RIP Levi Stubbs

One of the all time great voices of black music is silenced. The Four Tops lead singer Levi Stubbs (2nd to the left) died today at age 72. He was born June 6, 1936 in Detroit and grew up singing in church. He formed The Four Aims in 1954 with high school pals Obie Benson, Duke Fakir & Lawrence Payton. They changed their name to The Four Tops and signed to Motown in 1963. They had plenty of hits like I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch), Reach Out (I'll Be There) & It's The Same Old Song mostly written and produced by Holland-Dozier-Holland. They continued to have success at ABC Records in the 70s and returned to Motown in 1983. Their final top 40 hit was 1988's Indestructible on Arista. The best thing about Levi Stubbs was that he was a good enough singer to be a solo star but prefered to remain as part of The Four Tops with his high school buddies. That kind of loyalty is very unusual in the music business. Of course Stubbs played the voice of Audrey in the 1986 film musical Little Shop Of Horrors. His brother Joe Stubbs was a member of The Contours. Stubbs suffered a stroke in 2000 and other than one appearnce in 2004 retired due to illness. His wife of 48 years Clineice was at his bedside when he died. They have 5 children and 11 grandchildren. Lawrence Payton died in 1997.Obie Benson died in 2005. But Duke Fakir still tours today with a version of The Four Tops. Levi Stubbs was a superior vocalist and was part of one of the most enduring legacies in black music history. He will be missed. Here's Levi Stubbs and The Four Tops performing Reach Out (I'll Be There) on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1966. RIP Levi Stubbs.