Levi Stubbs had a deadly accurate voice, which always found your heart no matter how hard you tried to hide it. What made him unique were the verbal weapons that no one else could master the way he did. Those tiny words that slammed into you with such force, you had to start singing whether you wanted to or not. Words like the staccato “HA!” that appeared in the middle of the musical bridge just before he repeated the chorus of his vocal masterpiece, “I’ll be there.” Another one only he could master was the piercing “got” that stabbed in to your soul between the line, “Baby I need your lovin’, got to have all your lovin’.”
On the other hand Levi owned one of the few voices that could express a broken heart and still remain absolutely masculine. Manly men in the middle of the night with sopping wet eyes closed tightly and headphones clamped to their ears would weep as they mimed his vocal expressions in the dark. Holding anything cylindrical that felt like a microphone, they’d let his voice take over theirs and plead a desperate “Noooooooo!” in “Sugar Pie Honey Bunch” that could only be followed by the confession, “I can’t help myself!”
Stubbs was the 1960s god of all teenaged kids regardless of race, who’d been thrown over by their first unrequited crush. Boys would let only Levi’s voice express their heartbreak, usually in the shower, while pretending three of Motown’s best backup singer/dancers agreed with them because the heartless “Bernadette” left them all alone with their pain, or had condemned them to live in an empty house containing “Seven Rooms of Gloom.” I learned to dance to “It’s the same old song/ but with a different meaning since you’ve been gone.” Just as easily they could brag convincingly that there “Ain’t No Woman Like the One I Got.”
Grown men were prone to buy two copies of his 7" vinyl singles, because they knew they’d wear the first one out playing it over and over and over again. Levi assured them that there was a male strength associated with loving a woman, or mourning her loss to another man.
So it was with a sense of great personal loss that I discovered that Levi Stubbs died Friday, October 17, 2008 in his Detroit home at the age of 72. He’d been fighting cancer and the after-effects of a stroke in 2000 that finally compelled him to stop performing.
Article comments
1 - El Bicho
I hope it isn't sacrilegious, but I think Audrey II might be my favorite work by him
2 - Jet
I wrote this article and kept thinking something was missing...
I completely forgot to mention "Keeper of the Castle" which was their first hit single after leaving Motown...
I'm so ashamed
3 - cherry flavored
This is the best tribute to Levi I have read. You definitely heard the same songs I did, that "Ha" and "got" and the wail of Bernadette. No one had to tell me who Levi was as he was my favorite singer and everyone who knows me knows my favorite song is "Baby I need your lovin" from the first time I heard it. I saw the Tops many times whenever they hit L.A. in the Seventies and Eighties. Always a good show; a hard working man.
I'm so sad to hear of his passing, may he rest in peace. And thanks for lettin me know that others heard what I heard.
4 - Jet
You're very Welcome Cherry, I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Jet
5 - Jet
Thanks to all of the editor's e-mails. It turns out they tacked the preview sentence on to the first paragraph.
That still doesn't explain why the changed the title, but hey who am I to ask?
thanks again to Anna for clearing up the mystery.
Jet
6 - Jet
1964: "Baby I Need Your Loving"
1965: "Ask the Lonely"
1965: "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)
1965: "It's the Same Old Song"
1965: "Something About You"
1966: "Shake Me, Wake Me (When It's Over)"
1966: "Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever"
1966: "Reach Out I'll Be There"
1966: "Standing in the Shadows of Love
1967: "Bernadette"
1967: "7-Rooms of Gloom"
1967: "You Keep Running Away"
1967: "If I Were a Carpenter"
1968: "Walk Away Renée"
1968: "Yesterday's Dreams"
1968: "I'm In a Different World"
1969: "What is a Man"
1969: "Do What You Gotta Do"
1969: "Don't Let Him Take Your Love From Me"
1970: "Still Water (Love)"
1970: "It's All In The Game"
1971: "River Deep - Mountain High"
(The Supremes & the Four Tops)
1971: "Just Seven Numbers
1971: "In These Changing Times"
1972: "A Simple Game
1972: "It's the Way Nature Planned It"
1972: "Keeper of the Castle
1973: "Ain't No Woman (Like the One I've Got)"
1973: "Are You Man Enough
1973: "Sweet Understanding Love"
1974: "I Just Can't Get You Out of My Mind"
1974: "One Chain Don't Make No Prison"
1974: "Midnight Flower"
1975: "Seven Lonely Nights"
1975: "We Gotta All Stick Together"
1976: "Catfish"
1977: "Feel Free"
1981: "When She Was My Girl"
1981: "Don't Walk Away"
1983: "I Just Can't Walk Away"
7 - Maurice Tyson
Wasn't "I Believe In You and Me" a hit? I mourn along with the rest of soul society that the greatest are called legends because they're hard to replace.Love you, Levi!
8 - Rev. Nazim Fakir
Hey Jet,
Thanks for the great article on Levi. He truly was one of, if not the, greatest voice(s) of all time. I am so glad that he and the Tops were able to touch so many people around the world. Continue to keep Levi's family, and all the Tops' families in your prayers.
Nazim Fakir
Duke's Son
9 - Jet
Thanks Nazim, I'm honored by your comment, I was not only a fan of his music, but a fan of his integrity as a man.
Be well my friend
Jet
10 - Lee Martin
Love comes and go. I'll miss him a while and I thank God he left me with good memmories. God bless the whole family. With love and honor always. Lee Martin Jr.
11 - Jet
Thanks Lee, any word on the funeral?
12 - Rev. Nazim Fakir
Hey Jet,
The funeral will be held on Monday October 27th @ Greater Grace Temple in Detroit. There will be public viewing of Levi @ Swanson Funeral Home on Friday and Saturday October 25th & 26th.
Blessings,
Nazim
13 - Jet
Nazim, God has blessed you and your family richly, and I'm sure he'll carry you through the next week or so of events.
You're in my prayers
Jet
14 - Rev. Nazim Fakir
Thanks Jet. One correction, the public viewing will be on Saturday & Sunday, October 25th & 26th.
15 - Jet
No problem Dr. Fakir, Glad I could help. My only regret is not being able to attend for health reasons (upcoming triple bypass surgery)
16 - Jet
Amen Brother, Amen
17 - Jet
At many live concerts, the band couldn't be heard over the screams of the audience. The Tops had a different problem, you couldn't hear them because the audience was singing louder than they were!
click here
18 - Mary Johnson
Dear Mr. Gardner,
I looked over my son's shoulder to see what he was reading on line and read this wonderful report.
He is doing a report tomorrow for school about famous Motown singers and I am glad he found this and will use it as a basis for his paper.
After reading the comments I noticed your list of songs there and it brought back so many wonderful and powerful memories.
Thank you,
Mary and Jimmy Johnson-Detroit, Michigan
19 - Jet Gardner
I just reread this myself after a two-year absense. It brought back great memories of my own.
Thanks to you Mary and Jimmy for your note,
Jet