IN: The Four Tops are a vocal quartet from Detroit, Michigan, USA, who helped to define the city's Motown sound of the 1960s. The group's repertoire has included soul music, R&B, disco, adult contemporary, doo-wop, jazz, and show tunes. Founded as the Four Aims, lead singer Levi Stubbs, Abdul "Duke" Fakir, Renaldo "Obie" Benson and Lawrence Payton remained together for over four decades, performing from 1953 until 1997 without a change in personnel. The Four Tops were among a number of groups, including the Miracles, the Marvelettes, Martha and the Vandellas, the Temptations, and the Supremes, who established the Motown Sound heard around the world during the 1960s.

From the late 1980s, the Four Tops focused on touring and live performances. They recorded only one album, returning again to Motown for 1995's Christmas Here with You. On June 20, 1997, 59-year-old Lawrence Payton died as a result of liver cancer, after singing for 44 years with the Four Tops who, unlike many Motown groups, never had a single lineup change until then. At first, Levi Stubbs, Obie Benson, and Duke Fakir toured as a trio called The Tops. In 1998, they recruited former Temptation Theo Peoples to restore the group to a quartet. By the turn of the century, Stubbs had become ill from cancer; Ronnie McNeir was recruited to fill the Lawrence Payton position and Peoples stepped into Stubbs' shoes as lead singer. Stubbs later died on October 17, 2008 at his home in Detroit.  The group was featured in several television specials during this time, including Motown 45, and several by PBS, including a 50th anniversary concert dedicated to the group (available on DVD). The concert turned out to be bittersweet; it featured a brief appearance of the wheelchair-bound Levi Stubbs, and a memorial to Lawrence Payton, announced by Obie Benson. Benson appeared on one more PBS special and died on July 1, 2005, from lung cancer. The final PBS special, titled Motown: The Early Years, featured a message of Benson's passing following the credits. Lawrence Payton's son Roquel (real name Lawrence Payton, Jr.) replaced Benson as the new bass (Roquel could be seen in the pledge break interviews of Motown: The Early Years). Theo Peoples also left the Tops to form his own group and was replaced by Harold 'Spike' Bonhart as lead singer.  The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990, and into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1999. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked them #79 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

Why was it bittersweet?

OUT: it featured a brief appearance of the wheelchair-bound Levi Stubbs, and a memorial to Lawrence Payton,


IN: Jim McLean was born into a working-class family in Larkhall, Lanarkshire on 2 August 1937, the second of three sons of Tom and Annie McLean, and grew up in the nearby village of Ashgill. His maternal grandfather William Yuille had been a professional footballer, playing for Rangers before the First World War. Tom McLean, a baker, had been a promising junior footballer before joining the Plymouth Brethren when he married. The three brothers, Willie, Jim and Tommy, who all went on to become professional football players and managers, had a strict religious upbringing.

Despite the progress he had made, few believed that McLean and United were potential Premier Division champions, Alex Ferguson's Aberdeen at that time were an emerging force in addition to the Old Firm. But in 1983, profiting from a late run which left those clubs in their wake, that is precisely what McLean's largely home-grown side did. At this time he additionally acted as assistant manager to Jock Stein with the Scotland national team.  Rangers, who had seen a decline in their fortunes over the previous few years, offered McLean the job as their manager in 1983. McLean engaged in early negotiations with the club; one of his main problems with the job offer was Rangers' policy of not signing Roman Catholics, a policy McLean found a ridiculous restriction for any employer as well as having signed many talented Catholics with Dundee United. Despite the Rangers chairman assuring him that this policy would be scrapped if he accepted the job, McLean decided that he was happy at Dundee United; his family were happily settled in the Broughty Ferry area of Dundee. McLean also turned down an offer to manage English club Newcastle United in June 1984.  Following his team's League success in 1983, Dundee United made their debut in the European Cup. McLean's counter-attacking tactics paired with a pressuring style brought some memorable results in that year's European campaign. McLean inspired United to the semi-finals of that year's competition, a penalty-kick denying them a place in the final. Three years later McLean took the team to a European final, this time in the UEFA Cup, although they were beaten by IFK Gothenburg of Sweden. For the rest of his managerial career McLean continued to secure United's high standing in domestic football, finishing outside the top four clubs only once, and taking the team to a further five Scottish Cup finals, but without winning the trophy.

What the biggest success of the 1980s?

OUT:
But in 1983, profiting from a late run which left those clubs in their wake, that is precisely what McLean's largely home-grown side did.