The Four Tops: how we made Reach Out (I'll Be There)

Duke Fakir, Four Tops singer

Holland-Dozier-Holland, as the Motown songwriting trio was known, were geniuses at tailoring a song to an artist: Brian, Lamont and Eddie could make you a song that fitted like a suit. We were all in the studio one day when they said they wanted to try something experimental. They had this thumping backing track played by the Funk Brothers – it had an amazing drum beat created by timpani mallets hitting a tambourine. The sound was fabulous, but then Eddie said they wanted Levi Stubbs [the Four Tops' lead singer] to do Bob Dylan-type singing over it.

Levi was uncomfortable at first. He said: "I'm a singer. I don't talk or shout." But we worked on it for a couple of hours, recording it in pieces, talking part after talking part. The lyrics were ostensibly about a guy telling his girl he'll be there for her in her darkest moments. To me, it felt like a chant, almost religious – a song of hope for the world.

Eddie realised that when Levi hit the top of his vocal range, it sounded like someone hurting, so he made him sing right up there. Levi complained, but we knew he loved it. Every time they thought he was at the top, he would reach a little further until you could hear the tears in his voice. The line "Just look over your shoulder" was something he threw in spontaneously. Levi was very creative like that, always adding something extra from the heart.

The finished song didn't sound like the Four Tops. We just assumed it was some experimental thing that would go on an album. A few weeks later, Motown boss Berry Gordy sent us a memo: "Make sure your taxes are taken care of – because we're going to release the biggest record you've ever had." He called us into his office, and I remember one of us asking: "So when are we going to record this great song?" He said: "You already have." We're all thinking: "Huh? We haven't recorded anything better than I Can't Help Myself. Then he played Reach Out and we said: "Hold on, Berry, we were just experimenting. Please don't release that as a single. It's not us. It has a nice rhythm to it but if you release that we'll be on the charts with an anchor." He laughed, but we left the meeting feeling very upset, almost angry.

I was out driving when I heard the song on the radio for the first time. It hit me like a lead pipe. I turned my car round and drove right back to Berry's office. He was in a meeting but I opened the door and just said: "Berry, don't ever talk to us about what you're releasing. Just do what you do. Bye."

Shelly Berger, Four Tops manager

When I first walked into the Motown offices in Detroit, it felt like I had walked into a cult. It was a club, a family. Mr Gordy was always searching for the new thing. His motto was: "Listen to the radio and hear what's going on." He'd been listening to Bob Dylan and the psychedelic soul stuff the Temptations were doing. He realised music was shifting away from straight rhythm and blues.

Holland-Dozier-Holland are now regarded as legendary, but at the time they were just twentysomething boys constantly searching for something new, in the same way as the Beatles were. That's what the Tops needed, because by 1966 they were so huge, there was no way of taking them to another level commercially – only artistically. That piccolo flute intro on Reach Out, which became a transatlantic No 1, is typical of how Motown would do something unexpected. But it was a team effort, like all their hits.

Levi was the greatest singer in any group. I say that as someone who also managed the Temptations – and Otis Williams [Temptations singer] agrees. Mr Gordy was the genius at the top of the pyramid. He had an uncanny ability to spot hits. If I knew how he did it, I'd be worth a hell of a lot more money.