Levi Stubbs....................Pure Voice! [Archive]

View Full Version : Levi Stubbs....................Pure Voice!

test

marv2

08-07-2015, 12:14 AM

Imagine being producers such as Holland -Dozier - Holland and having to get up the nerve to tell LEVI STUBBS how to sing? Ridiculous huh? But that's what Eddie Holland had to do on certain songs. I don't think there was a more naturally talented singer at Motown than the great Levi Stubbs. Listen to this!:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kKs3pZLAO4

Bluebrock

08-07-2015, 06:00 AM

I have to agree Marv. This man had the purest most natural voice. He was truly 1 in a million and he is very much missed by his adoring fans.

jobucats

08-07-2015, 11:49 AM

marv2

08-07-2015, 11:56 AM

Thanks, Marv, for calling out attention back again to the vocal stylings of Levi Stubbs. It's hard to come up with just one [[or just a few) favorites that demonstrate the warmth and emotion in his voice. One that comes to mind is one of the obscure recordings, "Just a Little Love." Most of this song demonstrates the passion of his voice using his lower to medium register. Just so emotional!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRLj4sikuL4

Jobucats, you are most welcome. For me it would be impossible to even list my Top 10 Levi Stubbs vocal performances as I have been listening to him literally all of my life! Your example, "Just a Little Love" is a great one. It shows that Levi was much more, so much more than just a soul shouter!

westgrandboulevard

08-07-2015, 12:48 PM

Call it soul music, rhythm and blues, or pop.....but when I listen to Levi's voice singing 'Ask The Lonely' and ' Just A Little Love', my heart is transported into the heartfelt, passionate realms of opera......:D

rovereab

08-07-2015, 12:54 PM

I'm with WGB for Just A Little Love. One of the best vaulted songs ever!

https://youtu.be/aIzeXMVzwi8

arr&bee

08-07-2015, 02:51 PM

This guy can tear your heart out with just one verse!

ralpht

08-07-2015, 06:18 PM

Thanks Marv. What a voice.....

marv2

08-07-2015, 06:27 PM

Thanks Marv. What a voice.....

Ralph. You are most welcome. I use to go and see Levi and the Tops when they would appear anywhere I was in the country. I use to always go back and talk to him afterwards and he'd have me laughing about whatever. He was a workhorse, always trying to "top" himself. I don't believe he ever realized that to some like me, he was one of, if not the premier male vocalist of his time.

detmotownguy

08-08-2015, 12:14 AM

Hey Marv! Thanks.....his vocal skills really capture the listener. Truly a rich and soulful voice. He was such a great man.

marv2

08-08-2015, 01:46 AM

Hey Marv! Thanks.....his vocal skills really capture the listener. Truly a rich and soulful voice. He was such a great man.

You're welcome. Levi truly was one of a kind. I can remember being at Detroit Metro at the same time as Ms. Clineice dropping Levi off curbside for his flight and my Dad dropping me off to return to school and Levi would have his carry on luggage over his head running inside to catch his flight. I mean here was this music legend going through the same things as me! LOL!~

splanky

08-09-2015, 06:09 AM

I like to listen to a lot of different kinds of music and different singers.Not just Motown,and not just soul but jazz, blues, so called world and I still love my Funk. Right now my one of my
favorite male vocalist is a cat named Gregory Porter, a jazz singer, and I 'm still a bit pissed
that Ryan Shaw hasn't gained the widespread recognition I feel he deserves. That said,
nobody I've heard surpasses Levi Stubbs. Nobody. His loss hit me so hard I couldn't talk
about him for months. If the alphabet were a scale I've heard a lot of S, T, and even some
W's. Levi was the closest to Z it got for me.I've been waiting for that to change but it hasn't
happened yet...

marv2

08-09-2015, 11:12 AM

Climb Every Mountain by the Four Tops [[Greatest Version Ever Recorded)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBEhAUsuNPE