What a lovely blast from the past! Motown legends The Temptations and The Four Tops practically defined popular American music in the late 1950s and 1960s, along with the other performers on the Motown roster. They will be in concert at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) next April 19, 2025 at 8 pm, and tickets are already going fast! (Photo courtesy of NJPAC.)
The Temptations were major chart-toppers with such classic hits as “My Girl” and “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone,” while The Four Tops charted with “Baby I Need Your Loving” and “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch),” among other well-known songs.
The Temptations, considered the greatest black R&B/soul vocal group of the modern era, released more than 50 Gold, Platinum, and multi-Platinum albums. They were awarded five GRAMMYs®, including the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award. In 1989, they were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
The Four Tops achieved a total of 24 Top 40 pop hits, and they were one of the most commercially successful pop music groups of the early 1960s. Both groups helped propel Motown Records to international fame.
To quote Barry Gordy, the founder of Motown Records, “A dream is just a dream. A goal is a dream with a plan and a deadline.”
The Motown record label and its subsidiaries has been the highest-earning African-American business for decades. The roster of Motown artists still reads like a who’s who in music and has included such greats as Diana Ross & the Supremes, Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Michael Jackson, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Lionel Richie, and many, many more.
Only one original member of The Temptations remains (Otis Williams), and none of the original Four Tops remain. But the men who continue the legacy are fantastic and not to be missed.
The story of The Temptations was recently commemorated in a Broadway show called “Ain’t Too Proud,” and the bass singer who played original member, Melvin Franklin, in that show is now a member of the touring Temptations. This gentlemen, Jawan Jackson, will perform with the group at NJPAC.
Tickets are now available, and if you wish to experience these exceptional artists, you should purchase as soon as possible. They are extremely sought after!
I will attend this performance and report afterwards.
NJPAC
Prudential Hall
Betty Wold Johnson Stage
One Center Street
Newark, New Jersey 07102
njpac.org or 888.GO.NJPAC (888.466.5722)
Follow NJPAC Online:
Website: njpac.org
Twitter: @NJPAC
Instagram: @NJPAC
Hashtag: #NJPAC
Facebook: facebook.com/NJPAC
YouTube: NJPACtv
Manos Angelakis was one of the founders, the former Managing Editor for 25 years, the former Managing Editor Emeritus, and former Senior Food & Wine Writer of LuxuryWeb Magazine. He passed away in 2025 as an accomplished travel writer, photographer, and food and wine critic based in Hackensack, New Jersey. As a travel writer, he wrote extensively about numerous cities and countries. Manos was also certified as a Tuscan Wine Master and traveled to wine-producing areas in order to evaluate firsthand the product of top-rated vineyards. His articles in other publications include Vision Times and Epoch Times.
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