Levi Stubbs 1936-2008

Levi Stubbs, frontman of the legendary Motown group The Four Tops, passed away today at 7…

Levi Stubbs, frontman of the legendary Motown group The Four Tops, passed away today at 72 after a three year battle with cancer and other health problems. Stubbs left behind his wife and five children.

Stubbs grew up in Michigan, finding future Four Tops bandmates in his childhood friends. His unique baritone voice and passionate, expressive vocals were a large part of the group’s rise to the top in the mid-sixties.

“Levi Stubbs was the first church-based soul shouter and pure singer. James Brown could shout, but Levi was a singer as well,” Howard Kramer, curatorial director of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, explained. “He could invoke so much passion and longing in a voice; he is incredibly expressive.”

The Four Tops had an impressive career, garnering 20 Top 40 hits including the number one single “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugarpie, Honeybunch),” and made an impact on not only just Motown but soul and rock and roll music in their nearly 50-year career. The Tops continued playing their own brand of soul well into the ‘90s, maintaining their success and respect from musical peers. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.

Always loyal to his bandmates and his love of music, Stubbs turned down several opportunities to embark on a solo career. He instead pursued various acting and voice-over jobs, including a role in 1986’s screen adaptation of Little Shop of Horrors. There was no doubt to those around him, though, that the music always came first.

“Well, I’m rather loud and raw,” Stubbs told the Los Angeles Times in 1994. “I don’t really even have a style; I just come by the way I sing naturally. When I learn a song, I try to live it as best I can.”

The only surviving member of the Four Tops is Abdul “Duke” Fakir. Lawrence Payton passed away in 1997, Obie Benson in 2005.