#429: The Four Tops, ‘Reach Out’
TAMLA/MOTOWN, 1967
Levi Stubbs is the lead singer of The Four Tops. He refused offers to go solo and he declined separate billing from the rest of his band. He was so loyal that he did not see his voice being more important than his backup singers. The whole team mattered.
Stubbs is credited as one of the ultimate soul voices ever. Hall and Oates were influenced by his out-of-this-world voice.
He married a woman when he was young. Together they had five kids and a crop of grandkids and great-grandkids. You can read his obituary written by the NYT here.
He lived very simply with one of the best voices Motown pushed out. When you listen to him sing, it is like hearing the most basic part of what we call “the masculine.”
What I’ve been meditating on is that he didn’t need drama to sing like he did. Reading biographies of great singers or creatives is like reading a series of trainwrecks that somehow motivate something beautiful and we chalk it up to being a product of the “human experience.” Stubbs didn’t need any of that. I think just being alive was enough drama to give his voice to that desperation.
His voice is Nancy Meyers movies, flirting in the living room with someone you love, watching your parents slow dance in the kitchen, and hoping for something as sweet and drama-free as Levi Stubbs’ legacy.
This is a short newsletter because sometimes we don’t need to say anything more.
If you want to remember what it feels like to be naive and grateful you’re alive, listen to the album. This week, Reach Out made me feel like something special was going to happen for me.
Top songs: The whole album is only 30 minutes. I think you can spare that flirty thirty.