Levi Stubbs baritone, most Four Tops' hits were written in a tenor range to give the lead vocals a sense of urgency. Despite being the most prominent member of the group, Stubbs refused to have separate billing (in contrast to other Motown acts such as Smokey Robinson and the Miracles and Diana Ross and the Supremes), and he also turned down several offers for a solo career, out of loyalty to his bandmates. Stubbs and the other Tops remained a team until Lawrence Payton died in 1997, at which point Theo Peoples took his place. The Four Tops were inducted into the
David Stubbs David Stubbs David Stubbs (born 13 September 1962 in London) is a British music journalist. He grew up in Leeds and in the early Eighties was a student at the University of Oxford where he was a close friend of Simon Reynolds. The two were part of the Oxford-based collective that in 1984 launched the pop journal "Monitor" and then in 1986 both joined "Melody Maker" as staff writers. Stubbs remained at "Melody Maker" for a dozen years. He combined his serious writing career with writing the humorous "Talk Talk Talk" section, which featured the character of Mr Agreeable who