7 Rooms of Gloom

"7 Rooms of Gloom" is a song recorded by the Motown Records vocal quartet The Four Tops. It was released as a single in 1967 on the Motown label and reached #14 on the Billboard Hot 100,[1] and was a Top 10 R&B Hit, charting at #10. It was also a hit in the UK, their seventh, staying for nine weeks in the UK Singles Charts and reaching #12[2] and in the Netherlands where it made #23 in the Dutch Top 40.[3]

"7 Rooms of Gloom"
Single by Four Tops
from the album Reach Out
B-side	"I'll Turn to Stone"
Released	May 2, 1967
Recorded	Hitsville U.S.A. (Studio A); 1967
Genre	Soul, pop
Length	2:46
Label	Motown
Songwriter(s)	Holland–Dozier–Holland
Producer(s)	Brian Holland Lamont Dozier
Four Tops singles chronology
"Bernadette" (1967) "7 Rooms of Gloom" (1967) "You Keep Running Away" (1967)

Described as "throbbing with dread over a racing minor key dominated arrangement"[4] it was written by Holland–Dozier–Holland. The single's B-side was "I'll Turn to Stone"[5] also written by Holland-Dozier-Holland with R Dean Taylor.[6] That song made a separate chart entry, and peaked at #76 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #50 on the R&B Charts.

Personnel

• Levi Stubbs – lead vocals
• Abdul "Duke" Fakir – background vocals
• Renaldo "Obie" Benson – background vocals
• Lawrence Payton – background vocals
• Jackie Hicks – background vocals
• Marlene Barrow – background vocals
• Louvain Demps – background vocals
• Funk Brothers – instrumentation

References

1. "Four Tops – Awards". Allmusic. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
2. "Official Charts – Four Tops". www.officialcharts.com. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
3. "The Four Tops – 7 Rooms Of Gloom". www.top40.nl. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
4. Dahl, Bill (2001). Motown The Golden Years. p. 50. Retrieved 14 July 2013. four tops 7 rooms.
5. "Four Tops – 7 Rooms Of Gloom / I'll Turn To Stone". Discogs. Retrieved 13 July 2013.
6. "I'll Turn to Stone". Allmusic. Retrieved 14 July 2013.