Stubbs was also a voice artist in film and television, and provided the voice of "Audrey II", the alien plant in the 1986 musical horror comedy film Little Shop of Horrors (an adaption of the stage musical of the same name), as well as Mother Brain in the 1989 TV series Captain N: The Game Master.

[1] Born in 1936 in Detroit, Michigan, Stubbs had a brother, Joe, who later became a member of 100 Proof (Aged in Soul), The Falcons, The Contours and The Originals.

Despite being the most prominent member of the group, Stubbs refused to have separate billing (in contrast to other Motown acts such as Smokey Robinson and the Miracles and Diana Ross and the Supremes),[5] and he also turned down several offers for a solo career, out of loyalty to his bandmates.

Other musical peers expressing admiration for the Four Tops' work include Lonnie Jordan of War and Smokey Robinson of The Miracles, among many others.

[1] Stubbs provided the voice of the carnivorous plant Audrey II in the 1986 film version of the musical Little Shop of Horrors, in which he sang the Oscar-nominated "Mean Green Mother from Outer Space".

Berry Gordy offered him the role of Louis McKay in the 1972 film Lady Sings the Blues, which would have starred him opposite Diana Ross as Billie Holiday.

[7][8] According to AllMusic's Ed Hogan, Stubbs had a "pleading urgency in his voice that perfectly captured the longing anxiousness of the songs written by the producing trio of Holland-Dozier-Holland".

[9] War band member Lonnie Jordan later told Billboard.com he felt "blessed" to meet Stubbs, and thought that the Four Tops singer's "voice was so good he was just, like, from another planet.

Many of Stubbs' friends from the music industry attended including Berry Gordy, Martha Reeves, Brian Holland, Ali-Ollie Woodson and Dennis Edwards.