of the...