The 'divine desperation' of Levi Stubbs

The Brits seem to make an art form of obituaries and this on the Motown singer by Penny Valentine of the Guardian is among the best.

There are few singers who could evoke the kind of divine desperation that Levi Stubbs brought to the work of the Four Tops during the 1960s and 70s, be it the frantic pacing his voice implied as he searched through Seven Rooms of Gloom or the moment after the musical hiatus in Bernadette when he vocally clawed back the title object of his desire. For Stubbs, who has died aged 72, had the most dramatic voice of all the Tamla Motown artists during that label's golden era.

Yet despite a catalogue of hit singles, it was probably for one song alone that the singer, and the group he fronted, carved a historic niche for themselves. Reach Out, I'll Be There, a tumultuous example of romantic devotion, was released in 1966. The high woodwind motif and incessantly demanding rhythm section that marked the record was to become a trademark for the group's sound. Reach Out provided Motown with an early number one hit on both sides of the Atlantic, and the Four Tops with a musical recipe for success that lasted them for a decade.

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... in 1964 released their first single on the label. Holland, Dozier and Holland's Baby I Need Your Loving went straight into the American chart.

Although it started pleasantly enough, with the group in close harmony, it was marked by finger clicks, sinuous bass and strings, which became key ingredients of the Four Tops sound, on later records joined by hard tambourine and searing sax breaks. But it was after the initial chorus and on the line "empty nights echo your name" that the song lifted off, bringing Stubbs startlingly broken-edged vocals to the fore, his voice imbuing the song with a drama beyond its paper worth. The success of the track was swiftly followed by a string of hits which repeated the formulae, including I Can't Help Myself, It's The Same Old Song and, in May 1966, the Stevie Wonder/Ivy Hunter song Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever, produced by Hunter herself. It was three months after that hit that Motown released Reach Out, I'll Be There.

Despite its complexity and its use of minor chords, the record instantly became a number one in both America and Britain. Its success and its place as one of the great Motown tracks might well have overwhelmed the singers themselves, but it was the combination of their harmonies and the raw energy of Stubbs' voice that struck the popular imagination and made it a classic.

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There is much more. I always enjoyed their music and Stubbs "divine desperation" was in the same category of another of my favorites from that era, Roy Orbison. It is a great obit for a great singer.

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