Four Tops' singer Levi Stubbs dead at 72

DETROIT, Oct. 17 (UPI) -- Levi Stubbs, lead singer of Motown's Four Tops, has died at his home in Detroit at the age of 72.

The Michigan native was best known for his work with the popular R&B singing group, who began in the 1950s as the Four Aims, and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990. Their hit songs included "Baby I Need Your Loving," "Walk Away Renee," "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)," "Reach Out I'll Be There" and "Ain't No Woman Like the One I Got."

USA Today said Stubbs had been in poor health since he was diagnosed with cancer in 1995. A stroke and other health problems forced him to stop touring with the surviving group members in 2000.

"Well, I'm rather loud and raw," Stubbs told the Los Angeles Times in 1994. "I don't really even have a style; I just come by the way I sing naturally. When I learn a song, I try to live it as best I can."

Stubbs also did some commercial work and lent his distinctive voice to the man-eating plant, Audrey II, in the 1986 movie musical "Little Shop of Horrors," USA Today said.