Abdul ‘Duke’ Fakir, of Motown group the Four Tops, dead at 88

By Alli Rosenbloom, CNN

(CNN) — Abdul “Duke” Fakir, a founding member of the Motown group the Four Tops, has died, according to his family. He was 88.

Fakir died of heart failure in Detroit on Monday, surrounded by his wife Piper and loved ones, according to a statement provided by a spokesperson for the family.

“Our hearts are heavy as we mourn the loss of a trailblazer, icon and music legend who, through his 70-year music career, touched the lives of so many as he continued to tour until the end of 2023, and officially retired this year,” his family statement read. “As the last living founding member of the iconic The Four Tops music group, we find solace in Duke’s legacy living on through his music for generations to come.”

Fakir was the last surviving original member of the quartet, which was known for songs like “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)” and “Reach Out I’ll Be There.” The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.

Born in Detroit, Fakir developed a love of music as a teen while performing with his local church and school choirs, according to a 2012 interview with NPR.

In high school, he began to play music with his future Four Tops band members Levi Stubbs, Renaldo “Obie” Benson and Lawrence Payton. In 1954, they formed the first iteration of their band in Detroit called the Four Aims, according to a Motown Museum biography of the group.

They later changed their name to the Four Tops and were signed to Motown Records in 1964 by famed record executive Berry Gordy, the biography read.

“[O]nce we started singing, our whole perspective of life changed,” Fakir said in a 2022 interview with The Detroit News. “We just started looking at the beauty of life and traveling and being able to sing to the world and making people happy.”

Their big break came in 1964 when they released “Baby I Need Your Loving,” a song that Rolling Stone listed among the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and still makes appearances in pop culture despite being released decades ago.

With Fakir singing tenor, the quartet followed up with their 1965 hit “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch),” which became the band’s first No. 1 hit song.

The Four Tops are also known for songs like “Reach Out I’ll Be There,” released in 1966, and other tracks like “It’s the Same Old Song,” “Shake Me, Wake Me (When It’s Over)” and “Standing in the Shadows of Love.”

The quartet performed together for over forty years. In the 1970s, they released their hit song “Ain’t No Woman (Like The One I’ve Got)” and went on to release several more studio albums together in the decades that followed.

“We loved each other, we loved singing with each other, we loved making music, we loved entertaining people, and we realized we can make people happy,” Fakir said in 2022 of his late bandmates in the 2022 interview.

Payton died in 1997, and Benson and Stubbs followed in 2005 and 2008, respectively.

The Four Tops received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009. In 2022, Fakir released his memoir “I’ll Be There: My Life With the Four Tops.”

Fakir is survived by his wife, Piper Fakir, his children, 13 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

This story has been updated.

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