Levi Stubbs, RIP

[Dan Gould]

Not much info, it just crossed the AP wire thirty minutes ago.

But what a special voice! Definitely going to put on some Four Tops, and maybe have my wife put Little Shop of Horrors on her Netflix list.

[John L]

Damn! Levi had a great voice. I met him a few times as well. He was a fine indiivual.

RIP

[Christiern]

Here's the obit from USA Today.

Sad news, this was a great group and they left us some memorable music, the quality of which went way beyond nostalgia (but, for many of us, contains a lot of that, too).

Edited October 17, 2008 by Christiern

[zen archer]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-p_VY7qBKhM...feature=related

[GA Russell]

RIP. I was not a fan of Motown, but I enjoyed very much Same Old Song, which was not as big a hit as its predecessor I Can't Help Myself, but which over the years has in my experience received much more airplay on the oldies stations than Help Myself has.

[Stereojack]

Big loss - great voice! We listened to several Four Tops albums in the store today, in remembrance, and the Motown stuff is just classic!

[Teasing the Korean]

Amazing voice. Maybe he can get a gig with the Temptations in the next realm.

[John L]

Amazing voice. Maybe he can get a gig with the Temptations in the next realm.

Levi is reunited now with Lawrence and OB. He doesn't need the Temps.

[Soulstation1]

Ain't No Woman Like The One I Got

A Classic Jam

[JSngry]

Saw the Tops live in downtown(?) Detroit at a free concert, 4th of July, 1981. Memorable, to put it mildly.

Played with them in the backing band of a Temps/Tops show in Albuquerque, a year or two later. Equally memorable.

Levi had the kind of thing you just can't fake - or destroy. You can dress it up, bury it, divert it, whatever, but no matter what, it is going to be there, just because reality inevitably trumps pretend, sooner or later, one way or the other.

RIP, & if anybody's cut a better record about the urgency of getting with somebody who ain't with you yet but damn well needs to be than "Bernadette", I've yet to hear it.

[danasgoodstuff]

Levi would've sounded great singing the proverbial phone book in an alley, but the Tops work with H-D-H shows that great production and great voices can go hand in hand and make each other even greater...

[sheldonm]

Saw the Tops live in downtown(?) Detroit at a free concert, 4th of July, 1981. Memorable, to put it mildly.

Played with them in the backing band of a Temps/Tops show in Albuquerque, a year or two later. Equally memorable.

Levi had the kind of thing you just can't fake - or destroy. You can dress it up, bury it, divert it, whatever, but no matter what, it is going to be there, just because reality inevitably trumps pretend, sooner or later, one way or the other.

RIP, & if anybody's cut a better record about the urgency of getting with somebody who ain't with you yet but damn well needs to be than "Bernadette", I've yet to hear it.

....agree with you on this one!!!

[John L]

It is understandable why the Four Tops are strongly associated with Motown, but a lot of the best Levi Stubbs and the Four Tops comes from the post-Motown period. They made a number of very fine records for ABC, followed by two brilliant ones for Casablanca.

[AllenLowe]

direct quote from an old friend, who was one of the first house pianists at Motown:

"The Four Tops were a jazz group first, like the Mills Brothers. One day I was sitting with Stevie Wonder on the front steps of the office and these guys came in with shark skin suits; next thing we knew, the Four Tops were a pop group."

[John L]

direct quote from an old friend, who was one of the first house pianists at Motown:

"The Four Tops were a jazz group first, like the Mills Brothers. One day I was sitting with Stevie Wonder on the front steps of the office and these guys came in with shark skin suits; next thing we knew, the Four Tops were a pop group."

You can hear the Four Tops when they were still singing jazz on this excellent album:

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Oh, more sad news. "Bernadette" was THE Four Tops number. Even James Brown's version couldn't top theirs.

MG