Erik Visits an American Grave, Part 1,790

This is the grave of Levi Stubbs.

Born in 1936 in Detroit, Stubbs grew up in a musical family. His older brother sang, sure, but his cousin was Jackie Wilson. In high school, he met a friend named Duke Fakir. They started to sing together. Shortly after his 1954 graduation, they joined with Obie Benson and Lawrence Payton and became the Four Aims.

The kids had some local success and Chess Records decided to sign them to a deal in 1956. But when Chess did, the label realized there was already a band called the Ames Brothers and it thought that was too close to the Four Aims. So they asked the kids to rename it. They decided on The Four Tops.

The Four Tops became one of the greatest of all the Detroit bands of the 1960s. But it took awhile though. They struggled through a couple of early record deals and they were still pretty much in the minor leagues. That changed in 1960. That year, Billy Eckstine had them come out to Las Vegas as part of a revue he was putting on that had a lot of younger bands in it. He liked them and he took them under his wing. A lot of what he worked with them on was things like presentation. Obviously they could sing, no one could question that. So it was about how to put on a show. This is when they started with the matching outfits and the choreography and all that.

In 1963, The Four Tops signed a new deal with Motown. This was right as the epic label (though run by a terrible human being named Berry Gordy who somehow still lives) was hitting super big and Four Tops would be right at the center of its success. What Gordy provided them, as well as the regular resources of the label, was really good songwriters and producers that they did not have access to before. Specifically, Gordy sent his top songwriting team of Brian Holland, Eddie Holland and Lamont Dozier to write up some material for the band and this included their big hits. ‘Baby, I Need Your Loving” came out in 1964, one of the all-time classics of Detroit music. The band hit #1 with ‘I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)” in 1965. Then it hit #1 in 1966 with ”Reach Out (‘I’ll Be There’)’.” 1967 did not see a chart topper, but did see two songs make the top 10–”Standing in the Shadows of Love” and ”Bernadette.” They were huge in England too. Brian Epstein, the Beatles manager, arranged for them to come to the UK, and they were just shocked to see waves of white people loving them. Even in the U.S., Black fans were really at the core of their popularity, which is interesting when you consider that the most successful hip hop acts have always, somewhat ironically, sold heavily in white communities.

One thing that was interesting about Stubbs here is that he refused to dominate the group. This was an era where lots of groups started as a collective and then one person came to dominate, which the record companies loved. Diana Ross becoming the voice of the Supremes is the most notorious version of this. Smokey Robinson becoming the voice of the Miracles was another. Stubbs outright refused this when the record labels proposed it to him. He might have been the lead, but he did not see himself as better or more deserving than his friends. And that’s what they were–friends. Not employees. In fact, Stubbs was so committed to not outstepping his friends that when Berry Gordy offered him the role of Louis McKay in the 1972 Billie Holiday biopic Lady Sings the Blues, with Diana Ross, he refused, not wanting to see himself as better than his mates.

The band’s situation took a turn when the great songwriting team got sick of dealing with Gordy and left Motown. But honestly, people were listening to the band not for original material, but to hear these guys sing. So they managed to continue in the charts for awhile with pop covers. This was an era when a successful song was covered by basically everyone–I wonder just how many versions of “Bridge over Troubled Water” were cut in the decade after its release? So that wouldn’t have even seen a raised eyebrow by their fans. They had a bit of a return to prominence in the early 70s, adjusting with the times and adopting a more contemporary sound. They had two top ten hits in 1972, with ”Keeper of the Castle” and ”Ain’t No Woman (Like the One I’ve Got).” Then they had one more top 10 hit, in 1981 with “Casablanca.”

Four Tops style music might not have been at the forefront of the American musical experience by the 70s and 80s, but they still had tons of fans. That era of Motown was so great, so rich, that why wouldn’t you want to go hear these guys. They were really at the peak of their performance game, especially since they started so young. So they went on the road and pretty much stayed on it, making a good living.

What’s amazing about the Four Tops is that they were unlike basically every other Motown band. So many of those bands went the package tour route (fine, gotta make a living) with like one of the original members and then a bunch of other guys. Not Four Tops. Nope, they stayed together as a group all the way until the first member of the band died, without a single lineup change. That was Payton, in 1999.

Stubbs had that great baritone and could speak that way too. That led to some good voice acting roles, perhaps most notably as the plant in Little Shop of Horrors, from 1986. Terrible film, but memorable voice work from Stubbs. His voice also made him tremendously influential to other singers, and for as admirable as the man was in respecting his friends, he did have The Voice in that group. Daryl Hall long talked of him as a major influence, for example. Smokey Robinson sang nothing like Stubbs at all, not with that falsetto, but the baritone still influenced him nonetheless. Lonnie Jordan of War was another legendary singer who could only shake his head with admiration at the work of Levi Stubbs.

Stubbs dealt with cancer later in his life, beginning in 1995. He had a stroke in 2000. His last appearance was in 2004, at a 50th anniversary concert for the Four Tops. He died in 2008, at the age of 72.

Let’s listen to the Four Tops:

Levi Stubbs is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, Detroit, Michigan.

The Four Tops were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990, with Stevie Wonder giving the induction speech. If you would like this series to visit other members of the Rock and Roll HOF, you can donate to cover the required expenses here. Herb Reed, from the Platters, is in Peabody, Massachusetts, and Gene Clark, from the Byrds and many excellent solo albums as well, is in Tipton, Missouri. Previous posts in this series are archived here and here.