DETROIT — Four Tops frontman Levi Stubbs, whose dynamic and emotive voice drove such Motown classics as “Reach Out (I’ll Be There)” and “Baby I Need Your Loving,” died Friday. He was 72.
He had been ill recently and died in his sleep at the Detroit house he shared with his wife of 48 years, said Dana Meah, the wife of a grandson. The Wayne County medical examiner’s office also confirmed the death.
With Stubbs in the lead, the Four Tops sold millions of records and performed for more than four decades without a change in personnel.
“Levi Stubbs was one of the great voices of all times,” said former Motown labelmate Smokey Robinson. “He was very near and dear to my heart. He was my friend and my brother; I miss him. God bless his family and comfort them.”
The Four Tops began singing together in 1953 under the name the Four Aims and signed a deal with Chess Records. They later changed their names to the Four Tops to avoid being confused with the Ames Brothers.
They also recorded for Red Top, Riverside and Columbia Records and toured supper clubs.
The Four Tops signed with Motown Records in 1963 and produced 20 Top 40 hits over the next 10 years, making music history with the other acts in Berry Gordy’s Motown stable.
“It is not only a tremendous personal loss for me, but for the Motown family, and people all over the world who were touched by his rare voice and remarkable spirit,” Gordy said Friday. “Levi was the greatest interpreter of songs I’ve ever heard.”
When he and others at Motown first heard “Baby I Need Your Loving,” Gordy remembered: “Levi’s voice exploded in the room and went straight for our hearts. We all knew it was a hit, hands down.”
The Four Tops toured for decades after their heyday and reached the charts as late as 1988 with “Indestructible” on Arista Records. In 1986, Stubbs provided the voice for Audrey II, the man-eating plant in the film “Little Shop of Horrors.” The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Stubbs’ death leaves one surviving member of the original group: Abdul “Duke” Fakir. Original Top Lawrence Payton died of liver cancer in 1997; Renaldo “Obie” Benson died of lung cancer in 2005.
Stubbs is survived by his wife Clineice, five children and 11 grandchildren.
