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Abdul “Duke” Fakir Dies: The Four Tops’ Last Surviving Member Was 88
Abdul "Duke" Fakir, the last surviving member of legendary Motown Records group The Four Tops, died July 22 at his home in Detroit. He was 88.
Alongside lead vocalist Levi Stubbs, Lawrence Payton and Renaldo “Obie” Benson, Fakir’s tenor helped create the magic that fueled such 1960s pop and R&Bs nuggets as “It’s the Same Old Song,” “Standing in the Shadows of Love” and “Bernadette.” The group’s first two singles for their new label found them back in the Top 10 for the first time in five years with “Keeper of the Castle” and the classic “Ain’t No Woman (Like the One I Got).” They continued to record and tour into the mid-’90s with the original lineup, including a second stint with Motown in the mid’80s, but Stubbs, Payton and Benson all died of cancer between 1997 and 2005. They later recruited Payton and Benson and performed as The Four Aims before changing their name to The Four Tops, a moniker suggested by their musical director.
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