Abdul “Duke” Fakir, The last surviving member of the original Four Tops, has died. According to the AP, he died at his home in Detroit due to heart failure. He was 88.
Motown founder Berry Gordy shared some words on Fakir in a statement, praising the late musician and the legendary foursome. “Duke was first tenor – smooth, suave, and always sharp,” Gordy said. “For 70 years, he kept the Four Tops’ remarkable legacy intact.” He added that Fakir was a clear example of the group’s “showmanship, class and artistry.”
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It is hard to deny the legacy and success of The Four Tops, with Fakir along from the very beginning. Between 1964 and 1967, the group enjoyed 11 Top 20 hits. This includes their two number-one hits, “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)” and “Reach Out I’ll Be There.”
Unlike other Motown acts that got their start and grew with the record company, The Four Tops had been together for a decade before joining Gordy’s company. Fakir, Levi Stubbs, Renaldo “Obie” Benson and Lawrence Payton signed with Motown in 1963, relenting after turning him down a few years before. The group was known as the Four Aims when they first started but soon changed to avoid confusion with the Ames Brothers quartet.
Fakir was preceded by his bandmates, with Payton passing in 1997, Benson in 2005 and Stubbs in 2008 after suffering a stroke years earlier. The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990, with Stevie Wonder doing the honors at the time.
“The things I love about them the most – they are very professional, they have fun with what they do, they are very loving, they have always been gentlemen,” Wonder said at the time.
The founding member would continue to tour with the group alongside new lead vocalist Alexander Morris, Ronnie McNeir and Lawrence ‘Roquel’ Payton Jr. “As each one of them (the original members) passed a little bit of me left with them,” Fakir told UK Music Reviews in 2021. “When Levi left us, I found myself in a quandary as to what I was going to do from that moment on but after a while I realized that the name together with the legacy that they had left us simply had to carry on, and judging by the audience reaction it soon became pretty evident that I did the right thing and I really do feel good about that.”
Fakir was a lifelong Detroit resident, was married twice, and has seven children. He was married to Piper Gibson for the past 50 years and is survived by her and six of his children.
