ROCK’N’ROLL CONFIDENTIAL
ABDUL ‘DUKE’ FAKIR
The last Four Top talks Motown, the borscht belt and inner voices.
Top dog: Motown veteran Abdul ‘Duke’ Fakir is still happy with his lot.
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OF ALL THE Motown acts, few harmonised as closely as The Four Tops. Uniting in Detroit in 1953 , signing to Motown in 1964 brought success, including US Number 1s I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch) and, also a UK chart-topper, Reach Out I’ll Be There. Scoring 15 more US Top 20 singles, they sang in harmony for 44 years straight. After the passing of Levi Stubbs, Lawrence Payton and Obie Benson, now 86-year-old Abdul ‘Duke’ Fakir is the last original Top. Set to lead a new formation on a UK tour with The Temptations in September, and with a musical due to open in Detroit later this year, his new memoir I’ll Be There gives his side of the saga. “I’ve had a wonderful career,” he says from his home in Detroit. “And it’s still going on.”