Four Tops singing for 44 years with the Four Tops who, unlike many Motown groups, never had a single lineup change until then. At first, Levi Stubbs, Obie Benson, and Duke Fakir toured as a trio called "The Tops". In 1998, they recruited former Temptation Theo Peoples to restore the group to a quartet. By the turn of the century, Stubbs had become ill from cancer; Ronnie McNeir was recruited to fill the Lawrence Payton position and Peoples stepped into Stubbs' shoes as lead singer. Stubbs later died on October 17, 2008 at his home in Detroit. The group also did commercials
Eddie Stubbs his own show in 1990 but continued to do odd-jobs such as house-painting to supplement his income. "No one gets rich in radio", he observed. "The Eddie Stubbs Show" on WAMU was discontinued in April 2007. He developed a friendship with the country singer Kitty Wells and her husband, the guitar player and singer Johnnie Wright, and played with them during D.C. area appearances. They eventually convinced Stubbs to move to Nashville in 1995 and join them full-time. But within seventeen days of arriving in the country music capital, he was hired by "The Grand Ole Opry" as a regular