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Duke Fakir

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Duke Fakir
Fakir at the LBJ Presidential Library in 2019
Fakir at the LBJ Presidential Library in 2019
Background information
Birth nameAbdul Kareem Fakir
Born(1935-12-26)December 26, 1935
Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
DiedJuly 22, 2024(2024-07-22) (aged 88)
Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Genres
OccupationSinger
Years active1953–2024
Member ofThe Four Tops

Abdul Kareem "Duke" Fakir (December 26, 1935 – July 22, 2024) was an American singer. He co-founded the Motown quartet the Four Tops and performed in an ensemble under that name from 1953 until shortly before his death. He was the group's last surviving original member.

Biography

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Fakir was born on December 26, 1935, in Detroit, Michigan. His father was a factory worker who came from what is now Bangladesh.[1] His mother was an African American from Sparta, Georgia.[2][3] Fakir attended Detroit's Pershing High School,[4] where he played basketball and football, and ran track.[5] He first met fellow band member Levi Stubbs through neighborhood football games; at that time he was not aware Stubbs was a singer. Later, attending a variety show featuring the Lucky Millinder band, the band announced a talented young singer whom Fakir recognized as the boy he played football with. They became closer friends and Stubbs even traveled with Fakir to his sporting events, where they enjoyed singing and engaging teammates in sing-alongs.[5]

With their shared love of singing, they tried working with a few other singers, then decided to ask Lawrence Payton and Renaldo "Obie" Benson. They invited Payton and Benson to join them at a party hosted by the Shahrazads, a local "it girl" club.[6] When invited by the girls to sing, they decided Stubbs would take the lead and they would back him up. The group and party-goers enjoyed their sound so much, that they decided to begin rehearsing together.[5] They originally gave themselves the name "The Four Aims", to describe their goals of achieving something great.[5] But at their first recording session with Chess Records in Chicago, they were reminded that the Ames Brothers was a very popular singing quartet, and it was suggested that they change their own name to avoid confusion.[7] After some discussion, their musical director Maurice King suggested the name the Four Tops, to go along with their original goal of shooting for the stars and reaching the top.[5]

They became a popular local performing group, but recording success eluded them until they signed with the newly established Motown Records in 1963. They soon became one of the biggest recording groups of the 1960s, with 14 charted hits through the early 1980s. They are listed at number 77 in Billboard magazine "Top 100 Artists Of All Time".[8] Fakir was a guest on the "Not My Job" segment of the NPR radio show Wait Wait…Don't Tell Me broadcast on January 21, 2012.[6] In 2022, Fakir's memoir I'll Be There: My Life With The Four Tops was published.[9] A musical based on the book, also titled I'll Be There, premiered the same year in Detroit.[10]

By 2008, the other three Tops had died; Fakir controlled the Four Tops intellectual properties and was responsible for assembling the touring version of the band that would carry on the group's legacy. He had stated an intention never to retire and indeed continued to tour with the group until less than a month before his death.[11] Shortly before his death, he named Michael Brock as his successor.[12]

Personal life

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Fakir lived in the Palmer Park section of Detroit with his second wife Piper Gibson, who he was married to for 50 years.[13] As of 2024, he had seven children (one of these having preceded him in death), thirteen grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren.[14]

Fakir attributed his upbringing in Detroit as a strong influence in his choice to pursue his music career. Detroit is "full of churches. It's one of those cities in which gospel music has always been prevalent, jazz music had always been prevalent. Back in the day this was a jazz town... And when I was born we went to church, just like a couple of the other guys, so we sang all our lives pretty much... my mother worked at church and my cousins and I, we all went to choir, we grew up there."[15] Both Renaldo Benson and Fakir received scholarships to attend the same college and were preparing to enter. However, the group received their first professional singing engagement during the summer of 1954 in Flint, Michigan, took a gamble, and decided to pursue their music career instead.[15][16]

After the group had completed their tour of Europe in December 1988, Fakir and the other Tops were originally scheduled to return to the U.S. from London via the Pan Am Flight 103, which crashed over Lockerbie, Scotland, after a terrorist bomb was detonated on the plane, killing all on board.[17] They eventually missed the flight due to a prolonged filming of their performance on the British television show Top of the Pops.[18]

Fakir was close friends with fellow Motown artist Mary Wilson of the Supremes until her death in 2021. The two were romantically linked and briefly engaged in 1964; however, their music careers were still developing and they decided it would be best to call it off.[19] They appeared on Chicago's You and Me This Morning in 2013 to promote the Mary Wilson Holiday Spectacular With Special Guests The Four Tops.[20] At the show they performed "Baby, It's Cold Outside" together.

In January 2023, it was reported that the U.S. Treasury Department was seeking $500,000 in unpaid taxes from Fakir.[21]

Fakir died of heart failure at his Detroit home on July 22, 2024, at the age of 88.[22]

Awards and achievements

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As a member of the Four Tops, Fakir was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990,[23] received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1997,[24] was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1999,[25] the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998,[26] received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009,[27] and was included in the Billboard magazine Top 100 Recording Artists of All Time.[8] The group was inducted into National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame in 2013.[28]

References

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  1. ^ Wright, John (October 21, 2018). "Abdul 'Duke' Fakir: 'I lost $30k gambling – but then I won it back'". The Daily Telegraph. p. 14. Archived from the original on March 21, 2020. My father was a factory worker who came from the part of India which is now Bangladesh.
  2. ^ Wall, Mick (October 2, 2022). "'This will be my last tour as a Four Top': Abdul Fakir bids farewell as he takes final bow". Daily Express. Retrieved July 22, 2024.
  3. ^ Farber, Jim (July 26, 2024). "Duke Fakir, Last Surviving Member of the Four Tops, Dies at 88". The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 27, 2024. Retrieved August 10, 2024.
  4. ^ Maynard, Micheline (October 17, 2008). "Levi Stubbs, 72, Powerful Voice for Four Tops, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved August 10, 2024.
  5. ^ a b c d e "2010 Interview with Dave Lawrence". YouTube. April 7, 2012. Archived from the original on December 12, 2021.
  6. ^ a b "Duke Fakir Of The Four Tops Plays Not My Job". Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me. NPR. January 20, 2012. Retrieved August 10, 2024.
  7. ^ Colin Larkin, ed. (1993). The Guinness Who's Who of Soul Music (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 91/3. ISBN 0-85112-733-9.
  8. ^ a b Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists list Archived December 8, 2015, at the Wayback Machine. Listal.com (September 12, 2008). Retrieved on November 10, 2012.
  9. ^ "Duke Fakir details The Four Tops musical bond in new book". AP News. March 1, 2022. Retrieved March 1, 2022.
  10. ^ McCollum, Brian (October 17, 2021). "Four Tops musical 'I'll Be There' will premiere in Detroit ahead of Broadway run". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved March 1, 2022.
  11. ^ Greene, Andy (July 22, 2024). "Abdul 'Duke' Fakir, Last Surviving Original Four Tops Member, Dead at 88". Rolling Stone. Retrieved July 22, 2024.
  12. ^ "Duke Fakir retires as last original Four Tops member; Michael Brock to join". Soultracks.com. July 20, 2024. Retrieved July 22, 2024.
  13. ^ "Abdul 'Duke' Fakir, last surviving member of Four Tops, dies aged 88". The Guardian. July 22, 2024. Retrieved September 21, 2024.
  14. ^ "Where are they now". Daily Express. September 24, 2016.
  15. ^ a b "The Last Top". Thequietus.com. March 26, 2010.
  16. ^ 2012 Interview with BBC Breakfast.
  17. ^ McCollum, Brian. "A grim anniversary: The Four Tops almost boarded the plane bombed over Lockerbie in 1988". Detroit Free Press.
  18. ^ "The Four Tops nearly boarded Lockerbie plane, says Duke Fakir". BBC. Retrieved July 28, 2024.
  19. ^ "Exclusive Interview: Duke Fakir from the Four Tops". Motown the Musical. Archived from the original on September 22, 2017.
  20. ^ "Mary Wilson Duke Fakir YouAndMeThisMorning". YouTube. October 22, 2013. Archived from the original on December 12, 2021.
  21. ^ "US Government Seeks $500k in Unpaid Taxes from Motown Legend". Michigan Live. January 19, 2023.
  22. ^ Farber, Jim (July 22, 2024). "Duke Fakir, Last Surviving Member of the Four Tops, Dies at 88". The New York Times. Retrieved July 22, 2024.
  23. ^ The Four Tops Biography | The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum Archived July 13, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. Rockhall.com. Retrieved on November 10, 2012.
  24. ^ The Four Tops | Hollywood Walk of Fame Archived November 3, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. Walkoffame.com. Retrieved on November 10, 2012.
  25. ^ The Four Tops – Inductees – The Vocal Group Hall of Fame Foundation Archived March 11, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. Vocalgroup.org. Retrieved on November 10, 2012.
  26. ^ "GRAMMY Awards: Here Are the 2018 GRAMMY Hall of Fame Inductees". 1077theend.com. January 16, 2018. Archived from the original on February 14, 2018. Retrieved May 8, 2018.
  27. ^ Entertainment | Four Tops to get lifetime Grammy Archived December 25, 2008, at the Wayback Machine. BBC News (December 22, 2008). Retrieved on May 13, 2012.
  28. ^ "New R&B Hall of Fame Inductees: Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston". August 21, 2014. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
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