Abdul ‘Duke’ Fakir: Last surviving member of The Four Tops dies

Abdul “Duke” Fakir, the last surviving member of the beloved Motown group The Four Tops, has died at the age of 88.

He died of heart failure at his Detroit home, his family confirmed Monday.

Since forming in the late 1950s, the Four Tops became one of the most famous bands of the Motown era.

The group is known for hits such as “Reach Out I’ll Be There,” “Baby I Need Your Loving” and “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch).”

“Our hearts are heavy as we mourn the loss of a pioneer, icon and music legend who touched so many lives throughout a musical career that spanned seven decades, and who officially retired this year after continuing to tour until the end of 2023,” the family said in a statement.

“As the last surviving founding members of the iconic musical group, The Four Tops, we find solace in knowing that Duke’s legacy will live on for generations to come through his music.”

The group’s four members, Fakir, Levi Stubbs, Renaldo “Obie” Benson, and Lawrence Payton, formed in the late 1950s but did not achieve success until the early 1960s.

They continued to perform together as a group until Payton’s death in 1997. Benson and Stubbs died in 2005 and 2008, respectively.

When they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990, artist Stevie Wonder praised their craft.

“What I like most about them is that they are very professional, they enjoy their work, they are very loving and always gentlemen,” he said.

The child of immigrants from Ethiopia and Bangladesh, Fakir has lived in Detroit his whole life and grew up in a dangerous neighborhood there, according to the Associated Press.

“[O]”Once I started singing, my whole outlook on life changed,” Fakir said in a 2022 interview with The Detroit News.

“We started to see the beauty in life, the journey, the ability to sing to the world and make people happy.”

Singer Smokey Robinson spoke to the Detroit Free Press about the death of his longtime friend.

“Brother, we are so sorry to say goodbye, but you have been called by our Father to heaven to rejoin Lawrence, Obie and Levi to continue the heavenly music that you have made here,” Robinson said.

“I’m gonna miss you, brother.”

In 2022, Fakir published a memoir, I’ll Be There: My Life With the Four Tops.

He is survived by his wife, six children, 13 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.