Levi Stubbs R.I.P.

Levi Stubbs, the lead singer of Motown’s The Four Tops, one of the greatest pop groups of all-time, died today. He was 72. Levi’s urgent, pleading vocals on songs like “Baby, I Need Your Loving, “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch), “It’s The Same Old Song,’ and my favorite, “Bernadette,” defined the R&B of the time. True fact: Stubbs provided the voice for Audrey II, the big murderous plant in the 1986 remake of Little Shop Of Horrors.

Here’s a clip of The Four Tops performing “Bernadette” four years ago in Miami. Stubbs was 68 and looks and sounds wonderful: