<P> In the 1980s, the Four Tops recorded for Casablanca Records, Arista Records and Motown, returning to that label on two occasions for brief stays . Apart from their album Indestructible (owned by Sony Music Entertainment), Universal Music Group controls the rights to their entire post-1963 catalog (through various mergers and acquisitions) and also their 1956 single, "Could It Be You". </P> <P> A change of lineup was forced on the group when Lawrence Payton died on June 20, 1997 . The group initially continued as a three - piece under the name the Tops, before Theo Peoples (formerly of the Temptations) was recruited as the new fourth member . Peoples eventually took over the role of lead singer when Stubbs suffered a stroke in 2000, with Ronnie McNeir then joining the group . On July 1, 2005, Benson died of lung cancer . Payton's son Roquel Payton replaced him . Levi Stubbs died on October 17, 2008 . </P> <P> Fakir, McNeir, Roquel Payton, and Harold "Spike" Bonhart, who replaced Peoples in 2011, are still performing together as the Four Tops . Fakir is the only surviving founding member of the group . </P> <P> All four members of the group began their careers together while they were high - school students in Detroit . At the insistence of their friends, Pershing High students Levi Stubbs and Abdul "Duke" Fakir performed with Renaldo "Obie" Benson and Lawrence Payton from Northern High at a local birthday party . The quartet decided to remain together and named the group the Four Aims . With the help of Payton's songwriter cousin Roquel Davis, the Aims signed to Chess Records in 1956, changing their name to the Four Tops to avoid confusion with the Ames Brothers . Over the next seven years, the Tops had unsuccessful tenures at Chess, Red Top, Riverside Records and Columbia Records . Without any hit records to their name, they toured frequently, developing a polished stage presence and an experienced supper club act, as well as supporting Billy Eckstine . In 1963, Berry Gordy, Jr., who had worked with Roquel Davis as a songwriter in the late 1950s, convinced the Tops to join the roster of his growing Motown record company . </P>

Who is left from the original four tops