Levi Stubbs in 1936 in Detroit, Stubbs had a brother, Joe, who later became a member of 100 Proof (Aged In Soul), The Falcons, The Contours and The Originals. His cousin was Jackie Wilson. Stubbs attended Detroit Pershing High School, where he met Abdul "Duke" Fakir. He began his professional singing career with friends Fakir, Renaldo "Obie" Benson and Lawrence Payton, forming a singing group called the Four Aims in 1954. Two years later, after signing with Chess Records, the group changed their name to the Four Tops. The name change was meant to avoid confusion with the then-popular Ames Brothers. The
Cuddly Dudley (singer) band, The Embraceable Four, with whom he supported The Platters on their 1960 UK tour, and released a second single, a cover of Chuck Berry's "Too Pooped To Pop". In 1961 he became the lead singer with "The Redcaps", with whom he released a single "Sitting on a Train". Originally known as "Red-E-Lewis and the Redcaps" (named after Gene Vincent's The Blue Caps) original lead singer Reddy Lewis (Edward Stubbs) had left to form the Red Cats, with Jimmy Page on guitar. The Redcaps comprised Mick Green, Vic Cooper, Frank Farley, Johnny Patto and Johnny Spence, and from May–July 1961