Levi Stubbs's baritone was an anomaly among soul's tenor/falsetto singers but it gave the Four Tops an extra emotional punch. On 'Baby I Need Your Loving', his gentle pleading recalls Otis Redding until the third verse, when he steps up a gear, his voice desperate and insistent, more like a blues singer than a crooner. This is Stubbs's trademark holler, best heard on 'Reach Out I'll Be There', where his opening roar threatens to scare off the flautists who played the intro.
Stubbs's earthy voice came from the cotton field work songs via the gospel church. He is the raw-throated preacher offering redemption through the power of soul. My favourite performance of his came in 'Still Water (Love)', a 1970 single whose loose feel would inspire Marvin Gaye to record 'What's Going On'. The song begins with Levi intoning 'walk with me'. As the Funk Brothers pick up the groove, he speaks again - 'Take my hand'. When, in flights of fancy, I imagine God speaking to me from on high, it is that voice - and those words - that I hear.
• Billy Bragg wrote the song 'Levi Stubbs' Tears' in 1986
