Levi Stubbs, 1936 - 2008

Damn!

DETROIT – Levi Stubbs, the gravelly voiced lead singer of the Motown group the Four Tops, who led the group in 1960s hits like “Reach Out (I’ll Be There),” and “Bernadette,” died at his home here on Friday. He was 72.

His death was confirmed by the office of the Wayne County Medical Examiner. No cause of death was given, but he had had a series of illnesses, including a stroke and cancer, that forced him to stop performing with the group in 2000, although he had appeared at benefit concerts.

Formed while its four original members were in high school, the Four Tops had more than 40 hits on the Billboard pop charts, including their first No. 1 single, “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)” in 1964.

Wiki:

Stubbs began his professional singing career with friends Abdul "Duke" Fakir, Renaldo "Obie" Benson and Lawrence Payton to form the Four Aims in 1954. Two years later, the group changed their name to the Four Tops.

The group began as a supper-club act before finally signing to Motown Records in 1963; by the end of the decade, The Four Tops had over a dozen hits to their name. The most popular of the Four Tops hits, all of which featured Stubbs on lead vocals, include "Baby I Need Your Loving", "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)", "It's the Same Old Song", "Reach Out I'll Be There", "Standing in the Shadows of Love", "Bernadette", "Still Water (Love)", and "Ain't No Woman (Like the One I've Got)".

Although Stubbs was a natural baritone, most of the Four Tops' hits were written in a tenor range to give the lead vocals a sense of urgency. Stubbs and the other Tops remained a team until Payton died in 1997, at which point Theo Peoples took his place. The Four Tops were elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990. Benson also died on July 1, 2005.

As an actor, credited as Levi Stubbs, Jr., he provided the voice of the carnivorous plant "Audrey II" in the movie version of the musical Little Shop of Horrors (1986) and the voice of Mother Brain in the animated TV series Captain N: The Game Master (1989). Stubbs has also guest starred in a number of TV shows as himself.