Levi Stubbs (born Levi Stubbles, 1936; died 2008) of the Four Tops had perhaps the most soulful voice of all the male Motown singers. It was raw and plaintive, and could be heard on many Sixties classics, including “Bernadette”, “Reach out, I’ll be there,” “Baby, I need your loving,” and perhaps their biggest hit, “I can’t help myself.”
But my favorite of all the Four Tops songs is this one, written by Mickey Stevenson and Ivy Jo Hunter and released in 1965. It didn’t do as well as many of the group’s other songs, but wins for sheer emotional power.
Live, non-lip-synched footage of early Motown songs is rare, so I was glad to find this clip. The video quality is poor, but the audio—and Stubbs’ voice—fully redeems it. I consider it one of the greatest soul-music performances ever filmed.
You can hear the original recorded version here.
Wonderful, thanks. One of the truly great soul voices.
And a great song… My favourite Four Tops song happens to be ‘Where did you go?’, which is in a similar mid-tempo style to ‘Ask the lonely’.
Ace songs…
Al
Stubbs had one way, and what a way, of singing – belt it out and to hell with your larynx. But I did hear that he always used to ask the composers, “How would you like this song interpreted?”
If he had asked me, I would have told him to just sing it, it would be great whatever he did.
Levi Stubbs articulate, powerful,earnest and smooth a voice that just commands your attention. I agree with this choice of music for its sheer emotional resonance it can’t be beat.
Great song–great week! Thanks for searching out the live versions–they’re really something!
Although I like it when I hear it, I’m not extremely knowledgeable about Soul music, so I could be wrong about this, but there was an Ivory Joe Hunter who recorded a great song called “Since I Met You Baby”. Might he be the co-author of this song, or is there also an Ivy Joe Hunter? (Or was it just a typo?)
I hope you continue this into next week! Got any Al Green for us?
Never mind–I just followed some of your links, and they are indeed two separate people. You learn somethin’ new every day!
Marvelous voice, controlled volume without cracking, unsurpassed timbre and resonance, and clear diction – he’s have been a magnificent Verdi baritone!
He also voiced Audrey II in the 1986 remake of Little Shop of Horrors.
Like me, if you are diggin’ the Four Tops enough to comment or read the comments, I have to recommend that you try to see The Rascals “Once Upon A Dream” tour. We saw them on Broadway in April. Fantastic! Makes the years melt away.
Thanks Jerry for the Four Tops post. Always a pleasure to listen the soul of our youth.
I am a huge, huge Four Tops fan. One of the things that attracted me to my husband (we married when I was 18, he was 20–how dumb can you be??) was that he had a Four Tops album in his teeny tiny collection (most of his albums were car songs). It’ll be 44 years of marriage this September, so maybe that was a good omen!
Do you know the Billy Bragg tune “Levi Stubbs’ Tears”? One of my favorite Bragg songs.