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Billy Bragg wrote a whole song about Levi Stubbs' tears: such was the emotive power of the Four Tops' lead singer, who has died aged 72. We remember him with a 1970 interview from Britain's Beat Instrumental. -- Barney Hoskyns, Editorial Director, Rock's Backpages

THE BIG QUESTION hanging over the heads of the Four Tops, Tamla Motown's long-running stars, is just how much they are going to miss the influence of the great writing team of Holland-Dozier-Holland, who now have their own record company in Detroit.

That's the big question. Getting it answered is another thing, for the Four Tops appear totally immersed in rehearsing, gagging among themselves or playing cards. However, persistence pays and in the end Levi Stubbs, that amiable lead voice, allowed himself to be cornered. A lavish corner, in a suite at the Mayfair Hotel.

He'd had trouble with the British police, a matter which was sub judice...and "anyway I don't wanna talk about it," said he.

Then he got into music. "See, we started with Motown back in 1963. We had the Holland, Dozier and Holland songs for us right from the start, so the relationship got to be like a marriage that sure wasn't heading for the divorce courts. We had a rock-it-to-'em, sock-it-to-'em reputation and those writers kept us going just fine. But you can't blame the guys for wanting to do their own thing.

"Me – I like all kinds of music. Maybe, when things are settled, it'll be a good thing, because we can do different things, and anyway we're giving opportunities to be heard to about 50 other writers."

Those original hits included such illustrious samples of Tamla as "It's The Same Old Song," "Shake Me, Wake Me," "Reach Out I'll Be There"... the latter just about top favourite with the Tops themselves. Levi seemed pretty shattered that, to coincide with the boys' visit to the Continent, the single out was "I Can't Help Myself," backed with their very first, "Baby I Need Your Loving."

Said Levi: "Obviously the company has reasons. But we had 'Barbara's Boy' in mind, but that's the way it is. What we do find, though, is that when we go back to one of the old numbers we can always find something fresh from it."

Predictably, the boys record always in the Tamla studios, but they foster an atmosphere which is amazingly informal, even by that company's relaxed attitude. Says Levi: "We figure that you should never lose a chance if there is an idea there. Say one of us is up late, maybe enjoying a party, and somebody comes up with an idea... well, be sure he'll be on the telephone to all the others and we'll troop right off to the studios. It could be 4 a.m. or dawn, or whatever. What comes first with us is our music.

"But when you lose the writers you depend on, you have to make changes. We're into the college circuit thing now, rather than cabaret. Don't ask me why it is... just that the audiences seem that much more real. But we don't have to change the material. We do a lot of show tunes, for instance, as well as original material from guys like Norman Whitfield and Frank Wilson. But there's a limit to how often you can keep coming up with the old hits, so you can say that we're very much in an experimental stage.

"The thing is that Tamla is getting so big that it can stand losing guys like Holland, Dozier and Holland, but we felt it more than most of the others. What I'd say is that there is a change running right through the company. Put it down to experience, I guess, but the guys there just aren't relying on the old formulas."

So how, specifically, is it changing? "Well, I'd say it is that much more subtle. Not so much of the sock-it-to-'em, at all levels through the company. I guess some of it is based on the old concept, but a whole lot more is happening that you really have to listen to closely otherwise you miss out on where it's at."

Then Levi became very thoughtful. "We're still looking...I'll tell you that. But you should hear our new album Still Waters Run Deep because there's a story-line running through it and we think it's very unusual and also puts the accent on love and peace throughout the world."

Not particularly original, as a theme, but this is the dominant thing in the group-life right now. Renaldo and Lawrence and Abdul arrived as Levi went on: "We're backing the International Union for Harmony, and we're enlisting support from the music industry just wherever we go. It's not for money. It's just inviting people to show initiative in helping others, be they children or old folk.

"You see, we know how lucky we have been to make progress in a world where so many people are deliberately held back. We owe a lot. People like Diana Ross are, for sure, behind us, and we'll be back, here and there, putting on shows where this message can get across. Don't put it down as a Negro-inspired thing...it's for everybody."

The others nodded, serious-faced. Anyway, once the plug was over, Levi got back to music. "I really believe the country music thing is about as big as it can be in the States," he said. "It's growing all the time, but I don't see it getting really big anywhere else.

"I just don't know what else, though. What a lot of us in America do is wait to see where the Beatles are going... and that gives a guide on what most other people will be thinking. People say that we're a completely professional act, and we believe that to be true, but the Beatles so often trigger off a whole new thing which alters the course of the whole recording industry.

"Of course they have this ability to create their own material, exclusively. Mind, we have started writing more, as individuals and sometimes together, but it takes time to get into that bag. Thing is that the Beatles, finally, had to give up touring, whereas we seem to be busier than ever in this field.

"But don't ever think that Tamla is making less of a contribution. We all look for new talent and recommend it to the label. The studios there, the approach the musicians have, can bring out the best in a group. But of all the ones who go for a hearing, only a few come through. And one in a million gets going like the Jackson Five, who really have got it all. We're kinda like the elder statesmen, or the senior citizens as we'd say back home... so people will listen to what we say."

"We've been together for 17 years, so you'll appreciate that the Motown people actually lifted us right out of the cradle. That's a long time to build up an understanding. So you can forget any rumor that we might break up. We'd be lost, baby...lost without each other turning up for a game of cards or a sing-through."

And on the relative importance of singles..."Look, we been working for a couple of years now to get just the right material. We know we have to change. You can say that albums are more important right now, but once you've been up there at the top of the Hot Fifty...well, it's something you don't get out of your system.

"Sure there's an argument that it's wrong to keep bringing out album tracks as singles. But if you just don't have the same fantastic service from the writers, as we did with Holland, Dozier and Holland, then you've got a problem.

"Like I was saying, losing them was like ending a marriage, but who knows what could happen in the future?"

But let no-one say that Tamla Motown is fading. Not in the normally genial presence of the Four Tops.

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