Four Tops Singer Levi Stubbs Dies at 72

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    Levi Stubbs, the gruff-voiced yet exceedingly expressive frontman of soul music giants the Four Tops, has passed away at age 72 in his Detroit home. The powerful lead singer on hit singles including 'I Can't Help Myself,' 'It's the Same Old Song,' 'Reach Out I'll Be There,' 'Standing in the Shadows of Love' and 'Bernadette' in the 1960s, Stubbs had been ill in recent years, having recently been debilitated by a stroke and cancer that forced his retirement in 2000.

    The Four Tops began their career around 1953 in Detroit as the Four Aims and, after a name change, signed to Berry Gordy's Motown label in 1963. After a commercially and creatively fertile career at the legendary hitmaking factory, in which they were under the care of the acclaimed songwriting and production team of Holland-Dozier-Holland, the Tops' hit string continued in the '70s on ABC-Dunhill with songs such as 'Keeper of the Castle' and 'Ain't No Woman (Like the One I've Got).' The original quartet remained together for an astounding 44 years, until the death of Lawrence Payton in 1997. The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.

    The Four Tops Pictures

      The Four Tops

      Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images

      The Four Tops in the mid 1960s.

      Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images

      The Four Tops pose at Heathrow airport in London on Nov. 16, 1966 en route to the United States. From left to right are: Abdul Fakir, Levi Stubbs, Lawrence Payton and Renaldo Benson.

      AP

      The Four Tops in the 1970s.

      Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images

      The Four Tops -- Abdul "Duke" Fakir (left), Levi Stubbs (center) and Renaldo "Obie" Benson (right) -- are shown as their star was unveiled on the Hollywood Walk of Fame Wednesday, April. 23, 1997 in Hollywood. Lawrence Payton, the fourth member, did not attend due to illness.

      Nick Ut, AP

      **FILE** In this Wednesday, May 26, 2004 file photo, Four Tops member Levi Stubbs, seated, is introduced by Michigan state Sen. Irma Clark-Coleman, foreground left, to a session of the state Senate in Lansing, Mich. Four Tops frontman Levi Stubbs died Friday, Oct. 17, 2008, at his home in Detroit. He was 72. Also pictured , from the left, are Stubbs' wife, Clineice Stubbs; fellow Four Tops member, Abdul Fakir; Yone Payton, the wife of deceased member, Lawrence Payton, and fellow Four Tops member, Renaldo Benson. (AP Photo/Kevin W. Fowler, File)

      AP

      ** FILE ** The late Lawrence Payton, shown at far right poses with the rest of the Four Tops, from left, Renaldo "Obie" Benson, Abdul "Duke" Fakir and Levi Stubbs in this January, 1990 file photo. Four Tops frontman Levi Stubbs died Friday, Oct. 17, 2008, at his home in Detroit. He was 72. (AP Photo/Ron Frehm, File)

      AP

      **FILE** In a in March 1986 file photo, The Four Tops are shown during a recording session in New York. Standing from left to right are, Lawrence Payton, Levi Stubbs, Abdul "Duke" Fakir, and seated is Renaldo "Obie" Benson. Four Tops frontman Levi Stubbs died Friday, Oct. 17, 2008, at his home in Detroit. He was 72. (AP Photo/David Bookstaver, File)

      AP


    Stubbs also put his distinctive vocal talents to good use as the voice of the killer plant Audrey II in the 1986 film 'Little Shop of Horrors.' And while the Four Tops brand carries on with replacements, with Abdul "Duke" Fakir being the only surviving member (Renaldo "Obie" Benson died in 2005), it can be said that the group ceased to exist in any appreciable form once Levi Stubbs' robust baritone no longer led the charge.

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