professionally
A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skil ...
known as Duke Fakir, is an American singer. He is a founding member of the
Motown
Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...
quartet the
Four Tops
The Four Tops are an American vocal quartet from Detroit who helped to define the city's Motown sound of the 1960s. The group's repertoire has included soul music, R&B, disco, adult contemporary, doo-wop, jazz, and show tunes.
Founded as the ...
, from 1953 to the present day. A first
tenor
A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...
, Fakir is the group's lone surviving original member, performing today with Ronnie McNeir, Lawrence "Roquel" Payton Jr. (son of original member
Lawrence Payton
Lawrence Albert Payton (March 2, 1938 – June 20, 1997) was an American tenor, songwriter, vocal arranger, musician, and record producer for the popular Motown quartet, the Four Tops. In 1997, at 59 years old, Payton died of liver cancer.
Bio ...
), and Alexander Morris.
Biography
Fakir was born on December 26, 1935, in
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...
. His father was a factory worker who came from what is now
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
.
Fakir attended Detroit's
Pershing High School John J. Pershing High School is a four-year public high school in Detroit, Michigan. It is in Conant Gardens in proximity to the residential areas
He first met fellow band member
Levi Stubbs
Levi Stubbs (born Levi Stubbles, June 6, 1936 – October 17, 2008) was an American baritone singer, best known as the lead vocalist of the R&B group the Four Tops, who released a variety of Motown hit records during the 1960s and 1970s. He h ...
through neighborhood football games, even though he was not aware Stubbs was a singer. Later, attending a variety show featuring the
Lucky Millinder
Lucius Venable "Lucky" Millinder (August 8, 1910 – September 28, 1966) was an American swing and rhythm-and-blues bandleader. Although he could not read or write music, did not play an instrument and rarely sang, his showmanship and musical ...
band, the band announced a talented young singer who 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-a-longs.
With their shared love of singing, they tried a few other singers then decided to ask
Lawrence Payton
Lawrence Albert Payton (March 2, 1938 – June 20, 1997) was an American tenor, songwriter, vocal arranger, musician, and record producer for the popular Motown quartet, the Four Tops. In 1997, at 59 years old, Payton died of liver cancer.
Bio ...
and
Renaldo "Obie" Benson
Renaldo "Obie" Benson (June 14, 1936 – July 1, 2005) was an American soul and R&B singer and songwriter. He was best known as a founding member and the bass singer of Motown group the Four Tops, which he joined in 1953 and continued to perfo ...
. They invited Payton and Benson to join them at a party hosted by the Shahrazads, a local "
it girl
An "it girl" is an attractive young woman, who is perceived to have both sex appeal and a personality that is especially engaging.
The expression ''it girl'' originated in British upper-class society around the turn of the 20th century. ...
" club. 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.
They originally gave themselves the name "The Four Aims", to describe their goals of achieving something great. But at their first recording session with
Chess Records
Chess Records was an American record company established in 1950 in Chicago, specializing in blues and rhythm and blues. It was the successor to Aristocrat Records, founded in 1947. It expanded into soul music, gospel music, early rock and roll ...
in Chicago, they were reminded that the singing quartet, the
Ames Brothers
The Ames Brothers were a singing quartet, consisting of four siblings from Malden, Massachusetts, who were particularly famous in the 1950s for their traditional pop music hits.
Biography
The Urick brothers were born in Malden, Massachusetts. ...
, was a very popular group, and it was suggested that they change their name. After some discussion, their musical director Maurice King suggested the name the
Four Tops
The Four Tops are an American vocal quartet from Detroit who helped to define the city's Motown sound of the 1960s. The group's repertoire has included soul music, R&B, disco, adult contemporary, doo-wop, jazz, and show tunes.
Founded as the ...
, to go along with their original goal of shooting for the stars and reaching the top. 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 sixties, with 14 charted hits through until the early eighties. They are listed in Billboard Magazines "Top 100 Artists Of All Time".
Fakir was a guest on the "Not My Job" segment of the NPR radio show ''Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me'' taped at the Fox Theater in Detroit, Michigan on Thursday, January 19, 2012, and broadcast on January 21, 2012.
In 2022, Fakir was featured in an Associated Press Q&A article and video in which he discusses his memoir called “I’ll Be There: My Life With The Four Tops” (published May 5, 2022 by
Omnibus Press
Omnibus Press is a publisher of music-related books. It publishes around 30 new titles a year to add to a backlist of over 250 titles currently in print.
History
Omnibus Press was launched in 1972 as a general non-fiction publisher to complem ...
), and musical based on his life and the story of The Four Tops, expected to debut in Detroit in 2022 and then on Broadway in 2023.
Awards and achievements
As a member of the Four Tops Fakir was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990, received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1997, was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame 1999, the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998, received the Grammy Life Achievement Award in 2009, and was included in the Billboard Magazine Top 100 Recording Artists of All Time.
Personal life
Fakir resides in the Palmer Park section of Detroit. He and his wife, Piper, have been married for 42 years. He has seven children, seven grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.
Fakir attributes 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."
Both 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 that summer in 1954 at Eddie's Lounge in Flint, MI, took a gamble, and decided to pursue their music career instead.
Fakir was close friends with fellow Motown artist Mary Wilson of the
Supremes
The Supremes were an American girl group and a premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s. Founded as the Primettes in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959, the Supremes were the most commercially successful of Motown's acts and the most successful ...
for over 50 years up 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. 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 At the show they performed "
Baby, It's Cold Outside
"Baby, It's Cold Outside" is a popular song written by Frank Loesser in 1944 and popularized in the 1949 film '' Neptune's Daughter''. While the lyrics make no mention of a holiday, it is commonly regarded as a Christmas song owing to its winter ...
" together.
In January 2023 it was reported the U.S. Department of Treasury is seeking $500,000 in unpaid taxes from Fakir.