Reach Out I’ll Be There. The Four Tops
My favourite male vocalists from all those years ago were Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, David Ruffin of The Temptations and Levi Stubbs of The Four Tops. The Tops with Levi on lead vocal recorded this Holland/Dozier/Holland song in 2 takes. H.D.H. told Levi to sing it like Bob Dylan on ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ which explains the unusual urgency in his delivery. Levi Stubbs had no problem trying out this new style as H.D.H. told him that this song was a ‘throwaway’ album track. Berry Gordy on hearing it disagreed and issued it as a single. ‘Reach Out I’ll Be There’ went to Number 1 in the U.S.A. on the 15th October 1966 and stayed there for two weeks, on the 29th October 1966 it went to Number 1 in the U.K. and stayed there for 3 weeks. Don’t you just love how hit records appear from mistakes, misunderstanding, try-outs and lack of belief, until someone and the everyday people change everything.