Levi Stubbs’ Home

One of the most powerful voices in Motown history lived — and died — in this Bagley house. Levi Stubbs was the lead of the Four Tops, the baritone that drove “Reach Out I’ll Be There,” “Bernadette,” and “I Can’t Help Myself” with an almost operatic urgency. Famously loyal, he refused separate billing and turned down solo stardom to stay with the same three men for half a century — a rarity in the business. (A generation of kids also knew him as the voice of Audrey II in Little Shop of Horrors.)

He was a first cousin of fellow Detroit great Jackie Wilson, and he lived here on Santa Barbara — around the corner from his Four Tops bandmate Obie Benson — until his death in 2008. A cornerstone of the Motown story. On our list.