In the Mix

Levi Stubbs (that's him on the right, in 1967) wasn't the greatest of Motown frontmen, but he was the most insistent. He didn't sing so much as declaim. The Four Tops singer, who died on Friday, possessed a powerful baritone with which he made his feelings unmistakable. His wasn't slinky soul music, it was rugged and raw. When he asked "Are You Man Enough?" on the Four Tops latter day (and lesser) hit single in 1973, there was no doubt that he was.

Here's a clip of the Four Tops doing "Baby I Need Your Lovin'," and below it, Billy Bragg singing "Levi Stubbs Tears," his quite awesome 1986 examination of the power of music to, if not heal, at least make life livable in the most painful of circumstances. Because "when the world falls apart, some things stay in place/Levi Stubbs' tears run down his face." The song also name checks Motown great songwriter Norman Whitfield, who died in September, as in, "Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong are here to make right everything that's wrong/Holland and Holland and Lamont Dozier too, are here to make it all okay with you."