Four Tops' Duke Fakir, group co-founder and keeper of legacy, dies at 88 in Detroit

Duke Fakir, the stylish and genteel singer who nurtured the Four Tops’ legacy for seven decades, died at his home in Detroit on Monday morning from heart failure. He was 88.

Fakir, a lifelong Detroit resident, was the last surviving member of the beloved Motown act, preceded in death by his teen friends and group mates Lawrence Payton, Obie Benson and Levi Stubbs.

"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," the Fakir family said in a statement provided to the Detroit Free Press. "As the last living founding member of the iconic Four Tops music group, we find solace in Duke’s legacy living on through his music for generations to come."

With the Four Tops, Fakir was a voice on a vast litany of hits through the decades, including some of the defining songs of the 1960s, such as the Top 10 successes “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch),” “It’s the Same Old Song,” “Bernadette,” “Standing in the Shadows of Love” and the group’s 1966 magnum opus, “Reach Out I’ll Be There.” Fakir and the group continued to pump out hits into the ’80s, including the chart-topping R&B song “When She Was My Girl.”

Following the deaths of his group mates — a topic that years later could still bring him to tears — Fakir kept the Four Tops name alive, enlisting new members and regularly taking the group’s polished, high-energy stage show on the road.

Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.

He was a regular sight around Detroit through the decades, a charismatic, sharp-dressed figure at public events, ribbon-cuttings and television commercials. In recent years, he was one of the last Motown celebrities still living in the city.

Fakir looked the part of a star but was gracious and down to earth, happy to chat with fans and sign autographs in his day-to-day dealings at grocery stores, banks and the like.

Berry Gordy said Monday that Fakir and the Four Tops "always amazed me with their showmanship, class and artistry."

"Duke was first tenor — smooth, suave and always sharp. For 70 years, he kept the Four Tops' remarkable legacy intact, and in all those years he never missed a performance until just recently," the Motown founder said in a statement. "I so appreciate all he did for the Four Tops, for Motown and for me."

Fellow Motown artist Martha Reeves said: “All four of the Tops were fine, handsome men and sang with champion voices. Duke had one of the sweetest tenor voices you could hear. You could distinguish him in the harmony, that operatic voice in the background. The Four Tops were the gentlemen of the groups at Motown — and they were the A singers of the Motown team.”

Smokey Robinson personally addressed his longtime friend and fellow Motown alumnus Fakir in a statement provided to the Free Press.

"My brother, I really hate to have to say goodbye but you've been called home by the Father to once again join Lawrence, Obie and Levi and make more of the heavenly music you guys made while here," Robinson said. "I'm gonna miss you, my brother."

Born Abdul Kareem Fakir, he grew up in a religious family and was enchanted by music early in life, ultimately growing into a tenor in his teens. Tall and lean, Fakir was also a talented athlete who played football and basketball at Pershing High School.

In 2021, reflecting on his life and career, he told the Detroit Free Press of a pivotal moment in church when he was about 8. The young Fakir had run off the choir stand after nervously choking up during a solo performance, when “a lady in white” approached with a premonition:

“I was wiping tears when this lady walked by. She stopped and turned: ‘Son, you sing, don’t you?’ I said, ‘I try to, ma’am.’ She said, ‘Whooo, son, look at all those angels around you. I can see the world is going to love your music. You’ll be singing with four guys. You’ll be so popular, so good and so blessed.'” 

The unnamed woman had a final message for him, he said: “Always remember, keep love in your heart.”

Fakir would indeed go on to form that quartet in 1953 amid Detroit’s flourishing street-corner doo-wop scene. An impromptu performance at a neighborhood party had brought it all together.

“We told Levi: ‘You sing lead. We all know how to do backgrounds.’ We started singing background, which was led by Lawrence, singing little parts. It came off as if we’d been rehearsing and singing together for a long time. It was ingenious, almost,” Fakir recalled. “Levi looked back, and got into the song really heavy, smiling, singing his heart out. We were doo-wopping our butts off.”

Fakir knew they were on to something good.

“I had sung in a lot of little groups around town,” he said decades later. “But this was something special."

Originally known as the Four Aims, the group became the Four Tops several years later, establishing a presence in the city’s nightclubs but failing to find wider success during a series of deals with labels including Chess and Columbia.

“We all agreed as long as we stay together, we’d be as good or better than any group that had ever been,” Fakir said. “We weren’t cocky, but we were confident. And, little by little, we climbed that ladder.”

Fakir and the Tops initially resisted overtures from Motown Records chief Berry Gordy, uncertain whether a Black-owned label could make an impact in the white-dominated music industry. But the group happened to be on hand when the company’s first Motortown Revue played the Apollo Theater in New York, and realized the hometown enterprise was on to something.

The Four Tops signed with Motown in 1963 and within a year landed their first hit, “Baby I Need Your Loving,” part of a run of successes with the songwriting-production team Holland-Dozier-Holland.

“We were seasoned pros by the time we got there,” Fakir said.

Life from there became a whirlwind, as Fakir and company took on a frantic schedule of recording, touring and television appearances. They mingled with the likes of the Beatles (Fakir would famously tell a story of getting high with Paul McCartney) and were prime-time stars on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” where Fakir was a distinctive figure onscreen.

The Tops left Motown for the ABC/Dunhill label in 1972 — though Fakir and the others continued to live in Detroit —with smashes coming in the form of “Keeper of the Castle,” “Ain’t No Woman (Like the One I’ve Got),” “Catfish” and more. Following a run with Casablanca Records, the group returned to Motown in the ’80s and enjoyed a new career boost amid the dawn of baby-boomer nostalgia and films such as “The Big Chill,” along with a memorable performance alongside the Temptations on 1983’s “Motown 25” TV special.

Among Fakir's final projects was a still-unrealized stage musical based on the Four Tops' story, which has been in the works since 2021.

He was intent that the show premiere in the place where it all started.

“Everything I’ve done — my music, my life, my family — comes from Detroit,” he said. “Detroit deserves it. They’ve given me so much. I would feel like a fool premiering it anywhere other than home. This is where it belongs.”

In Motown lore, including concerts and that ’83 anniversary special, the Four Tops and Temptations were often portrayed as rivals. In reality, the groups were tight.  

“I love Duke. He was able to survive, able to keep his guys together, even with the changes he's had to go through. He's a special kind of person,” the Temptations’ Otis Williams told the Free Press in 2021. “I call him Mr. Detroit. The brother can dress. I'm a fashion maven, and I've always admired how he put clothes together. That's Detroit.”

Said Turkessa Ferrer-Babich, daughter of the late Supremes singer Mary Wilson: "Thank you, Duke, for being a true friend to my mother and constant gentleman with the biggest heart. May you rest in peace."

Detroit publicist Matt Lee, who worked closely with Fakir for many years, paid tribute to the late singer's character.

"Out of everyone I've worked with, Duke was the finest gentleman. You won't find anybody to say a bad word about him," Lee said. "He was the keeper of the flame for all things Motown, and just a font of information and anecdotes."

The Four Tops eased out of recording following the death of Payton in 1997, but remained regulars onstage, and Fakir continued as part of the touring group through the end of 2023. He officially retired this year.

In recent years, as he began work on a memoir that would be published in 2022, Fakir became reflective about a “magical” life that started when “four young gentlemen were put together out of the clear blue sky.”

“There’s a driving force that indicates why all that happened, and how it happened. And it’s colorful. And it’s all about love — something we all need to see again these days,” Fakir told the Free Press. “It’s love of music, love of people working together, love of looking out into the audiences, seeing those smiling faces.”

Fakir is survived by his wife, Piper Fakir; daughter Farah Fakir Cook; son Nazim Bashir Fakir; son Abdul Kareem Fakir Jr.; son Myke Fakir; son Anthony Fakir; son Malik Robinson; 13 grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.

Fakir will be laid to rest in a private family ceremony, a spokesperson said. A public celebration is also planned and will be announced at a later date. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Motown Museum.

Contact Detroit Free Press music writer Brian McCollum: 313-223-4450 or bmccollum@freepress.com.