Duke Fakir, the Last Original Member of the Four Tops, Dead at 88

The final original member of The Four Tops, Abdul Kareem “Duke” Fakir passed away. He was a founding member of the iconic vocal quartet and a standard bearer for Motown. Fakir was 88.

According to Billboard, Fakir’s family announced his death on Monday (July 22). The Motown legend had been in poor health for quite some time. Most recently, he was fighting a battle with bladder cancer. “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,” his family said. They also said that he went peacefully, in his Detroit-area home, surrounded by his loved ones.

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According to reports, Fakir was “happy, talking, and interacting,” with his family in his final moments. Then, “they turned to do something and turned back around, he had slipped away.”

A Look Back at Duke Fakir and the Four Tops

Duke Fakir, Levi Stubbs, Obie Benson, and Lawrence Payton formed the Four Aims in 1953. Later, they changed the group’s name to the Four Tops. The group performed with its original lineup for more than four decades. Then, in 1997 Payton died after a battle with liver cancer. Stubbs stepped down a few years later and later died in 2008 from cancer. Obie Benson remained with the group until his passing in 2005.

“As each one of [the original members] passed, a little bit of me left with them,” Fakir said in a 2021 interview. “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,” he added.

Fakir kept the Four Tops going until last year when he retired from touring to look after his health.

While promoting his memoir, I’ll Be There: My Life with the Four Tops, Fakir remarked on his longevity and the longevity of the group. “It’s unbelievable. I never would have thought that while I was in my eighties I’d even be thinking about doing this, let alone still doing it,” he said. “I feel nothing but blessed, man, just blessed.”

Fakir and the Four Tops were members of the Rock and & Roll Hall of Fame, the Vocal Group Hall of Fame, the R&B Music Hall of Fame, and the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame.

Featured image by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images